1 84 NA TUKAL HIS TOR Y OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER XXIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, June %th, 1775. 



DEAR SIR, On September the 2ist, 1741, being then on a visit, 

 and intent on field-diversions, I rose before daybreak : when I came 

 into the enclosures, I found the stubbles and clover-grounds matted 

 all over with a thick coat 'of cobweb, in the meshes of which a 

 copious and heavy dew hung so plentifully that the whole face of 

 the country seemed, as it were, covered with two or three setting 

 nets drawn one over another. When the dogs attempted to hunt, 

 their eyes were so blinded and hood-winked that they could not 

 proceed, but were obliged to lie down and scrape the incumbrances 

 from their faces with their forefeet, so that, finding my sport inter- 

 rupted, I returned home musing in my mind on the oddness of the 

 occurrence. 



As the morning advanced the sun became bright and warm, and 

 the day turned out one of those most lovely ones which no season 

 but the autumn produces ; cloudless, calm, serene, and worthy of 

 the South of France itself. 



About nine an appearance very unusual began to demand our 

 attention, a shower of cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, 

 and continuing, without any interruption, till the close of the day. 

 These webs were not single filmy threads, floating in the air in all 

 directions, but perfect flakes or rags ; some near an inch broad, 

 and five or six long, which fell with a degree of velocity that showed 

 they were considerably heavier than the atmosphere. 



On every side as the observer turned his eyes might he behold a 

 continual succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twink- 

 ling like stars as they turned their sides towards the sun. 



How far this wonderful shower extended would be difficult to 

 say ; but we know that it reached Bradley, Selborne, and Alresford, 

 three places which lie in a sort of a triangle, the shortest of whose 

 sides is about eight miles in extent. 



