328 WHITE 



of warmth, 6 he inclines his shell, by tilting it against the wall, 

 to collect and admit every feeble ray. 



Pitiable seems the condition of this poor embarrassed rep- 

 tile ; to be cased in a suit of ponderous armor, which he can- 

 not lay aside ; to be imprisoned, as it were, within his own 

 shell, must preclude, we should suppose, all activity and dis- 

 position for enterprise. Yet there is a season of the year 

 (usually the beginning of June) when his exertions are remark- 

 able. He then walks on tiptoe, and is stirring by five in the 

 morning ; and, traversing the garden, examines every wicket 

 and interstice in the fences, through which he will escape if 

 possible ; and often has eluded the care of 'the gardener, and 

 wandered to some distant field. The motives that impel him 

 to undertake these rambles seem to be of the amorous kind ; 

 his fancy then becomes intent on sexual attachments, which 

 transport him beyond his usual gravity and induce him to for- 

 get for a time his ordinary solemn deportment. 



NOTES 



1 A judicious antiquary who saw this vase observed that it possibly might 

 have been a standard measure between the monastery and its tenants. The 

 Priory we have mentioned claimed the assize of bread and beer in Selborne 

 manor, and probably the adjustment of dry measures for grain, etc. G. W. 



2 The time when this court is held is the mid-week between Easter and 

 Whitsuntide. G. W. 



8 Owen Oglethorpe, president, etc., an. Edw. Sexti, primo [viz., 1547] 

 demised to Robert Arden Selborne Grange for twenty years. Rent vi 11 . 

 Index of Leases. G. W. 



4 Culver, as has been observed before, is Saxon for a pigeon. G. W. 



5 A warren was an usual appendage to a manor. G. W. 



6 Several years ago a book was written entitled " Fruit Walls Improved 

 by Inclining them to the Horizon : " in which the author has shown, by 

 calculation, that a much greater number of the rays of the sun will fall on 

 such walls than on those which are perpendicular. G. W. 



