322 NATURAL HISTORY 



close to a walk where people are passing 

 all day long. 



Wall-fruit abounds with me this year ; 

 but my grapes, that used to be forward 

 and good, are at present backward beyond 

 all precedent : and this is not the worst of 

 the story ; for the same ungenial weather, 

 the same black cold solstice, has injured 

 the more necessary fruits of the earth, and 

 discoloured and blighted our wheat. The 

 crop of hops promises to be very large. 



Frequent returns of deafness incommode 

 me sadly, and half disqualify me for a 

 naturalist ; for, when those fits are upon 

 me I lose all the pleasing notice and little 

 intimations arising from rural sounds ; and 

 Ma^ is to me as silent and mute with re- 

 spect to the notes of birds, &c. as August. 

 My eyesight is, thank God, quick and 

 good ; but with respect to the other sense, 

 I am, at times, disabled : 



" And Wisdom at one entrance quite shut out." 



