E pluribus unum

… Enlightened blogging? Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne | OUPblog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The use of bite-sized pieces of information and opinion in White’s Natural History of Selborne reminds us that many of our prejudices concerning the development of mental habits derive from nineteenth-century views about individual endeavour and originality. But sustained solitary study and hard work were not valued as signs of good character until the Victorian period. In the eighteenth century, sociability was considered the most important attribute.