GILBERT WHITE. 



she said, " Ah, that's what I mean." She said that old Dame 

 Terry knew all about "White, but Dame Terry had been dead 

 forty-eight years. Dame Terry must have been over eighty, 

 therefore she must have been contemporary with White many 

 years. Mr Binnie, gardener to Mr. Bell, said that there was an 

 old man of the name of James Cobb who was nearly ninety, and 

 was eight years old when White died. When Cobb saw White 

 coming he used to run and put stones into the ruts and fill them 

 up. White used to give him a penny and say " Good boy, good 

 boy." Mr. Binnie recollects Butler the thatcher, who was married 

 by White, and who died aged ninety-two. Mr. Binnie said that 

 Hale who died in 1855, aged seventy-eight, described White to 

 him as a " little, thin, prim, upright man." Hale must have been 

 sixteen years old when White died. He frequently had tea 

 with White. 



Gilbert White was a quiet, unassuming, but very observant 

 country parson. The access to Selborne in those days must have 

 been very difficult (vide page 11). This worthy man therefore 

 occupied his time in observing and recording the habits of his 

 parishioners, quadruped as well as feathered. 



Mr. Bell kindly took me to a room up stairs, where he showed 

 me a large number of White's manuscripts. Having thoroughly 

 inspected White's house and village, I was able to discover why 

 his notes are so disconnected. When he returned home he 

 took a sheet of paper and wrote his observations of the day. I ob- 

 served the manuscript was very much faded ; it is written on 

 the same sort of paper and with the same kind of ink as 

 letters written by the Eev. John Buckland of Warborough. 

 In those days it is evident that blotting-paper was little, if at 

 all used, for many of the lines were iridescent, as though the dust 

 used instead of blotting-paper was made of brass filings or some 

 such material. 



I was happy to hear from Mr. Bell that he is about to issue 

 an edition of White's " Selborne." The numerous manuscripts in 

 his possession will indeed mak Professor Bell's book most 

 interesting. Mr. Bell intends his edition to be a classical book, 

 more fit for the student's library than for general readers. The 

 Professor most generously informed me he was glad to hear I 

 was bringing out this edition, and he promised me any assist- 

 ance in his power. Professor Bell has lived at Selborne thirty- 

 three years, and cherishes White's memory with the greatest 

 reverence ; and into no better hands could White's house, manu- 

 scripts, &c., especially the correspondence with Linnaeus, have 

 passed than Professor Bell's. 



White's sun-dial still exists at the end of the garden, the 



