XXII 



NEW LETTERS. 



Selborne, Jan : 1st : 1791. 



(To THOMAS BARKER, ESQ.) 



DEAR SIR, 



As the year 1790 is just at an end, I send 

 BAIN IN 1790. you the rain of that period, which, I trust, has 

 been regularly measured. Nov. and Dec. as you 

 see, were very wet, with many storms, that in 

 various places had occasioned much damage. The 

 fall of rain from Nov. 19 to the 22, inclusive, was 

 prodigious ! The thunder storm on Dec. 23 in the 

 morning before day was very aweful : but, I thank 

 God, it did not do us any the least harm. Two 

 millers, in a wind-mill on the Sussex downs near 

 Good-wood, were struck dead by lightning that 

 morning; and part of the gibbet on Hind-head 

 on which two murderers were suspended, was 

 beaten down. I am not sure that I was awaked 

 soon enough to hear the whole storm : between 

 the flashes that I saw and the thunder, I counted 

 3227 from 10 to 14 seconds. 



In consequence of my Nat. Hist. I continue to receive 

 various le'tters from various parts ; and in particular from a Mr. 

 Marsham of Stratton near Norwich, an aged Gent: who has 

 published in the E. S. respecting the growth of trees. Do you 

 know any thing about this person ? He is an agreeable corre- 

 spondent. He is such an admirer of oaks, that he has been 

 twice to see the great oak in the Holt. 



D r . Chander, and family, who came at first only with an in- 

 tent to stay with us a few months ; have now taken the vicarage 

 house for some time. The Dr. is much busied in writing the 

 life of his founder, William Wainflete : he lives a very studious, 

 and domestic life, keeps no horse, and visits few people. We 

 have just received the agreeable news that Mrs. Clement was 

 safely delivered, last Wednesday, of a boy, her 8th child, which 



