THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 175 
lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous complexion; and, 
except in his favorite 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 more 
modern exhibitor of bees; and we may justly say of him 
Be es Thou, 
Had thy presiding star propitious shone, 
Shouldst Wildman be . .. ” 
When a tall youth he was removed from hence to a distant 
village, where he died, as I understand, before he arrived at 
manhood. 
LETTER XXVIII. 
SELBORNE, Jan. 8th, 1776. 
It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off superstitious 
prejudices: they are sucked in, as it were, with our mother’s 
milk ; and, growing up with us at a time when they take the 
fastest hold, and make the most lasting impressions, become 
so interwoven into our very constitutions, that the strongest 
good sense is required to disengage ourselves from them. No 
wonder, therefore, that the lower people retain them their 
whole lives through, since their minds are not invigorated by 
a liberal education, and therefore not enabled to make any 
efforts adequate to the occasion. 
Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we enter on 
the superstitions of this district, lest we should be suspected 
of exaggeration in a recital: of practices too gross for this 
enlightened age. 
But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do well to 
remember that no longer ago than the year 1751, and within 
