AND THE REV. R. CHURTON. 209 



LETTER XV. 



FROM GILBERT WHITE TO MR. CHURTON. 



Selborne, Dec. 3, 1788. 

 DEAR SIR, 



THERE is an old maxim, which poor dear Mrs. Etty now and 

 then made use of, that when once u Stir up we beseech thee, 



Lord, the wills of thy faithful people," &c. had been read 

 and passed over, the festival of Xtmass came creeping upon 

 us before we could be aware. Being reminded by this wise 

 saw, I began to think that I would write to neighbour 

 Churton, and invite him to S., when your agreeable letter 

 came in. 



It is a very flattering account that you give of the reception 

 which my book met with at Caversham and your lodgings. 

 There is reason to wish that the work may find many more 

 such candid readers: if not, what is to become of the Editors, 

 who have spared no expense in getting it up, and who have 

 printed off a large impression ? 



I am now reading every day yr friend Dr. Townson's dis- 

 courses, which give me, as you engaged that they would, 

 singular satisfaction : there is an acumen, and nicety of critical 

 discernment, not often to be met with. In his sermon, p. 282, 



1 am particularly charmed with the author's remarks upon the 

 use Xt made of his parables, and the reasons why they were 

 so nicely adapted to the taste of his hearers ! * 



We have just heard that Miss and Reb. Chase were on the 

 wing for India. Their motive must be, no doubt, a view of 

 settling in the married state. Celibacy has something in it so 

 abhorrent to the sex, that they will flie from pole to pole to 



* [The reference is to Dr. Townson's * Discourses on the Four Gospels,' 

 which were at that time much celebrated. Dr. Townson was a Fellow 

 of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Rector of Malpas, in Cheshire, Mr. 

 Churton's native place. He became Archdeacon of Richmond, and died 

 in 1792.T. B.] 



VOL. II. P 



