xxvi INTRODUCTION 



on White's plan, but their eyes were not so good as his ; they 

 failed to pick out the points of real interest, and they had no 

 Selbornes to describe. By the use of natural gifts exactly 

 suited to the task a man who was sagacious rather than 

 profound, and well-read rather than learned, wrote us a book 

 which will endure for ever, a small thing perfectly done. 



II. SELBORNE. 



I have heard people say that Selborne is only a commonplace 

 English village, which owes all its interest to the circumstance 

 that a man of genius once lived there. With this view of the 

 matter I totally disagree. Selborne is not at all commonplace ; 

 its variety of soil and of elevation, its terraces, woods, heaths 

 and waters, its antiquities and historical associations, make 

 it both remarkable and charming. White says of it : " The 

 parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, full of hills 

 and woods, and therefore full of birds ". It is not less full of 

 flowers and insects. Selborne is beautiful, calm, but not in 

 the least dull. There are few parishes in England fitter to 

 rear a naturalist, and Selborne had no doubt a great share in 

 the making of Gilbert White. 



The seclusion of Selborne was somewhat more complete in 

 White's time than now. The hollow lanes, though practi- 

 cable for horsemen and post-chaises, must have made the home- 

 end of every journey slow and fatiguing. 1 The great roads 

 once gained, either the Portsmouth Road or the Winchester 

 Road, the way to London was particularly good. White 

 could visit cities whenever he pleased to make the effort, and 

 the cities which he most frequented were of notable interest 

 London, where two of his brothers carried on business, and 

 Oxford, whither he was often drawn by college affairs and 

 lifelong friendships. London was a day's journey, Oxford a 

 two days' journey by post-chaise. Selborne was exactly the 



1 Visitors to Selborne must not suppose that the old road to Alton, now impass- 

 able, was the only one in White's day. In 1780 he recommends Churton to drive 

 from Alton to Selborne by Farringdon and the Horse and Jockey. 



