LETTER VII 



TO THE SAME 



RINGMER, near LEWES, Oct. Wi, 1770. 



DEAR SIR, [A run of company at my own house, and 

 a journey or two since, have prevented me from attending 

 to the letters of my most agreeable correspondents.] I am 

 glad to hear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with the birds 

 of Jamaica ; a sight of the hirundines of that hot and distant 

 island would be a great entertainment to me. 



[As I know you are a Gentleman of universal reading, 

 I have a great favour to ask of you which yet I trust you 

 will not deny me ; and that is that you would please to 

 furnish me with some anecdotes concerning the antiquities 

 and civil history of Gibraltar. Some of the old greek 

 geographers may perhaps mention how that spot was 

 circumstanced in old times. So particular a situation 

 must have been known to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, 

 and Saracens. The famous pillars of Hercules are sup- 

 posed to have stood somewhere near where our garrison 

 stands.] 



The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession ; and I 

 have read the Annus Primus with satisfaction ; for though 

 some parts of this work are exceptionable, and he may 

 advance some mistaken observations ; yet the ornithology 

 of so distant a country as Carniola is very curious. Men 

 that undertake only one district are much more likely to 

 advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more 

 than they can possibly be acquainted with : every kingdom, 

 every province, should have its own monographer. 



The reason perhaps why he mentions nothing of Ray's 



