102 
NATURE NOTES. 
Such a writer was the Rev. Gilbert White. 
The Natural History of Selborne is one of our greatest prose 
lyrics. As a pastoral it ranks next to the Complete Angler, but 
excels it in breadth of mind and depth of nature-love. Byron’s 
ironical couplet on Walton was not altogether without excuse ; 
the cold-blooded, though probably unintentional, cruelty of the 
“ Contemplative Man ” has caused many a tender heart to 
shudder. White, on the other hand, never jars against the most 
delicate feelings ; from first to last he is all mildness and peace ; 
his love for animals soars far beyond the range of rod and gun. 
The gentle qualities of his work have made it dear not only to 
the lover of Nature but also to the lover of books. It is dearer 
at the present day than ever before, because its rural simplicity 
and genial calm are enhanced by the confusion and turmoil of 
modern life. Its total power for good is incalculable ; one result 
is to be seen in the formation of the Selborne Society. So much 
for the position and worth of Gilbert White as the author of 
those immortal letters. It was expedient to regard him in this 
main aspect before passing on to consider his poetical efforts, 
for the lesser works of any writer should always be judged by 
the standard of his noblest accomplishment. 
Poetry — especially lyric poetry — is the outpouring of the soul 
in its highest states, “the record,” says one author, “of the 
happiest moments of the happiest minds.” Nearly all our great 
prose- writers have been poets at heart, poets in will if not in 
practice, in capacit)' if not in faculty ; scarcely one can be men- 
tioned who has not occasionally turned aside from his wonted 
highway to worship, frequently in sweetest tones, at the shrine 
of the holier muse. These poetical diversions of theirs, even 
when trifling in themselves, should always be respected as the 
children begotten of the spirit whilst in an unusually intense or 
lofty condition, and therefore hereditarily endowed with the 
deepest and highest virtues or aspirations of their parent. 
Again, poetry is the hardest endeavour of every literary brain, 
though the achievement of very few : but a man’s attempts 
commonly testify of his nature more truly than his successes. 
Let us, then, briefly review the poems of Gilbert White with 
the object of learning therefrom the principal beauties of his 
character. 
He writes for the most part in the riming pentameter couplet, 
which was the fashionable versification of his time. He has the 
singular merit, rare among minor poets of the period, of absolute 
freedom from a false ring of Pope, Johnson, or Goldsmith ; his 
general tone reminds us rather of Cowper and Thomson. As 
in his letters, he speaks in no man’s voice but his own, but his 
originality, though distinct, is quite unobtrusive. His versifica- 
tion and rhythm are both decidedly good, and his rimes correct. 
The most widely known of his poems is “ The Naturalist’s 
Summer Evening Walk,” which, being addressed to Thomas 
Pennant as a letter, always finds a place in the popular editions. 
