OTHER EDITIONS 191 



London, " Mr. Grimble has sent your wig," while the 

 humorous lines, ascribed to him by Bell 



Ye worthy friends in Abchurch Lane, 



Who do our noddles thatch, 

 Send me a wig, but not too big, 



With care and with despatch, 



which are said to have formed one of his orders, tell of 

 this wig-wearing as a constant habit. However these 

 objectionable caricatures may suit some debased tastes, 

 they represent him as something between a clerical fop 

 and a fool. ... It may be added that all are equally 

 false and equally vulgar. * 



Though Newton never edited " Selborne " himself 

 there is, indeed, no reason to suppose that he even con- 

 templated doing so he spared no time and pains in 

 helping others who were writing about White or in 

 trying to add to our knowledge of the naturalist or to 

 explain doubtful points in his notes and letters. His 

 article on Gilbert White written for the " Dictionary of 

 National Biography " contains a large amount of informa- 

 tion which was at that time unknown. This was to a 

 great extent due to the help he received from Mr. 

 Rashleigh Holt- White, the living head of White's family, 

 who was at that time preparing the life of his great- 

 grand-uncle, and was in possession of all the family 

 papers. This article contains Newton's considered 

 opinion of Gilbert White as a naturalist, and as it was 

 too long to be printed completely in the published volume, 

 a part of it may be quoted here. 



That White's " Selborne " is the only work on natural 

 history which has attained the rank of an English classic 

 is admitted by general acclamation, as well as by com- 

 petent critics, and numerous have been the attempts to 

 discover the secret of its ever-growing reputation. 

 Scarcely two of them agree, and no explanation whatever 



* Macmillan's Magazine, July, 1900. 



