310 BIRDS AND MAN 



way : one to be re-absorbed into the grey stones 

 and long grass, the ancient yew-tree, the wooded 

 Hanger ; the other to pursue his walk to the 

 neighbouring parish of Liss, almost ready to 

 believe as he went that the inteiriew had actually 

 taken place. 



It only remains to say that the smile (my 

 smUe) would have been at the expense of some 

 modern editors of the famous " Letters," rather 

 than at that of my interlocutor. They are 

 astonished at Gilbert White's vitality, and can- 

 not find a reason for it. Why does this " Uttle 

 cockle-shell of a book," as one of them has lately 

 called it, come gaily down to us over a sea full 

 of waves, where so many brave barks have 

 foundered? The style is sweet and clear, but 

 a book cannot live merely because it is well 

 written. It is chock-fuU of facts ; but the facts 

 have been tested and sifted, and aU that were 

 worth keeping are to be found incorporated in 

 scores of standard works on natural history. I 

 would humbly suggest that there is no mystery 

 at all about it ; that the personality of the author 

 is the principal charm of the " Letters," for in 

 spite of his modesty and extreme reticence his 



