Jane Austen was becoming well known through her novels about human relationships shortly after "parson-naturalist" Gilbert White had published The Natural History of Selborne based on studies of his property.  In their writings Jane and Gilbert represented parallel explorations of the human and natural worlds. They shared the same social circles, particularly since Gilbert sometimes preached at Chawton, but like eddying leaves in a stream, somehow they never met. The Knight family which had adopted Jane's brother Edward (and hence a source of wealth) had a copy of Gilbert's book while her younger brother James dedicated a lengthy poem to Selborne. Gilbert's world with displays encouraging childrens' curiosity and some representative garden plantings is a quick 7-minute 4-mile drive from Chawton.

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GILBERT WHITE'S HOUSE

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