40 



43. With the virtue, I say, in an exceedingly qualified 

 sense ; meaning rather the strength and art displayed in 

 overcoming difiiculties, than any distinct morality of dis- 

 position. The bu-d has kindly and homely qualities ; but 

 its principal " virtue," for us, is its being an incarnate 

 voracity, and that it moves as a consuming and cleansiug 

 power. You sometimes hear it said of a humane person 

 that he would not kill a fly : from TOO to 1000 flies a 

 day are a moderate allowance for a baby swallow. 



44. Perhaps, as I say this, it may occur to some of you 

 to think, for the first time, of the reason of the bird's 

 name. For it is very interesting, as a piece of language 

 study, to consider the different power on our minds, — nay 

 the different sweetness to the ear, — which, from associa- 

 tion, tli^se same two syllables receive, when we read them 

 as a noun, or as a verb. Also, the word is a curious 

 instance of the traps which are continually open for rasli 

 etymologists. At first, nothing would appear more 

 natural than that the name should have been given to the 

 bird from its reckless function of devouring. But if you 

 look to your Johnson, you will find, to your better satis- 

 faction, that the name means " bird of porticos," or 

 porches, from the Gothic " swale ; " " subdivale," — so that 

 it goes back in thought as far as Yirgil's, " Et nunc 

 porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circum, stagna sonat." 

 Notice, in passing, how a simile of Yirgil's, or any other 

 great master's, will probably tell in two or more ways at 

 once. Juturna is compared to the swallow, not merely as 



