INTRODUCTION 



THE editing of Gilbert White's " Selborne " has been one 

 of the most interesting tasks which has ever fallen to my 

 lot. Notwithstanding the many excellent editions of the 

 work, I have been able to add a good deal of matter which 

 will be read with interest by lovers of Gilbert White. I 

 have carefully collated the text of the original edition 

 with that ordinarily published, and I have found several 

 variations in the renderings, which I have restored to their 

 original form, as issued by the author. 



The " Pennant " Letters now in the British Museum 

 contain many passages which have been deemed worthy of 

 restoration in the present edition. So little is known of 

 Gilbert White's personal history, that every additional fact 

 seems to me to be of interest, and the letters contain many 

 notes not previously published. This is especially the case 

 with respect to the letters about John White's Gibraltar 

 collections, and in a further memoir I shall endeavour to 

 trace out more completely the details of Gilbert White's 

 life ; for, although the materials for such a biography are 

 difficult to get together after a lapse of more than a 

 century, I am sure that a great many more facts can be 

 collected. 



Apart from Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, and 

 other places of historical interest in the British Islands, 

 there is probably no place, save Stratford-on-Avon, to which 

 the pilgrims of the Anglo-Saxon race render more respect- 

 ful tribute than to the lowly head-stone which marks the 

 grave of Gilbert White of Selborne. The occupant of that 



