OF SELBORNE. 17 



LETTER XXXVL 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR; SELBORNE, Nov. 22, 1777. 



You cannot but remember that the twenty- 

 sixth and twenty-seventh of last March 

 were very hot days ; so sultry that every 

 body complained and were restless under 

 those sensations to which they had not 

 been reconciled by gradual approaches. 



This sudden Summer-like heat was at- 

 tended by many Summer coincidences ; for 

 on those two days the thermometer rose to 

 sixty-six in the shade ; many species of in- 

 sects revived and came forth ; some bees 

 swarmed in this neighbourhood ; the old 

 tortoise, near Lewes in Sussex, awakened 

 and came forth out of its dormitory : and, 

 what is most to my present purpose, many 

 house-swallows appeared and were very alert 

 in many places, and particularly at Cobham* 

 in Surrey. 



VOL. II. C 



