250 ECHOES. 



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 dis- 

 tinctly, especially if quick dactyls were chosen. The 

 last syllables of 



" Tityre, tu patulae recubans " 



were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first ; 

 and there is no doubt, could trial have been made, 

 but that at midnight, when the air is very elastic, 

 and a dead stillness prevails, one or two syllables 

 more might have been obtained ; but the distance 

 rendered so late an experiment very inconvenient. 



Quick dactyls, we observed, succeeded best; for 

 when we came to try its powers in slow, heavy, em- 

 barrassed spondees of the same number of syllables, 



" Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens - 



we could perceive a return but of four or five. 



All echoes have some one place to which they are 

 returned stronger and more distinct than to any 

 other ; and that is always the place that lies at right 

 angles with the object of repercussion, and is not 

 too near, nor too far off. Buildings, or naked rocks, 

 re-echo much more articulately than hanging woods 

 or vales ; because, in the latter, the voice is as it 

 were entangled, and embarrassed in the covert, and 

 weakened in the rebound. 



The true object of this echo, as we found by 

 various experiments, is the stone-built, tiled hop- 



