48 love's meinie. 



a day are a moderate allowance for a baby 

 swallow. 



44. Perhaps, as I say this, it may occur to 

 some of you to think, for the first time, of 

 the reason of the bird's name. For it is 

 very interesting, as a piece of language 

 study, to consider the different power on our 

 minds, — nay, the different sweetness to the 

 ear, — which, from association, these same two 

 syllables receive, when we read them as a 

 noun, or as a verb. Also, the word is a 

 curious instance of the traps which are con- 

 tinually open for rash etymologists. At first, 

 nothing would appear more natural than that 

 the name should have been given to the bird 

 from its reckless function of devouring. But 

 if you look to your Johnson, you will find, 

 to your better satisfaction, that the name 

 means "bird of porticos," or porches, from 

 the Gothic "swale;" "subdivale," — so that 

 he goes back in thought as far as Virgil's, 

 " Et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida 

 circum, stagna sonat." Notice, in passing, 

 how a simile of Virgil's, or any other great 

 master's, will probably tell in two or more 

 ways at once. Juturna is compared to the 



