130 CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 



feats of activity of that kind. As this person was riding on 

 Salisbury Plain he saw a bird on the wing dropping some- 

 thing from its bill, and catching it again before it came to the 

 ground, several times repeatedly : this unusual sight drew his 

 attention, so that he rode nearer, and saw the same feat 

 repeated to his great surprize. It appeared to him that the 

 ball dropped and recovered was a wallnut. Now a wallnut, I 

 should think, would fall much faster than a dead bird, whose 

 feathers would meet with resistance from the air. 



In 24 days Mr. Grimm finished for me 18 drawings, the 

 most elegant of which are: 1. a view of the village and Hanger 

 from the short Lithe*; 2. a view of the S.E. end of the 

 Hanger and its cottages, taken from the upper end of the 

 Street ; 3. a side view of the old hermitage, with the hermit 

 standing at the door ; this piece he is to copy again for Un. 

 Harry ; 4. a sweet view of the short Lithe and Dorton from 

 the lane beyond Peasecod's house. He took also two views of 

 the Church, two views of my outlet, a view of the Temple 

 farm, a view of the village from the inside of the present 

 hermitage, Hawkley hanger (which does not prove very 

 engaging), and a grotesque and romantic drawing of the 

 waterfall in the hollow bed of the stream in Silkwood's vale 

 to the N.E. of Berriman's house. You need not wonder that 

 the drawings you saw by Grimm did not please you; for they 

 were 3s. 6d. pieces done for a little ready money ; so there 

 was no room for softening his trees &c. He is a most elegant 

 colourist; and, what is more, the use of these fine natural 

 stainings are altogether his own : yet his pieces were so 

 engaging in Indian-ink, that it was with regret that I sub- 

 mitted to have some of them coloured. Mr. Wyndham of 

 Sarum has engaged G. next summer for 8 or 9 weeks in a 

 tour round N. and S. Wales. I rejoice to hear you are so 

 deep in French. 



* [This forms the subject of the folded frontispiece to the first and to 

 the subsequent 4to editions. The persons represented in the plate are : 

 1. The Rev. Richard Yalden, the vicar of Newton; 2. Mrs. Yalden; 3. 

 Mr. Etty, brother of the vicar of Selborne ; 4. Mr. Thomas White, 

 Gilbert's brother. T. B.] 



