OF SELBORNE. 89 



to rest for every shower; and does not 

 move at all in wet days. 



When one reflects on the state of this 

 strange being, it is a matter of wonder, to 

 find that Providence should bestow such a 

 profusion of days, such a seeming waste of 

 longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish 

 it so little as to squander more than two 

 thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, 

 and be lost to all sensation for months to- 

 gether in the profoundest of slumbers. 



While I was writing this letter, a moist 

 and warm afternoon, with the thermometer 

 at 50, brought forth troops of shell-snails ; 

 and, at the same juncture, the tortoise 

 heaved up the mould and put out its head ; 

 and the next morning came forth, as it 

 were raised from the dead ; and walked 

 about till four in the afternoon. This was 

 a curious coincidence ! a very amusing oc- 

 currence ! to see such a similarity of feel- 

 ings between the two <p^ioiy.oi ! for so the 

 Greeks call both the shell-snail and the 

 tortoise. 



Summer birds are, this cold and back- 



