THE ECHOES OF SELBORNE 95 



place of responses and echoes. The city of this name was about 

 three miles north from Jerusalem, and was famous as the birth- 

 place of the prophet Jeremiah (Jet: i. 1). Good building-stone 

 is still to be found in the neighbourhood. 



93. this loquacious nymph, &$c. He means that Echo never 

 begins a conversation and that her tone is never an aggravation 

 of your own. Of course, she must have ' the last word '. 



98. my outlet. Park, or enclosure, near dwelling-house. 



EXEKCISE. 



What instances of humour (conscious or unconscious) have 

 you observed in reading this account of the Echoes of Selborne ? 



JOANNA'S ROCK 



As it befell, 



One summer morning we had walked abroad 

 At break of day, Joanna and myself. 

 'Twas that delightful season when the broom, 

 Full-flowered, and visible in every steep, 

 Along the copses runs in veins of gold. 

 Our pathway led us on to Rotha's banks; 

 And, when we came in front of that tall rock 

 That eastward looks, I there stopped short and stood 

 10 Tracing the lofty barrier with my eye 

 From base to summit ; such delight I found 

 To note in shrub and tree, in stone and flower, 

 That intermixture of delicious hues, 

 Along so vast a surface, all at once, 

 In one impression, by connecting force 

 Of their own beauty, imaged in the heart. 



When I had gazed perhaps two minutes' space, 



Joanna, looking in my face, beheld 



That ravishment of mine, and laughed aloud. 



