x INTRODUCTION. 



present advanced state of knowledge, not forgetting the Publishers' 

 kindly warning that " the Editor should not make himself of more 

 moment than the original author." Where notes appear at the 

 foot of a page ttey are White's own. Those at the end of each 

 chapter are by the Editor. 



The village of Selborne presents no more special features of 

 interest nor greater facilities for the study of Natural History than 

 hundreds of other of our charming English villages ; and it is the 

 patient and close observation by one man of the natural world 

 around him which has given it a name above its fellows. The 

 general features of it do not vary very much from the time of 

 White ; and any description of it here would only challenge com- 

 parison with the close description of it given by the Author; but 

 of the author himself we may tell all we know, for in his modesty 

 he has told us nothing. 



The materials for a sketch ~f White's life are singularly scanty. 

 He kept no personal diary, and left no portrait of himself. In an 

 edition of his book published in 1802, nine years after his death, 

 his brother John wrote the following short sketch of his life. 



" Gilbert White was the eldest son of John White of Selborne, 

 Esq., and of Anne, the daughter of Thomas Holt, rector of 

 Streatham in Surrey. He was born at Selburne on July i8th, 

 1720; and received his school education at Basingstoke, under 

 the Rev. Thomas Warton, vicar of that place, and father of those 

 two distinguished literary characters, Dr. Joseph Warton, master 

 of Winchester school ; and Mr. Thomas Warton, poetry-professor 

 at Oxford. He was admitted at Oriel College, Oxford, in Decem- 

 ber, 1739, and took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1743. 

 In March, 1 744, he was elected fellow of his college. He became 

 Master of Arts in October, 1746, and was admitted as one of the 

 senior proctors of the University in April, 1752. Being of an un- 

 ambitious temper, and strongly attached to the charms of rural 



