282 GILBERT WHITE OF SELBORNE 1775 



quotation from the Medea of Seneca, prophetic of the dis- 

 covery of that vast continent. 



" veneant annis 

 Secula seris, quibus oceanus 

 Pateat, tellus, Tiphysque novos 

 Detegat orbes ; nee sit terra ultima Thule." 



N.B. Tiphys was pilot to the Argonautic expedition ; and 

 a type of Columbus. 



All friends join in respects. Yours affect., 



Gil. White. 



Sure your Fauna should sell outright for £100 clear of all 

 deductions. Mr. Pennant gets that sum for his new edition 

 of * British Zoology ' ; and your work will contain much 

 more new, original information. I want to see you the first 

 of Faunists. With regard to anecdote and real natural 

 history the less you borrow from books the better; you 

 have a large fund of your own. Benj" will get very largely 

 by Mr. P.'s Scotch tour. 



Under date March 7th, Fyfield, the Naturalist's 



Journal records — 



" Bro*^ Harry's strong beer, which was brewed last Easter- 

 monday with the hordeum nudum is now tapped, and incom- 

 parably good ! '* 



To Samuel Barker. Selborne, March 30, 1775. 



Dear Sam, — As I took no copy of my last hasty letter on 

 poetry, I am not very certain how far I went on that sub- 

 ject, and what I omitted : however I think I said nothing 

 concerning the power that masterly wTiters possess of adapt- 

 ing their numbers to their subject, or rendering the sound 

 "an echo to the sense." Homer and Virgil, no doubt, 

 enjoyed this faculty in great perfection ; and have shewed 

 wonderful instances of it: but then you must remember 



