1773 



LATE MAKTINS 231 



gence of the Senegal swallows ? I hope they, as well as the 

 Govemour &c. have escaped the massacre of the natives, 

 mentioned in the newspapers. 



Tho* Cooper Bp. of Winton Author of the dictionary, lyes 

 buried in one of the Churches of the Borough of Southwark ; 

 I forget which, having neither Wood's ' Athense ' or * Godwin 

 de Prgesulibus ' to consult. The Vicar of Selborne who made 

 the entry seems to have been an oddity.* 



From the Naturalist's Journal- 



"Oct. 21. Saw several martins at Dorchester, in Oxford- 

 shire, round the Church. It is remarkable that the swallow 

 kind appear full as late in the midland counties as in the 

 maritime, a circumstance this more favourable to hiding 

 than migration. As it proved these were the last martins 

 that I saw." 



To the Bev, John White. 



Selborne, Novr. 2nd, 1773. 



I cannot deny that I did receive your letter while at 

 Oxford; but then my short time was so totally taken up 

 with the accounts, and the common room, and a little 

 visiting, that I never had the resolution to sit down to a 

 regular letter. 



Just before I came away, Skinner came up from a twelve- 

 month's sojourning at Brecknock to a regular residence in 

 College; he made me dine and sup and spend the whole 

 day with him ; and is the same chatty, communicative, 

 intelligent, gouty, indolent mortal that he used to be. 

 Moreover, he had written me a long letter! just before I 

 saw him, which arrived at Selborne some posts after I got 

 home. He is now first oars with regard to College pre- 

 ferment, and provided Dr. Patten should die (who is in a 



* Vide * The Antiquities of Selborne,' Letter VI. 



