OUR FOREST CHORISTERS. 173 



learned to associate with their notes, in connection with 

 the scenes of nature, a thousand interesting and romantic 

 images. To many persons of this character it affords more 

 delight than the most brilliant music of the opera or the 

 concert. In vain, therefore, will it be said, as an objec- 

 tion, that the notes of birds have no charm save that which 

 is derived from association, and that, considered as music, 

 they do not equal that of the most simple reed or flageolet. 



3. It is sufficient to remark that the most delightful 

 influences of nature proceed from those sights and sounds 

 that appeal to the imagination and affections through the 

 medium of slight and almost insensible impressions made 

 upon the eye and ear. At the moment when these physi- 

 cal impressions exceed a certain mean, the spell is broken, 

 and the enjoyment becomes sensual, not intellectual. How 

 soon, indeed, would the songs of birds lose their effect if 

 they were loud and brilliant, like a band of instruments ! 

 It is their simplicity which gives them their charm. 



4. As a further illustration of this point, it may be re- 

 marked that simple melodies have among all people exer- 

 cised a greater power over the imagination than louder and 

 more complicated music. Nature employs a very small 

 amount of physical sensation to create an intellectual pas- 

 sion, and when an excess is used a diminished effect is pro- 

 duced. I am persuaded that the effect of a great part of 

 our sacred music is lost by an excess of harmony and a too 

 great volume of sound. On the same principle, a loud 

 crash of thunder deafens and terrifies ; but its low and dis- 

 tant rumbling produces an agreeable emotion of sublimity. 



5. The songs of birds are as intimately allied with 

 poetry as with music. The lark has been aptly denomi- 

 nated a "feathered lyric" by one of the English poets; 

 and the analogy becomes apparent when we consider how 

 much the song of a bird resembles a lyrical ballad in its in- 

 fluence on the mind. Though it utters no words, how 



