MY STUDY WINDOWS. 



MY GARDEN ACQUAINTANCE. 



NE of the most delightful books in nay father s 

 library was White s Natural History of 

 Selborne. For me it has rather gained in 

 charm with years. I used to read it without 

 knowing the secret of the pleasure I found in 

 it, but as I grow older I begin to detect some 

 of the simple expedients of this natural magic. Open the 

 book where you will, it takes you out of doors. In our 

 broiling July weather one can walk out with this genially 

 garrulous Fellow of Oriel, and find refreshment instead of 

 fatigue. You have no trouble in keeping abreast of him as 

 he ambles along on his hobby-horse, now pointing to a pretty 

 view, now stopping to watch the motions of a bird or an 

 insect, or to bag a specimen for the Honourable Dairies 

 Barrington or Mr. Pennant. In simplicity of taste and 

 natural refinement he reminds one of Walton ; in tender 

 ness toward what he would have called the brute creation, of 

 Cowper. I do not know whether his descriptions of 

 scenery are good or not, but they have made me familiar 

 with his neighbourhood. Since I first read him, I have 

 walked over some of his favourite haunts, but I still see 

 them through his eyes rather than by any recollection of 

 actual and personal vision. The book has also the delight- 



129 



