Vol. xxxiii.] 6 



as it is it forms the most suitable memorial of the Naturalist's 

 life and work, and it may be hoped, will still continue to do 

 so, in spite of the schemes which have from time to time 

 been suggested of erecting to him some more pretentious 

 monument. The village school at Selborne, and the water- 

 supply at the ' Well-head/ to the south of the village, also 

 record his name. 



As we enter the village street on leaving the Church we 

 have in front of us ' The Wakes/ for so many years the 

 residence of Gilbert White. This, as recorded in the 'Life' 

 here appended, came into his possession in 1763, he and his 

 father having previously occupied it as tenants of the Rev. 

 Charles White at an annual rent of £5 7s. per annum. 

 The part of 'The Wakes' facing the street has been so much 

 altered by its various owners that no semblance of the 

 original structure remains. After Gilbert White's death it 

 passed into the possession of his niece, Mary White, he 

 having originally bequeathed it to Thomas his nephew, eldest 

 son of his brother Thomas Holt- White, but being ultimately 

 persuaded by Benjamin the publisher to leave it to him, 

 Benjamin left it to his unmarried daughters, of whom Mary 

 alone never married; she died possessed of it in 1839, and 

 in 1842 it was purchased by Professor Thomas Bell, White's 

 ablest editor, who resided there for forty years. He lies 

 buried in Selborne churchyard, not far from his famous 

 predecessor. A picture of 'The Wakes' as it stood in Bell's 

 day (view from village street) will be found as the frontis- 

 piece of the second volume of Bell's edition of the ' Natural 

 History of Selborne/ while the first volume gives a garden 

 view of the house, a still older aspect of the same being- 

 given in the quarto edition, 1813, of the 'Natural His- 

 tory.' From these engravings can be traced the various 

 alterations and extensions. Though all semblance of the 

 street aspect of l The Wakes ' as it was in the Naturalist's 

 time has vanished, in that part of the house visible from 

 the garden we can still distinguish some of the old rooms 

 which Gilbert White used. Looked at from the garden, 

 the old portion stands on the extreme right, the ground 



