OF SELBORNE. ' l05 



this want in my own country ; for such 

 objects are very necessary ingredients in 

 an elegant landscape. 



What you mention with respect to re- 

 claimed toads raises my curiosity. An 

 ancient author, though no naturalist, has 

 well remarked that ^' Every kind of beasts, 

 " and of birds, and of serpents, and things 

 " in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, 

 ** of mankind, ^^'^ 



It is a satisfaction to me to find that a 

 green lizard has actually been procured for 

 you in Devonshire ; because it corroborates 

 my discovery, which I made many years 

 ago, of the same sort, on a sunny sandbank 

 near Farnham, in Surrey. I am well ac- 

 quainted with the south hams of Devon- 

 shire ; and can suppose that district, from 

 its southerly situation, to be a proper 

 habitation for such animals in their best 

 colours. 



Since the ring-ousels of your vast moun- 

 tains do certainly not forsake them against 

 Winter, our suspicions that those which visit 



* James, chap. iii. 7, 



