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THE ECHOES OF SELBORNE 



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

 vales and hanging woods, it is no wonder that echoes 

 should abound. 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 poly- 

 syllabical articulate echo, till a young gentleman, 

 who had parted from his company in a summer 

 evening walk, and was calling after them, stumbled 

 10 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 boy ; 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 

 distinctly. The last syllables of 



Tityre, tu patulae recubans 



20 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. 



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 



so much more articulately than hanging woods or vales, 



