in particular Districts. 263 



an engagement at sea, and believed the enemy had attacked our 

 fleet at Alexandria. No such event had, however, taken place, 

 and it was afterwards known, that the sounds we then heard 

 proceeded from an attack, made by our troops, against the for- 

 tress of Rachmanie on the Nile, beyond Rosetta. This had 

 commenced upon that day ; and hence alone the noise of guns 

 could have originated. The distance of Rachmanie from the 

 coast in a direct line, is about ten leagues ; this allows 130 miles 

 for the space through which the sound had been propagated 

 when it reached our ears*." 



Of the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat sur- 

 face, I would mention, not only from its extreme singulari- 

 ty, but its classical position, the echo in the Gardens of Les 

 Rochers, once the well known residence of Madame de Se- 

 vigne. An additional reason for noticing it is, because I doubt 

 whether its existence is sufficiently known, or was duly appre- 

 ciated, even in the days of its celebrated guardian, since we 

 find her alluding to it only as a " petit rediseur," repeating 

 " mot a mot j usque dans Toreille," and gladly would I induce 

 any scientific traveller to include within his tour through this 

 picturesque part of France, a visit to a place and object so well 

 worthy of his attention. The Chateau des Rochers, sold unfor- 

 tunately in the Revolutionary times, and (I speak of a few yeai-s 

 ago) in the hands of a most unworthy and disreputable owner, 

 is situated no great distance from the interesting and ancient 

 town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat, leads 

 through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a 

 particular spot, the listener is placed, at the distance of about 

 ten or a dozen yards from another person, who, similarly 

 placed, addresses him in a low, and, in the common acceptation 

 of the term, inaudible whisper, when 



" Lo, what myriads rise !" 



for immediately from thousands and ten of thousands of invisi- 

 ble tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every peb- 

 ble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated 

 with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small 

 shot [)assiiig through the air. On removing from this spot, 



• Clarke's Travel?, vol. iii. p. 331. 



