L xxx.] OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER LXXX. 

 TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINQTON. 



" Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, 

 Dixerat, Ecquis adest ? et, Adest, respondent Echo. 

 Hie stupet ; utque aeiem partea divisit in omnes ; 

 Voce, Veni, clamat rnagna. Vocat ilia vocantem." 



(Ovio, Met, iii. 379.) 



" The youth being separated by chance from his faithful attendants, calls 

 aloud, ' Is there any one here 1 ' and echo answers, ' Here.' He is amazed, 

 he casts his eyes on every side and calls with a loud voice, ' Come ! ' where- 

 upon echo calls the youth who calls." 



" She can't begin, but waits for the rebound, 

 To catch his voice and then return the sound." 



(l)RTDEN.) 



IN a district so diversified as this, so full of hollow vales ami 

 haii<nii<r woods, it is no wonder that echoes should abound. 



O O * 



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 sur- 

 prised, and could not be persuaded but that he was mocked by 

 some boy ; lut, 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, hi patulte recubans 



1 " Beneath the shade which beechen boughs diffuse 

 You, Tityrus, entertain your sylvan muse." 



Virg. Eel. i. 1.) 

 VOL. I. I-' 1' 



