LETTER XXXVIII 



TO THE SAME 



SELBORNE, Feb. I2//&, 1778. 

 " Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, 

 Dixerat, ecquis adest ? et, adest, responderat echo, 

 Hie stupet ; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes ; 

 Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem." x 



DEAR SIR, 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 polysyllabical 

 articulate echo, till a young gentleman, who had parted 

 from his company in a summer evening walk, and was 

 calling after them, stumbled upon a very curious one in a 



1 " Chance parts the youth from his companions dear, 

 He cries ' Who's here ? ' and Echo answers ' H ere ; ' 

 He stares around, and for a while stands dumb, 

 Then shouts out, ' Come,' and Echo answers ' Come. ' 



[Jardine's ed., p. 217, note.'} 

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