OF SELBORNE 241 



bodies of some oaks that obstructed their farther course 

 and terminated this awful commotion. 



The perpendicular height of the precipice, in general, 

 is twenty-three yards ; the length of the lapse, or slip, as 

 seen from the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one ; 

 and a partial fall, concealed in the coppice, extends 

 seventy yards more : so that the total length of this 

 fragment that fell was two hundred and fifty-one yards. 

 About fifty acres of land suffered from this violent con- 

 vulsion ; two houses were entirely destroyed ; one end of 

 a new barn was left in ruins, the walls being cracked 

 through the very stones that composed them ; a hanging 

 coppice was changed to a naked rock ; and some grass 

 grounds and an arable field so broken and rifted by the 

 chasms as to be rendered, for a time, neither fit for the 

 plough or safe for pasturage, till considerable labour 

 and expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface 

 and filling in the gaping fissures. 



LETTER XLVI 



..." resonant arbusta "... 



Selborne. 



There is a steep abrupt pasture field interspersed with 

 furze close to the back of this village, well known by the 

 name of the Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, 

 and inclining to the afternoon sun. This spot abounds 

 with the gryllus campestris, or field-cricket ; which, 

 though frequent in these parts, is by no means a 

 common insect in many other counties. 



As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the 

 attention of a naturalist, I have often gone down to 



