.1 was never a great hand at hobbies, but I
am thinking of taking up a new one now. It is the breeding of death-watch beetles. I shall train these diligent little creatures to a high pitch of activity and enterprise, and then let them loose in the churches of those clergy who from time to time take me to task for views I may express on ecclesiastical subjects. I hope for very good results. This step, the execution of which I contemplate with considerable pleasure, is suggested by (not in) a letter from the Rev. Noel Mellish, Vicar of Beltonshaugh, Somerset. I have nothing whatever against Mr. Mellish (whom I do not know). Far from it. And I have no intention of sending him beetles. In any case that would be quite super- fluous, for his church is full of them already. There are more than enough to form the nucleus of my stud. As the church, restored early in the fifteenth century, dates back to St. Dunstan, it is felt that local effort (financial) to defeat the insects might fairly be supplemented from outside before they have brought the roof crashing down, as I trust my beetles will elsewhere. That seems to me reasonable. This paragraph contains all the information cheque-writers need.
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