SONGS. 295 



by Philostratus*, though most probably no better 

 founded than the legend current in Ireland, that the 

 larks in the wild gloomy valley of Glandalough never 

 sing, having been miraculously silenced by St. Kevin 

 during the building of the Seven Churches, because 

 they broke the morning sleep of the wearied masons 

 by their loud matin warblingsf. Those who believe 

 this story would do well to ascertain whether any 

 larks frequent the valley : it is certainly not a very 

 likely place for their resort. Our own bird-catchers 

 prefer the nightingales of Surrey to those of Mid- 

 dlesex. The nightingale, therefore, it would appear, 

 is supposed to sing best in the east, and to decline 

 in sweetness and richness of song in proportion as 

 it is found farther to the north and the west. As 

 the data from which these comparisons are made 

 seem not a little vague, it is not easy to decide on 

 their correctness ; but a very good judge, Mr. Syme, 

 concludes, from his own observation, that the com- 

 mon opinion is hypothetical. 



" In 1802,'' he says, " being at Geneva, at the re- 

 sidence of a friend, about three miles from the town, 

 in a quiet sequestered spot, surrounded by gardens 

 and forests, and within hearing of the murmur of 

 the Rhone ; there on a beautiful still evening, the 

 air soft and balmy, the windows of the house open, 

 and the twilight checquered by trees, there we heard 

 two nightingales sing indeed most delightfully, but 

 not more so than one we heard down a stair, in a 

 dark cellar, in the High-street in Edinburgh ! such 

 a place as that described in ' The Antiquary ;' no 

 window, and no light admitted, but what came from 

 the open door, and the atmosphere charged with the 

 fumes of tobacco and spirits ; it was a place where 

 carriers lodged, or put up and the heads of the 



* In Narrat. Mirabil. 

 f Sir John Carr's Stranger in Ireland. 



