GOSSAMER. 215 



sadly, and half disqualify me for a naturalist ; for, 

 when those fits are upon me, I lose all the pleasing 

 notice and little intimations arising from rural 

 sounds ; and May is to me as silent and mute 

 with respect to the notes of birds, &c., as August. 

 My eye- sight is, thank God, quick and good ; but 

 with respect to the other sense, I am, at times, 

 disabled, 



" And Wisdom at one entrance quite shut out." 



XXIII. 



ON September the 21st, 1741, being then on a 

 visit, and intent on field diversions, I rose before 

 daybreak : when I came into the enclosures, I 

 found the stubbles and clover grounds matted all 

 over with a thick coat of cobweb, in the meshes 

 of which a copious and heavy dew hung so 

 plentifully that the whole face of the country 

 seemed, as it were, covered with two or three 

 setting-nets drawn one over another. When the 

 dogs attempted to hunt, their eyes were so blinded 

 and hoodwinked that they could not proceed, 

 but were obliged to lie down and scrape the 

 encumbrances from their faces with their fore 

 feet ; so that, finding my sport interrupted, I 

 returned home, musing in my mind on the odd- 

 ness of the occurrence. 



As the morning advanced, the sun became 

 bright and warm, and the day turned out one of 

 those most lovely ones which no season but the 

 autumn produces, cloudless, calm, serene, and 

 worthy of the south of France itself. 



About nine, an appearance very unusual began 

 to demand our attention, a shower of cobw r ebs 

 falling from very elevated regions, and continu- 



