NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 183 



Frequent returns of deafness incommode me sadly, and 

 half disqualify me for a naturalist ; for, when those fits are 

 upon me, I lose all the pleasing notices and little intima- 

 tions arising from rural sounds ; and May is to me as 

 silent and mute with respect to the notes of birds, etc., 

 as August. My eyesight is, thank God, quick and good ; 

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

 disabled — 



*' Ard "Wisdom at one entrance quite shut out," 



LETTER XXllI. 



Selborne, June Stk, 1775. 



On September 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 in- 

 cumbrances from their faces with their fore-feet, so that, 

 finding my sport interrupted, I returned home, musing in 

 my mind on the oddness of the occurrence. 



As the morning advanced the sun became bright and 

 warm, and the day turned out one of those most lovely 



