MEMOIR OF 



lawn of which is covered with the most perfect soft grass carpet, 

 on which I saw many water wagtails at work. Professor Bell 

 will doubtless forg,ive me when I say that his venerable appear- 

 ance and the surroundings of his house, could not but make me 

 imagine that when talking to him I was talking to the great 

 Gilbert himself. The sun-dial in front of the drawing-room 

 windows at Newton Valence parsonage is said to have been placed 

 there by Gilbert White during his nephew's incumbency. 



From page 9 of the book the visitor will at once recognise 

 White's house. It has been little, if at all, altered for many a 

 long year. Out of this very door and through the lattice-gate 

 Gilbert White passed to and fro into the village highway. 

 The Plestor, page 5, is the " Charing Cross " of the village. The 

 word " Plestor " means playing-place : I suppose it may be 

 freely translated " playground." The oak which White mentions 

 as having been formerly there, and which was said to be 400 

 years old, is now represented by a sycamore. This must have 

 been a tree of some considerable size thirty-two years ago, for 

 Mr. Biimie, Mr. Bell's gardener, tells me that at a fair held in 

 the Plestor, and abolished thirty-two years since, one limb of it 

 fell off and destroyed the booth owned by a black man. 



I would request the reader to peruse carefully the words of 

 White describing the oak in the Plestor. They read thus : 

 " In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak with a 

 short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to 

 the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with 

 stone steps and seats above them, was the delight of old and 

 young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings, where 

 the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and 

 danced before them." 



When standing in the Plestor the idea suddenly struck me 

 that the song of " The Old Oak-Tree," which we boys sang with 

 such glee at Winchester School, was composed from White's 

 description of the celebrated oak at Selborne. Not only is the 

 general idea set in poetry, but even White's own words are 

 partially adopted. Here are the words of the song : compare 

 them with the words of the text : 



" Here 's a song to the oak, the brave old oak, 

 Who has stood in the greenwood long. 

 Here 's health and renown to his broad green crown, 

 And his trusty arms so strong. 

 In the days of old when the spring with gold 

 Was lighting the branches gray, 

 Through the grass at his feet crept maidens sweet, 



