1753 



THE ZIGZAG AT SELBORNE 71 



"You have now passed through a good deal of your 

 Oxford confinement, yet much remains; what a pleasure 

 will you feel when this honourable clog is taken off and 

 you at liberty to range the country as you were wont!" 



In January, 1753, when Gilbert White was at 

 home for the Christmas vacation, his brother John, 

 who had some mechanical talent, was undertaking, 

 with some pecuniary assistance from other members 

 of the family, a work which must be very familiar to 

 all who know Selborne — the construction of the well- 

 known zigzag path from the bottom to the top of the 

 Hanger. This work had been apparently commenced 

 in the preceding autumn, since Gilbert White's 

 account-book contains the entry — 



1752. " Sep* 29 Gave towards my B^ Zi s d 

 John's Ziczac up Arbour Hill . 00. 01. 00." 



and in the following October there is mention of a 

 second subscription. 



John Mulso, writing on January 27th, 1753, 

 says : — 



"I have great ideas, but I suppose not adequate, of your 

 famous Zigzag, but I intend not to strain my fancy; that 

 being the farther distant from the real greatness of the 

 work, I may enjoy the Surprise the more, but why do I say 

 enjoy? I do not even foresee a visit to Selbourne. I fancy I 

 shall like the alteration of your Hill better than the altera- 

 tion of your verse, for unless by the difficulty of getting 

 through the one, you would signify the labour of climbing up 

 the other, (which is wrong to the very design) I do not think 

 the crassitude and impediments of the line compensated 



