218 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



the back of one another, that a thinking mind cannot but 

 suppose that providence has some great work in hand ! But 

 of all these strange commotions, the sudden overthrow of the 

 French despotic monarchy is the most wonderful a fabrick 

 which has been now erecting for near two centuries, and 

 whose foundations were laid so deep, that one would have 

 supposed it might have lasted for ages to come : yet it is 

 gone, as it were, in a moment !! 



These troubles naturally put me in mind of Dr. Chandler, 

 who, the last time we heard of him, was at Brussels, in a most 

 uncomfortable situation, having his baggage seized and his 

 papers tumbled about, for which he was in great concern. A 

 man of his resolution and address, and who, by his long 

 voyage to the Levant, has, as it were, been inured to dangers 

 and difficulties, might by himself make his way thro' all the 

 misrule and uproar that prevail in all the provinces of the 

 Netherlands: but the case is very different where a man has a 

 wife and infant to protect and take care of ; and therefore I 

 heartily wish that he and family were safe at home. My 

 account of our visit from Miss Reeve, who paid us a great 

 compliment and did us much honour, I knew would make 

 you and Mrs. Ventris smile : I could tell you also, if I had a 

 mind, of a great honour received from Lady Coterel Dormer. 

 You are very kind in taking the trouble, amidst all yr busy 

 hours, of enlarging my index : when I had carryed it to its 

 present bulk, I desisted out of pure modesty, thinking I 

 should swell the vol. unreasonably; but, to say the truth, when 

 I showed it to my Bro. he expressed a wish that it had been 

 fuller: it was then too late. 



Your worry bree is undoubtedly a corruption of breeze or 

 breese, a synonymous word with the gad-fly, well known to 

 naturalists : as to liyant, we know nothing of the term, or of 

 the distemper intended thereby. When I was at Elden hole 

 I remember to have seen daws flying from out that horrible 

 and tremendous chasm. These birds, thought I, are wise in 

 their generation: for here they may breed uninterrupted from 

 age to age, since the most roguish boys dare not interrupt 

 their ancient inaccessible kingdom. 



