I was eleven years old when I first heard and obeyed this cry, or, shall I say, echo-augury? Scene:

In reading the pretty echo-scene, in Act iv., the reader will recall a similar scene in Law Trickes (Act v., Sc. I).

Poor Roger granes, till hollow echoes ring; But blither Patie likes to laugh and sing.

The foolish echo rang So far and longI prayed you might not hear.

There was a tremor in his voice, too, usually so clear and even, that touched her heart, for feeling responds to feeling, as the echo answers sound, when there exists a real sympathy between the sexes.

"Ionce was my speech Sweet as the bird's on the air, When echo lurks by the waters to heed; 'Tis I speak thee fair.

Though Brentano created the story of his ballad, he located it in a region rich in legendary material, and it was the echo-motif of which he made especial use, and traces of this can be found in German literature as early as the thirteenth century.

I sing, not to hear the echo repeat, a shade fainter, my song!

Thou stock-dove, whose echo resounds through the glen, Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den, Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear, I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair! How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills, Far marked with the courses of clear winding rills!

The name of his heroine Brentano took from the famous echo-rock near St. Goar, with which locality he became thoroughly familiar during the years 1780-89.

Thrice Fancy leads the dismal echo round, And paints the spectre gliding o'er the ground.

I may be allowed, however, to note that echo verses, suggested by Ovid, are introduced and handled with more than usual ingenuity; and further to quote two characteristic passages.

Or only a night-bird's echoing cry? THE GLEANER As children gather daisies down green ways Mid butterflies and bees, To-day across the meadows of past days I gathered memories.

She dreamed of echoing halls hung with Oriental draperies and lighted by tall bronze candelabra, while two tall footmen in knee-breeches drowsed in great armchairs by reason of the heating stove's oppressive warmth.

They were not numerous, and the scattered groups emphasized the bareness of the big echoing room.

Instead of grumbling at being obliged to do a little wholesome work, which is less, I am sure, than that of any other echo-dwarf upon the rocky hill-side, you should rejoice at the good fortune of the old man who has regained so much of his strength and vigor.

On the afternoon on which, after so long an interval, the sound of the pipes was heard on the echo hills, this dwarf was fast asleep behind a rock.

Onward rushes the world without, But the breeze which over my garden steals Brings from it merely a distant shout Or the echo light of passing wheels; In its din and drive I have now no share, As I muse in my Promenade Solitaire.

In it from the stable there sounded again the wail of the lonely baby, and a moment later, muffled, echo-like from the distance, the answering call of one of its own kind free upon the infinite prairie; but apparently neither man noticed, neither man caredand the silence returned.