LETTER XLIV. 



To the 



Monstrent 



Quid tantuni Oceano properent se tingere soles 

 Hyberni; vel quce tardis mora noctibus obstet" 



SELBORNE. 1 



ENTLEMEN who have outlets might con- 

 trive to make ornament subservient to util- 

 ity : a pleasing eye-trap might also contribute 

 to promote science : an obelisk in a garden 

 or park might be both an embellishment and 

 an heliotrope. 



Any person that is curious, and enjoys the 

 advantage of a good horizon, might, with little trouble, make 

 two heliotropes ; the one for the winter, the other for the 



1 This letter has no date of time, but one of place only. It, and most of 

 those which follow it, were not, I believe, ever really written to Barrington. 

 They are notes called forth by the subjects of the previous series. Many 

 of them are not dated at all : these, I fancy, were written merely to 

 embody other important observations not alluded to in the genuine cor- 

 respondence. Their style is accordingly more " literary " and less spon- 

 taneous :_they are therefore of far inferior interest and importance to the 

 actual letters. ED. 



