OF SELBORNE. 271 
LETTER XL. 
Selborne, 
‘ ER RE ES AES ES aE Re nate 
SS ee, ohn oe ee a ee ee ee | 
Quid tantdm Oceano properent se tingere soles 
Hyberni; vel quz tardis mora noctibus obstet.” 
GENTLEMEN who have outlets might contrive to 
make ornament subservient to utility; a pleasing 
eyetrap might also contribute to promote science ; 
an obelisk in a garden or park might be. both an 
embellishment and a heliotrope. 
Any person that is curious, and enjoys the ad- 
vantage of a good horizon, might, with little 
trouble, make two heliotropes, the one for the win- 
ter, the other for the summer solstice ; and these 
two erections might be constructed with very little 
expense, for two pieces of timber framework about 
ten or twelve feet high, and four feet broad at the 
base, and close lined with plank, would answer the 
purpose. 
The erection for the former should, if possible, 
be placed within sight of some window in the com- 
mon sitting parlour, because men, at that dead sea. . 
son of the year, are usually within doors at the 
close of the day; while that for the latter might be 
fixed for any given spot in the garden or outlet, 
whence the owner might contemplate, in a fine 
summer’s evening, the utmost extent that the sun 
them to settie on trees ; they therefore, in the hours of darkness 
and danger, betake themselves to their own element, the water, 
where, amid large lakes and pools, like ships riding at anchor, 
they float the whole night long in peace and security.—WHITE’s 
Observations on Birds. b 
