The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne: With Observations on Various Parts of Nature and the Naturalists Calendar |
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Page x
... circumstances under which this was afterwards sold , but some years since it became , and now is , the property of as worthy a successor as could have been chosen , whether we regard his abilities as a naturalist , or the respect in ...
... circumstances under which this was afterwards sold , but some years since it became , and now is , the property of as worthy a successor as could have been chosen , whether we regard his abilities as a naturalist , or the respect in ...
Page xii
... circumstances . " In looking along the village street of Selborne the ' Queen's Arms ' is seen upon the left , the chief inn of the place , where the visitor will be hospitably entertained ; but upon the right is the habitation which no ...
... circumstances . " In looking along the village street of Selborne the ' Queen's Arms ' is seen upon the left , the chief inn of the place , where the visitor will be hospitably entertained ; but upon the right is the habitation which no ...
Page 13
... circumstances this trade is at an end . The inhabitants enjoy a good share of health and longevity ; and the parish swarms with children . Since the passage above was written , I am happy in being able to say that the spinning ...
... circumstances this trade is at an end . The inhabitants enjoy a good share of health and longevity ; and the parish swarms with children . Since the passage above was written , I am happy in being able to say that the spinning ...
Page 16
... circumstances of commerce , and the necessity for increasing human food by cultivation , though comparatively unperceived , is not so very slow in its results ; fifty years may almost entirely change the zoology and botany of a district ...
... circumstances of commerce , and the necessity for increasing human food by cultivation , though comparatively unperceived , is not so very slow in its results ; fifty years may almost entirely change the zoology and botany of a district ...
Page 21
... circumstance respecting these ponds , though by no means peculiar to them , I cannot pass over in silence ; and that is , that instinct by which in summer all the kine , whether oxen , cows , calves , or heifers , retire constantly to ...
... circumstance respecting these ponds , though by no means peculiar to them , I cannot pass over in silence ; and that is , that instinct by which in summer all the kine , whether oxen , cows , calves , or heifers , retire constantly to ...
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Common terms and phrases
abound animals appear April autumn birds birds of prey bishop Bishop of Winchester breed brood called canons chaffinches church colour common cuckoo curious DEAR district edition eggs election feet female fieldfares flocks forest frequent garden Gilbert White ground Gurdon Hanger haunt hirundines hirundo house-martins inches insects July July 13 July 22 June June 11 June 9 Knights Templars late legs LETTER Linnæus Magdalen College male manner March mentioned migration mild natural history nest never night observed parish perhaps plants ponds prior priory Priory of Selborne probably procured quadrupeds rain remarkable ring-ousels season seems Selborne Seleburne Sept showers sings snow soon species spring stone-curlew summer suppose swallow swift titmouse trees vast vicar village warm weather White wild Winchester wings winter Wolmer woods young
Popular passages
Page 145 - ... afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident fore-fathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrewash was made thus :* — Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long since forgotten.
Page 178 - When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two-thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of slumbers.
Page 58 - NATURE'S works, the curious mind employ, Inspire a soothing melancholy joy : As fancy warms, a pleasing kind of pain Steals o'er the cheek, and thrills the creeping vein ! Each rural sight, each sound, each smell combine ; The tinkling sheep-bell, or the breath of kine ; The new-mown hay that scents the swelling breeze, Or cottage-chimney smoking through the trees. The chilling night-dews fall: — away, retire ; For see, the glowworm lights her amorous fire ! Thus, ere night's veil had half obscured...
Page 178 - The rattle and hurry of the journey so perfectly roused it, that when I turned it out on a border, it walked twice down to the bottom of my garden ; however in the evening, the weather being cold, it buried itself in the loose mould and continues still concealed.
Page 42 - Assaying by his devilish art to reach The organs of her fancy, and with them forge Illusions as he list, phantasms, and dreams ; Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint...
Page 6 - ... the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the...
Page 199 - Less than archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured ; as when the sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Page 137 - ... single filmy threads, floating in the air in all directions, but perfect flakes or rags; some near an inch broad, and five or six long, which fell with a degree of velocity that showed they were considerably heavier than the atmosphere.
Page 152 - For to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants...
Page 145 - ... it is supposed that a shrew-mouse is of so baneful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb.