SELBORNE. 
vii 
tlie sketch by Grimm inserted in the quarto edition of White's 
Selborne, pubhshed in 1789, and copied on a reduced scale for an 
edition superintended by Sir William Jardine in 1833, is calcu- 
lated to give quite a wrong impression, as it makes the village 
appear to stand on the brow of a hill, omits the Nore Hill al- 
together, and reduces Selborne Hill absolutely to nothing. 
As the above sketch brings before the reader, at one view, all 
the grand features of Selborne as described by its faithful his- 
torian, we shall recapitulate the leading points of it. The point 
of view is from a field, we believe on the farm of Harteley. 
The hedge separating the immediate foreground is one of 
those bordering the deep lane along which the carriage-road 
from Selborne to Harteley, or the old road from Selborne to 
Alton, passes; and, if the heights of the hedges are taken into 
account, no kind of carriage can be seen passing along the lane 
even by one situated within a few yards of its margin. Beyond 
this lane the ground ascends into what may be called the dell of 
Selborne, along which the north-western branch of the " Borne," 
or "Bourne," flows. This branch consists entirely of surface 
water, without any deep-seated springs ; and consequently, as 
Mr. White remarks, it becomes dry in seasons of great drought. 
Beyond this concealed dell the church appears, though only in 
part ; and to the reader's right of the church there is seen a small 
portion of the vicarage. The trees around these completely 
conceal the village, which is rather an advantage, inasmuch as 
the houses are so straggling that they cannot be grouped with 
pictorial effect ; and the consequence is that, in the sketch made 
hy Grimm, and already alluded to, Selborne appears a scene 
of desolation, which is the very opposite of its real character ; 
for, setting altogether aside the magical, and we may say 
immortal charm, with which the sylvan wand of the most de- 
lightful of enchanters has invested it, Selborne is a lovely 
place. Nor ought we to omit observing that a portion of that 
mantle which sat so gracefully upon Gilbert White appears to 
have been caught and retained by the population generally ; for 
there is not, perhaps, on the face of the earth a rustic population 
more orderly in their conduct, more suave in their manners, or 
better informed in their minds, than at Selborne. Some visitors 
have asserted that this place is abandoned to wild nature, — 
doubtless meaning thereby to imply that improvement has not 
found its way there. Nothing can be more unfounded — more 
