of Selborne 173 



noise with his h'ps, resembling tlie buzzing of bees. 

 This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous com- 

 plexion ; and, except in his favourite pursuit, in which he 

 was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of under- 

 standing. Had his capacity been better, and directed 

 to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our 

 wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibitor of bees ; 

 and we may justly say of him now, 



"Thou, 



Had thy presiding star propitious shone, 

 Should'st Wildman be." . . . 



When a tall youth he was removed from hence to a 

 distant village, where he died, as I understand, before he 

 arrived at manhood. 



I am, etc. 



LETTER XXVIII 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON 



Selborne, Jan. 8, 1776. 



Dear Sir, 

 It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off super- 

 stitious prejudices : they are sucked in as it were with our 

 mother's milk ; and growing up with us at a time when 

 they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting 

 impressions, become so interwoven into our very con- 

 stitutions, that the strongest good sense is required to 

 disengage ourselves from them. No wonder therefore 

 that the lower people retain them their whole lives 

 through, since their minds are not invigorated by a liberal 

 education, and therefore not enabled to make any efforts 

 adequate to the occasion. 



Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we enter 

 on the superstitions of this district, lest we should be 

 suspected of exaggeration in a recital of practices too 

 gross for this enlightened age. 



But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do 



