These verses were among his special favourites.[12] "I will sing you a song of that beautiful land, The far away home of the soul, Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand, While the years of eternity roll, While the years of eternity roll; Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand While the years of eternity roll.
"Oh! that home of the soul in my visions and dreams, Its bright jasper walls I can see; Till I fancy but thinly the veil intervenes Between the fair city and me Till I fancy, etc." Another was a pretty four-part song, _The Laugh of a Child_, of which he sang the air.

The words ran: "I love it, I love it, the laugh of a child.
Now rippling, now gentle, now merry and wild.
It rings through the air with an innocent gush, Like the trill of a bird at the twilight's soft hush, It floats on the breeze like the tones of a bell, Or music that dwells in the heart of a shell.
Oh, the laugh of a child is so wild and so free 'T is the merriest sound in the world to me." Still another of which he sang the English words often was the well-known air from _Figaro_.

I give a few bars: [Illustration: _NON PIU ANDRAI_--PLAY NO MORE.
Air.

Figaro.
Non piu andrai, far-fal-lo-ne a-mo-ro-so, Not-te gior-no d'in-tor-no gi-ran-do; Del-le bel-le tur-ban-do il ri-po-so, Nar-ci-set-to, A-don-ci-no d'a-mor! Del-le bel-le tur-ban-do il ri-po-so, Nar-ci-set-to, A-don-ci-no d'a-mor! Play no more, boy, the part of a lov-er, Nor a-bout beau-ty fool-ish-ly hov-er; In the wars you'll more pleasure dis-cov-er, When your heart beats to glo-ry and fame! In the wars you'll more pleasure dis-cov-er, When your heart beats to glo-ry and fame!] At times he imitated a certain pathetic yet comical old woman he had heard singing at some camp-meeting, "The dear blessed Bible, the Fam-i-ly Bible," etc.

He told me one day that this fondness for singing, especially amid extremely unpromising or gloomy circumstances, had on more than one occasion led the men of the first expedition to suspect his sanity.