THE EET. GILBEET WHITE. XI 



preferment. There can be no doubt that the " shades of old 

 Selborne, so lovely and sweet," were peculiarly well adapted 

 for the observations of a lover of nature ; and here Mr. White 

 passed his days either in correspondence with, or in the 

 society of, amiable friends, and closed them in the 73rd year 

 of his age, on the 26th of June, 1793. 



Mr. White in his earlier days was much attached to Miss 

 Mulso (afterwards Mrs. Chapone), whose brother was his 

 most intimate friend, and between them a most interesting 

 and amusing series of letters took place. These letters 

 would have been well worth publishing, and it was intended 

 that this should be done ; but when Mr. Mulso' s son was 

 applied to for Mr. White's correspondence, the mortifying 

 answer was returned that they had all been destroyed, 

 Mr. Mulso' s letters, we understand, are still remaining. 



It should be mentioned, on the authority of one of his 

 nephews, and it may well be imagined, that Gilbert White's 

 habits were very temperate, and his temper cheerful and 

 social. He was often surrounded by his nephews and nieces, 

 and visited by the respectable gentry of his neighbourhood. 

 His pleasing manners were duly appreciated by them all. 

 As long as his health allowed him, he always attended the 

 annual election of Fellows at Oriel College, where the gen- 

 tlemen commoners were allowed the use of the common-room 

 after dinner. This liberty they seldom availed themselves 

 of, except on the occasion of Mr. White's visits ; for such 

 was his happy, and, indeed, inimitable manner of relating an 

 anecdote and telling a story, that the room was always 

 filled when he was there. Not very long after the publi- 

 cation of his " Selborne," Dr. Scrope Beardmore, the then 

 Warden of Merton College, made the following striking 

 observation to a nephew of Mr. White's, from whom the 

 Editor received the anecdote, and which has proved singularly 

 prophetic : 



