“I have only one other remark to make,” continued he, “which the consideration of this subject has very naturally suggested--that the various strange sounds, which have from time to time alarmed the superstitious, may be readily explained upon the simple principles we have been discussing. I well remember a whole family having been thrown into a state of terror, by a mysterious sound which regularly recurred every evening; when it was at length discovered to arise from the crawling of snails over the window; their slimy surfaces, as they moved along, produced a friction, which occasioned a vibration of the glass.” “And I never recall to my recollection, without some degree of terror,” said the vicar, “the night I passed in an old oaken chamber which had the reputation of being haunted. A bright fire cheerfully blazed in the grate as I entered the apartment, and casting its ruddy light around, in some measure dissipated the prejudice which had been raised to the disparagement of my dormitory; but awaking in the night, my fire was out, and a succession of the most extraordinary noises I ever heard assailed me.” “All which are easily explicable,” said Mr. Seymour. “The old oaken materials were expanded by the heat of your fire, and on the apartment cooling, they again contracted, and gave origin to all the sounds you describe.” “How unsparingly does science clip the wings of imagination!” observed Miss Villers. The party now dispersed. Miss Villers retired into the drawing-room, to afford Louisa some musical instruction; the vicar took his departure for the sake of visiting a sick parishioner; and Major Snapwell to make arrangements for an important event, with the nature of which the reader will very shortly be made acquainted. ----- Footnote 57: “Murænæ optimæ flutæ sunt in Sicilia.” _Varr. R. R._ ii. 6. 2. Footnote 58: The reader is requested to turn to page 174; for all that is there said respecting the principle of _reflected_ motion will apply to the theory of the echo. Footnote 59: Ovid’s Metamorph. 3. 358. Footnote 60: “For though the wise nor shoes nor slippers made,  He’s yet a skilful shoemaker by trade.”                                _Hor. Sat. 3 Lib. 1._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVII.