7 [Vol. xxxiii. 



floor now used as a schoolroom was the original Kitchen, 

 and over it was Gilbert White's ' drawing room/ which 

 lie afterwards used as a bedroom and where he died. (cf. 

 Bell, vol. ii. p. 135.) Village tradition has it that he at 

 one time occupied the attic over this, and his study, where 

 the ' Natural History ' was written, lay at the back of the 

 kitchen, as may be seen from the engraving in Bell, vol. ii. 

 To the left of the old portion stands the ' great parlour ' 

 built by Gilbert White and so often mentioned by him, and 

 on its north wall may be seen the stone which bears his 

 initials and the date of its completion, 1777. His old brew- 

 house, which the writer well remembers in its original 

 condition, with the selfsame coppers which the Naturalist 

 used, has but recently been turned into a dairy; it stood to 

 the south of the old wing right on the village street. In 

 the garden may still be seen Gilbert White's sundial, standing 

 on the ' Terrass' facing the Hanger, and above the ' Ha Ha' 

 or sunk fence mentioned in the ' Garden Kalendar/ A rem- 

 nant of the fruit-wall which Gilbert W^hite built in 1761, 

 and the stone which marks its completion still remain, as 

 does also the winding path of ' doubly baked ; bricks which led 

 down to the summer-house in the meadow. Professor Bell, 

 during his occupation of 'The Wakes/ entered in a journal, 

 still carefully kept there, the names of all the trees he 

 planted and the dates of such planting. Thus the trees which 

 stood in Gilbert White's time can be readily identified. 



Beyond the garden lie the various parcels of ground which 

 Gilbert White and his brother Thomas added from time to 

 time to ' The Wakes ' property. Leaving 'The Wakes' and 

 immediately opposite the house, the Butcher's Shop should be 

 noticed. In front of this stand three ancient limes, originally 

 four, planted by Gilbert White, March 31st^ 1756 — as he 

 writes in his ' Garden Kalendar ' for that date — ' Planted four 

 limes in the Butcher's Yard to hide the sight of blood and filth 

 from the windows.' The paved footway from the butcher's 

 shop to the blacksmith's forge, part of which still remains, 

 was made by him in 1762, and is recorded under date 

 December 18th for that year in the ' Garden Kalendar ' as 



