of Selborne 195 



than can with truth of every individual of her sex ; since 

 she is — 



.... " qure nee reticcreloquenti, 



Nee prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis eeho." 



I am, etc. 



P.S. — The classic reader will, I trust, pardon the 

 following lovely quotation, so finely describing echoes, 

 and so poetically accounting for their causes from 

 popular superstition : 



'* Quae ben^ quom videas, ratlonem reddere possis 

 Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loea sola 

 Saxa pareis formas verborum ex ordine reddant, 

 Palanteis eomites quom monteis inter opacos 

 Quoerimus, et magna dispersos voce ciemus. 

 Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces 

 Unam quom jaceres : ita colles coUibus ipsis 

 Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre. 

 Hocc loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere 

 Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur ; 

 Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti 

 Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rtimpi, 

 Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas, 

 Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum : 

 Et genus agricolGm late sentiscere, quom Pan 

 Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans, 

 Unco sjepe labro calamos percurrit hiantcis, 

 Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fuiidere niusam." 



Lucretius, Lib, iv. 1. 576. 



LETTER XXXIX 



TO THE HONOURAKLE DAINES BARRINGTON 



Selborne, May 13, 1778. 



Dear Sir, 

 Among the many singularities attending those amusing 

 birds the swifts, 1 am now confirmed in the opinion that 

 we have every year the same number of pairs invariably ; 

 at least the result of my inquiry has been exactly the 

 same for a long time past. The swallows and martins are 



