sounds, sinking into an abyss of harmony, are penned with an effect, worthy of the great Beethoven himself.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

OMINOUS SOUNDS.

HITHERTO We have spoken of sounds as a source of pleasure and delight; but they often prove a source of terror and alarm, especially among the uneducated, when they spring from causes unseen and unknown. In the days of superstition, they were at all times used by the priests, as a ready means of aiding their impostures in enslaving the people. The Delphic Oracle was a contrivance for this purpose; a piece of machinery, founded upon acoustic

*

* The oracles were first delivered by the priestess, Pythia, after inhaling a natural fume which issued from a cavity in the earth, over which the temple of Delphos was erected. She sat upon a tripod, or three-legged stool, so that she could inhale the intoxicating vapor through a tube, which threw her into such paroxysms of extasy, that she was believed by all present to be inspired. Pausanias says, 'that ' her eyes suddenly sparkled, and her hair stood on end, and a shivering ' ran all over her body. In this convulsive state she spoke the oracles ' often with loud howlings and cries, which were taken down by the 'priests.' Plutarch mentions one of the priestesses who was thrown into such an excessive fury, that not only those who consulted the oracle, but also the priests that conducted her to the sacred tripod, and attended her during the inspiration, were terrified and forsook the temple; and so violent was the fit, that she continued for some time in

principles, similar to that of the invisible girl. Mrs. Elwood reports, that in the ruins of Pompeii, a secret recess still remains where the priests concealed themselves, when they delivered the oracles to the people.

The statue of Memnon probably was one of the most early contrivances of this kind. Strabo says, 'it uttered a melodious sound at sun-rise and sunset,' the cause of which puzzled all the travellers of his time. But the Egyptians were the most wise and acute people on earth; and were, no doubt, acquainted with the acoustic principle. At this day, a wind arises in Egypt, called the Camseen, at sunrise and sun-set; which, passing through a concealed labyrinth in the statue, would produce the humming sound attributed to the god.* It was in this country that the lyre had its origin. According to the ancients, Apollo found a dead tortoise on the banks

agonizing tortures, and at last died. These effects so closely resemble those witnessed in persons who have inhaled the nitrous oxide gas, that there can be little doubt that this vapor was something of the same kind. This gas was discovered by Dr. Beddoes, about thirty years ago. A friend of the writer was visiting him at the time, and was present at the first experiments. The doctor was the first person who ventured to inhale it, and it had such an effect upon him after having taken a copious draught, that he jumped over the table, and would have darted out of the window, had not his assistant, (afterwards Sir Humphry Davy,) laid hold of him. After these mad fits had been sufficiently exhibited in the temple of Delphos, they were abandoned, for the wiser scheme of secretly conveying more cunning words through statues of stone!

* The pedestal is covered over with the names of those who have heard this extraordinary sound.

of the Nile: nothing remained in the interior of the shell, but the dried sinews that were stretched across. These were vibrated by the wind passing through the shell, and caused the sound which struck the ear of the god. For a thousand years afterwards, the shell of a tortoise was deemed to be an essential part of the lyre. Afterwards, the

twang of his sister Diana's bow suggested an instrument of a larger kind, and the primitive lyre now assumes the form of David's harp.

Sailors are a most superstitious race, and have a secret dread of remarkable sounds heard at sea. At the Land's End, it is not uncommon to hear a mysterious sound off the coast previous to a storm, which fishermen are not willing to attribute to natural causes, but believe it to come from the Spirit of the deep. This effect is obviously occasioned by the coming storm, whistling through the crevices of the rocks that stand in the sea, and which skirt the Cornish coast. So much do the people consider this as ominous of shipwreck, that no one can be persuaded to venture out to sea while this warning voice is heard. In the northern seas our sailors are alarmed by a singular musical effect, which is now well understood to proceed from the whale inhaling his breath. Similar sounds probably may be uttered by other monsters of the deep, upon which the ancients fallaciously founded their notions of seanymphs and sirens.

The peasantry may be classed with the sailors;

they have not yet lost their faith in witchcraft and supernatural agency: yet such is the advance of knowledge in the manufacturing districts, where science is blended with every operation and every art, that these traits of ignorance no longer exist. The idea that fairies dance in the meadows on warm summer nights to sweet music, no doubt has arisen from the sound ascribed to the midnight dances of the ephemera, noticed at the 242d page; but to see these green little figures flitting to and fro, is a stretch of imagination that can only result from a state of fear and trepidation. Great stress is laid by the country people upon sounds heard in the night time, such as the croaking of the raven, or the thrilling note of the screech owl. These are always considered as bad omens, and a certain presage of disaster and death.

The power of the imagination to reproduce sounds, when in a state between sleeping and waking, is a fact that no one can doubt. Who has not found himself suddenly aroused by a sound, or startled out of sleep by a well-known voice, when it is certain no sound had been uttered? These effects, like our dreams, are excited by causes extremely slight. By the lower order, these sounds are considered as calls or warnings from invisible spirits. As science extends, and the people become informed, these alarms will die away, as the following tale will sufficiently prove.

In one of the baronial castles of the north which

had been uninhabited for years, there were heard at times such extraordinary noises, as to confirm the opinion among the country people that the place was haunted. In the western tower an old couple were permitted to live, who had been in the service of the former lord, but so imbued were they with the superstitions of the country, that they never went to bed without expecting to hear the cries of the disturbed spirits of the mansion. An old story was current, that an heir apparent had been murdered by an uncle, that he might possess the estate, who, however, after enjoying it for a time, was so annoyed by the sounds in the castle, that he retired with an uneasy conscience from the domain, and died in France.

Not many years ago, the property descended to a branch of the female line, (one of the heroes of Waterloo,) who, nothing daunted, was determined to make this castle his place of residence. As the noises were a subject of real terror to his tenantry, he formed the resolution of sleeping in the castle on the night he took possession, in order to do away these superstitious fears. Not a habitable room could be found, except the one occupied by the old gardener and his wife in the western turret, and he ordered his camp-bed to be set up in that apartment. It was in the autumn, at nightfall, that he repaired to the gloomy abode, leaving his servant, to his no small comfort, at the village inn; and after having found everything comfortably pro