284 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



starved himself on the death of his Master. See his History 

 of Cheshire *. 



P.S. my friend who recommended to me the Nat. Hist, of 

 Selborne calld on me this morning & directed my letter. 



[Franked by " W. Windham."] 



LETTER XIII. 



WHITE TO MARSHAM. 



Selborne: Aug st 7. 1792. 



DEAR SIR, 



WHILE all the young people of this neighbourhood are gone 

 madding this morning to the great last day's review at Bag- 

 shot |; I am sitting soberly down to write to my friend in 

 Norfolk ; almost forgetting, now I am old, the impulse that 

 young men feel to run after new sights ; & that I myself, in 

 the year 1756, set-off with a party at two o' the clock in the 

 morning to see the Hessian troops reviewed on a down near 

 Winchester J. While I was writing the sentence above, my 



* [< The Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, &c.' By Charles 

 Leigh. Oxford : 1700. Folio. Book ii. pp. 8, 9. A. N.] 



t [' The Diary or Woodfall's Register ' for -Wednesday, August 8th, 

 1792, contains the following paragraphs : 



" Bagshot Camp. Tuesday, Four o'Clock P.M. 



"The spectacle of this day exceeded any public exhibition in this 

 kingdom. At six at least a hundred thousand persons were upon the 

 ground. At eight the King and Queen, with the Prince, the Dukes of 

 York, Richmond, [Commauder-m-Chief], &c., and their attendants. At 

 nine the Review began in the hollow, below Caesar's Camp. At 



one the concourse was so immense, that at least one hundred and fifty 

 thousand horsemen, (exclusive of the army) were upon the field. The 

 Pedestrians were innumerable." 



******** 



' l Yesterday being the grand Review of the troops encamped on Bag 

 shot Heath, the King went from Windsor in his Post-chaise soon after 

 Eight o'Clock. * The manreuvres began soon after the King's 



arrival, at half-past nine." A. N.] 



| [These were doubtless the forces who have left so ill a name in the 



