OF SELBORNE. 55 



this loquacious nymph ; of whose compla- 

 cency and decent reserve more may be said 

 than can with truth of every individual of 

 her sex ; since she is 



" quae nec reticere loquenti, 



" Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis echo." 



I am, &c. 



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 bene quom videas, rationem reddere possis 



Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola 

 " Saxa pareis formas verborum ex ordine reddant, 

 " Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos 

 " Quserimus, et magna disperses voce ciemus. 

 " Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces 

 " Unam quom jaceres : ita colles collibus ipsis 

 " Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre. 

 " Haec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere 

 " Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur ; 

 " Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti 



Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi^, 

 " Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas, 

 " Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum : 

 D 2 



