232 ECHOES. 



sellen (celery), wMcli is notliing else but the sweet small- 

 age, the young shoots whereof, with a little of the head of 

 the root cut off, they eat raw with oil and pepper." And 

 further, he adds, " curled endive blanched is much used 

 beyond seas, and for a raw sallet, seemed to excel lettuce 

 itself." Now this journey was undertaken no longer ago 

 than in the year 1663. 



LETTER LXXX. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Feb. 12, 1774 



" Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, 

 Dixerat, ecquis adest? et, adest, responderat echo. 

 Hie stupet ; ntque aciem partes divisit in omnes ; 

 Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem." 



Deab Sir, — ^In a district so diversified as this, so full of 

 hollow vales and hanging woods, it is no wonder that echoes 

 should abound. Many we have discovered, that return the 

 cry of a pack of dogs, the notes of a hunting horn, a tunable 

 ring of bells, or the melody of birds, very agreeably ; but we 

 were still at a loss for a polysyllabical articulate echo, till 

 a young gentleman, who had parted from his company in a 

 summer evening walk, and was calling after them, stumbled 

 upon a very curious one in a spot where it might least be 

 expected. At first he was much surprised, and could not be 

 persuaded but that he was mocked by some boys ; but, 

 repeating his trials in several languages, and finding his 

 respondent to be a very adroit polyglot, he then discerned 

 the deception. 



This echo, in an evening before rural noises cease, 

 would repeat ten syllables most articulately and distinctly, 

 especially if quick dactyls were chosen. The last syllables of 



" Tityre, tu patulse recubans " 



were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first ; and 



