WITH ADDITIONS AND SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART. F.R.S.E., F.L.S., M.W.S. EDITED, WITH FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS, A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, EDWARD JESSE, ESQ. Author of "Gleanings in Natural History," &c. &c. A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. GILBERT WHITE It is impossible for any one to read that charming book, "The Natural History of Selbourne," or Selborne, as it is now generally spelt, without wishing to know something of its author, the Rev. GILBERT WHITE. We regret, however, that from his secluded habits in his favourite village, and the monotony of his life, little is known of him. That little we will now lay before our readers, which we are the better enabled to do from having had in our possession for some years the Diaries of Mr. White, which he kept with great care and neatness. From these Diaries, a pretty correct idea may be formed of Mr. White's habits of life. is evident that he was strongly attached to the charms of rural life, and the tranquillity afforded by his favourite village, where he spent the greater part of his time in literary occupations, and especially in the study of nature." It Gilbert White was born at Selborne, at the house where he afterwards lived and died, on the 18th of July, 1720. This house was then the residence of his grandmother, his |