LXIX.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



197 



LETTER LXIX. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAIXES BARRINOTON. 



WE had in this village more than twenty years ago an idiot- 

 boy, whom I well remember, who, from a child, showed a strong 

 propensity to bees ; they were his food, his amusement, his 

 sole object. And as people of this cast have seldom more than 

 one point in view, so this lad exerted all his few faculties on 

 this one pursuit. In the winter he dosed away his time, 

 within his father's house, by the fireside, in a kind of torpid 

 state, seldom departing from the chimney-corner ; but in the 

 summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game in the fields, 

 and on sunny banks. Honey-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, 

 were his prey wherever he found them : he had no apprehen- 

 sions from their stings, but would seize them imdis manibus, 

 and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their 

 bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would 

 fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a number of 

 these captives ; and sometimes would confine them in bottles. 

 He was a very Merops apiastcr, or bee-bird ; and very injurious 

 to men that kept bees : for he would slide into their bee- 

 gardens, and, sitting down before the stools, would rap with 

 his finger on the hives, aud so take the bees as they came out. 

 He has been known to overturn hives for the sake of honey, 

 of which he was passionately fond. "Where metheglin was 

 making lie would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging a 

 draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran about he used 

 to make a humming noise with his lips, resembling the buzzing 

 of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous 

 complexion ; and, except in his favourite pursuit, in which he 

 was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of understanding. 

 Had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, 

 he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a 



