UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED. 187 



different part of this country, doubtless suggested to 

 our Irish bard, the melodious author of the " Fairy 

 Queen," the following beautiful simile ; — 



" As when a swarm of gnats at eventide 

 Out of the fens of Allan do arise, 

 Their murmuring small trumpets sounden wide ; 

 Whiles in the air, their clustering- armies flyes, 

 That as a cloud doth seem to dim the skyes ; 

 Ne man nor beast may rest, or take repast. 

 For their shai-p wounds, and noyous injuries, 

 'Till the fierce northern wind, with blust'ring blast. 



Doth blow them quite away, and in the ocean cast." 



Book II, Canto 16. 



In every country, however, the abundance of some 

 species of Diptera is a matter of common observa- 

 tion ; and it is this fact which gives such eifect to 

 the words of the Babylonian monarch : — 



"Everywhere, the countless multitudes. 



Like summer insects in the noontide sun, 

 Ck)me forth to bask in our irradiate presence." 



Milman'* BeUhazsar. 



So universally are they diffused, that their absence, 

 combined with that of other insects, denotes more 

 forcibly than almost any thing else could do, the 

 solitary altitude described by Byron : — 



" My joy was in the wilderness, to breathe 

 The difficult air of the iced mountain's top, 

 Where the birds dare not build, nor insect's wing 

 Flit o'er the herbless granite." 



Manfred, Act II. Sc. II. 



While in summer we remark several kinds of 



