404 NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



his proceeding in the construction of such a work from the materials left 

 by Gilbert White. The Naturalist's Calendar is a fulfilling of the original 

 intentions of the historian by the individual who had previously contri- 

 buted in some degree to render them nugatory. 



The original editor of the present work is known both as the author of 

 numerous and popular productions and as one of an eminently literary 

 and scientific family. He dedicates to his sister, Mrs. Barbauld, his 

 Calendar of Nature, referring to her children's books as having raised 

 the character of such publications. " Had it been designed," he says, 

 speaking of his own work, " for a different class of readers, a larger com- 

 pass might have been taken, and a more learned and elevated character of 

 writing have been aimed at, yet it must still have remained essentially the 

 same ; and its merit must still have been that of compilation. The plan 

 itself is a borrowed one ; and you must certainly recollect its model in 

 one of your own little books, where, in a very entertaining manner, you 

 give a brief description of the several months, formed of some of the most 

 striking circumstances attending each. What you have done for a child 

 three or four years old, I have attempted for young people from ten to 

 fourteen." In editing from the MSS. of White, he carried yet higher his 

 desires of extending acquaintance with natural history ; the work com- 

 piled by him from that source being adapted to students of adult powers, 

 and embodying many facts which were altogether new, at the time of their 

 publication, to naturalists generally. Founded on the observation of 

 nature their interest is calculated to endure. E.T. B. 



