260 'The Natural History of Selborne 



used to be forward and good, are at present backward beyond 

 all precedent : and this is not the worst of the story ; for the 

 same ungenial weather, the same black cold solstice, has in- 

 jured the more necessary fruits of the earth, and discoloured 

 and blighted our wheat. The crop of hops promises to be 

 very large. 



Frequent returns of deafness incommode me sadly, and 

 half disqualify me for a naturalist; for when those fits are 

 upon me, I lose all the pleasing notices and little intimations 

 arising from rural sounds ; and May is to me as silent and 

 mute with respect to the notes of birds, &c., as August. My 

 eyesight is, thank God, quick and good ; but with respect to 

 the other sense, I am, at times, disabled : 



" And Wisdom at one entrance quite shut out." 



