448 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the vale of a still evening is a pleasing circumstance concerning 

 this situation, not only as occasioning agreeable associations in 

 the mind, and remembrances of the days of my youth when I once 

 resided in that town, but also by bringing to one's recollection 

 many beautiful passages from the poets respecting the tuneable 

 and manly amusement of bell-ringing for which England is so 

 remarkable. Of these none are more distinguished and masterly 

 than the following : — 



Let the village bells, as often wont, 

 Come swelling to the breeze and to the sun 

 Half set, ring merrily their evening round. 

 It is enough for me to hear the sound 

 Of the remote exhilarating peal, 

 Now dying all away, now faintly heard, 

 And now with loud and musical relapse 

 The mellow changes pouring on the ear." 



— The Village Curate. 



On March 15th, 1793, we have the last glimpse of his South 

 Downs — a day of great vigour: — "My brother and I walked up to 

 Bentley Church, which is more than a mile from his house, and 

 on a considerable elevation of ground. From thence the prospect 

 is good, and you see at a distance Cruxbury Hill, Guild-down, 

 part of Lethe (Leith) Hill, Hindhead, and beyond it the top of 

 one of the Sussex Downs [Query, which is this?]. There is an 

 avenue of aged yew-trees up to the church, and the yard, which is 

 large, abounds with brick tombs, covered with slabs of stone ; of 

 these there are ten in a row, belonging to the family of the 

 Lutmans. The church consists of three ailes (aisles), and has a 

 squat tower, containing six bells. From the inscriptions it appears 

 that the inhabitants live to considerable ages. There are hop- 

 grounds along the north side of the turnpike road, but none on 

 the south towards the stream. The whole district abounds with 

 springs. The largest spring on my brother's farm issues out from 

 a bank in the meadow, just below the terrace. Somebody formerly 

 was pleased with this fountain, and has, at no small expense, 

 bestowed a facing of Portland stone, with an arch and a pipe, 

 through which the water falls into a stone basin, in a perennial 

 stream. By means of a wooden trough this spring waters some 

 part of the circumjacent slope. It is not so copious as Well 



