ASSOCIATE SOUNDS. 217 



there is our own familiar and representative, the Hearth 

 Cricket, for whose crinking chirp even we can scarcely chal- 

 lenge much intrinsic merit, yet do we regard it as a song, and 

 a merry one ; and why ? because the faggot always crackles, 

 and the kettle sings, if not in actual, in imaginative chorus. 



In like manner, the music of the Cricket's country cousin 

 (of the field), or that of the Grasshopper, though designated 

 by some, of more critical ear than pleasant temperament, " a 

 disagreeable crink," can never grate harshly upon either ear 

 or heart which are in themselves attuned to nature's har- 

 monies ; for to these, as it rises from the dewy ground, it as- 

 sumes the tone of an evening hymn of happiness, mingled in 

 memory if not in hearing with evening bells and the shouts 

 of emancipated village children. For the revival, doubtless, of 

 some such associate memories, even the grave Spaniard is 

 said to keep these insects after the manner of birds of song ; 

 and those that like it may do the same in England, Gilbert 

 White assuring us, on trial of the experiment, that the field 

 cricket, while supplied with moist green leaves, will sing as 

 merrily in a paper cage as in a grassy field. 



To the man of transparent skin and opaque fancy or no 

 fancy at all the hum of the Gnat is suggestive, we know, of 

 nothing but angry cheeks and swollen temples, with corres- 

 ponding sounds of pshaws! and buffets; -but to those who 

 are less outwardly but more inwardly sensitive, the " horn " 

 even of this insect blood-hunter is not without its melody, 



