AUGUST. 



303 



" people of fashion keep these animals called 

 there Grille in cages, which they name Gril- 

 leria, for the sake of their song." 



They add that" Tettigonia, F., called by 

 the Ancient Greeks by whom they were often 

 kept in cages for the sake of their song Tet- 

 tix, seem to have been the favourites of every 

 Grecian bard,, from Homer and Hesiod to Ana- 

 creon and Theocritus supposed to be per- 

 fectly harmless, and to live only upon dew ; 

 they were addressed by the most endearing 

 epithets, and were regarded as all but divine. 

 One bard entreats the shepherds to spare 

 the innoxious Tettix, that nightingale of the 

 nymphs, and to make those mischievous birds, 

 the thrush and blackbird, their prey. " Sweet 

 prophet of, the summer," says Anacreon, ad- 

 dressing this insect, " the Muses love thee ; 

 Phoebus himself loves thee, and has given thee 

 a shrill song ; old age does not wear thee ; thou 

 art wise, earth-born, musical, impassive, with- 

 out blood ; thou art almost like a god. So 

 attached were the Athenians to these insects, 

 that they were accustomed to fasten golden 

 images of them in their hair, implying, at the 

 same time, a boast that they themselves, as well 



