342 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER XXVIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR; Selborne, Jan. 8, 177G- 



It is the hardest thing in the world to 

 shake off superstitious 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 inter- 

 woven into our very constitutions, that the 

 strongest good sense is required to disen- 

 gage 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 



