EDITOR'S NOTE. 



the "Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' So- 

 ciety" is due the credit of having first made 

 public the ten Letters from Gilbert White 

 to Robert Marsham which are here re- 

 printed. 



By singular good fortune these letters were discovered 

 amongst other family records in the possession of the Eev. 

 H. P. Marsham, of Rippon Hall, near Norwich, a great 

 grandson of the gentleman to whom they were addressed, 

 and with great liberality he placed them at the disposal of 

 the Society in whose " Transactions " they have been re- 

 cently published, 1 together with the corresponding replies 

 from Marsham to White, the originals of which, are in the 

 possession of Mr. Bell of Selborne. 



Robert M irsham, of Stratton Strawless, Norfolk, to whom 

 these letters were addressed, is already known to most 

 readers of White's writings as a correspondent to whose 

 opinions the latter often referred in terms of respect. His 

 leisure hours were devoted chiefly to arboriculture, and he 

 delighted in making experiments on the growth of forest 

 trees, the results of which he communicated from time to 

 time to the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal 

 Society, of which learned body he was a Fellow. The " In- 

 dications of Spring," of which he left such a remarkable 



1 " Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society." 

 1876, vol. ii. pp. 133-195. 



