LXIX.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
197 
LETTEE LXIX. 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 
We liad in this village more than twenty years ago an idiot- 
boy, whom I well remember, wdio, from a child, showed a strong 
propensity to bees ; they were his food, his amusement, his 
sole object. And as people of this cast have seldom more than 
one point in view, so this lad exerted all his few faculties on 
this one pursuit. In the winter he dosed away his time, 
within his father's house, by the hreside, in a kind of torpid 
state, seldom departing from the chimney-corner ; but in the 
summer he was all alert, and in quest of his gaDie in the fields, 
and on sunny banks. Honey-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, 
were his prey wherever he found them : he had no apprehen- 
sions from their stings, but would seize them nudis manihus, 
and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their 
bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would 
fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a number of 
these captives ; and sometimes would confine them in bottles. 
He was a very Merops a'pianUr, or bee-bird ; and very injurious 
to men that kept bees : for he would slide into their bee- 
gardens, and, sitting down before tlie stools, would rap with 
his finger on the hives, and so take the bees as they came out. 
He has been known to overturn hives for the sake of honey, 
of which he was passionately fond. Where metheglin was 
making he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging a 
draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran about he used 
to make a huimning noise with his lips, resembling the buzzing 
of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous 
complexion; and, except in his favourite pursuit, in which he 
was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of understanding. 
Had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, 
he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a 
