WATER FOWL. 411 



an unusual and sweet murmur, composed of the 

 most pleasant whistlings and sounds : he knew 

 not at first whence they came, or how they were 

 made, for he saw no man near to produce them ; 

 but looking round about him, and climbing to 

 the top of a certain promontory, he there espied 

 an infinite number of swans gathered together in 

 a bay, and making the most delightful harmony ; 

 a sweeter in all his lifetime he had never heard." 

 These were accounts sufficient at least to keep 

 opinion in suspense, though in contradiction to 

 our own experience ; but Aldrovandus, to put, 

 as he supposed, the question past all doubt, gives 

 us the testimony of a countryman of our own, 

 from whom he had the relation. This honest 

 man's name was Mr George Braun, who assured 

 him, that nothing was more common in England 

 than to hear swans sing ; that they were bred in 

 great numbers in the sea, near London ; and 

 that every fleet of ships that returned from their 

 voyages from distant countries, were met by 

 swans, that came joyfully out to welcome their 

 return, and salute them with a loud and cheerful 

 singing ! It was in this manner that Aldrovandus, 

 that great and good man, was frequently imposed 

 upon by the designing and the needy : his un- 

 bounded curiosity drew round him people of 

 every kind, and his generosity was as ready to 

 reward falsehood as truth. Poor Aldrovandus ! 

 after having spent a vast fortune, for the pur- 

 poses of enlightening mankind ; after having col- 

 lected more truth and more falsehood than any 

 man ever did before him, he little thought of 



