xviii WHITE'S SELBORNE 



White's house in the village, known as " The Wakes," a 

 heritage from his uncle in 1763, his 



" rural, sheltered, unobscured retreat," 



yet remains, the old rooms being still left, though their arrange- 

 ment has been altered, and the whole has been considerably 

 enlarged. In the garden, " whose terrace commands so roman- 

 tic and picturesque a prospect that the first master in landscape 

 might deem it an object well worthy of his pencil," stands his 

 sun-dial, and in the paddock near the garden are the remains 

 of his summer-house. 



Audubon and Wilson, together with Thoreau, Jefferies, and 

 other Idyllists of the Country-side, have rendered ornithology 

 and similar studies easier since the monograph of the illus- 

 trious Hampshire parson; but he must still be regarded as 

 the stepping-stone to careful observation, and the inspiration, 

 more or less, of the flocks of volumes that have succeeded his 

 which are concerned with ornithology and various branches 

 of natural history, more especially the less technical works 

 on out-of-door studies and out-of-door life. Restricted space 

 necessarily precludes a comparison of the " Natural History 

 of Selborne" with numerous works of other authorities on kin- 

 dred themes. And although the author's facts and observations 

 relate to a country whose fauna and characteristics differ 

 largely from our own, they will be found none the less inter- 

 esting; while so far as the manner of presentation is con- 

 cerned, his volume will always serve as a model on which it 

 is difficult to improve. 



The name of Selborne has been immortalized by Gilbert 

 White ; and the visitor who accepts his olden " Invitation " 

 to climb the Hanger and view the beauties of its lovely pas- 

 toral surroundings, or who seeks the scene of his Echo in the 

 romantic path to Nore Hill, will intuitively recall the lines of 

 the " Faerie Queene " : 



" And every wood, and every valley wide, 

 He filled with Hylas' name, the nymphs eke Hylas cride." 



GEORGE H. ELL w ANGER. 



