xxii MEMOIR. 



min Hyde lias been for some years my property. It is 

 that of a well-looking man under middle age. In the 

 back of the picture appears the sea, and there are other 

 indications of his profession. This person was the father 

 of Anne Holt's mother, therefore Gilbert White's great- 

 grandfather. These Hydes were connected with Lord 

 Clarendon's family. The elder of the two Benjamin 

 Hydes mentioned above was Governor of Carisbrook 

 Castle during the imprisonment of Charles I. in that 

 fortress, and appears to have won the good opinion of 

 the captive king by his kindness, as is evident from the 

 following note, which I transcribe from a fly-leaf of the 

 late Mr. Field's copy of the second quarto edition of the 

 'Selborne': 



" Copy of an original paper in the possession of the 

 Rev. Samson White, Maidford, Northamptonshire, con- 

 taining the blue ribbon given by Charles I. to Benjamin 

 Hyde, Governor of Carisbrook Castle, ' This was the 

 original George ribbon of King Charles I., and given to 

 Mr. Benjamin Hyde, when the king was prisoner in the 

 Isle of Wight, and kept in memory of that good king. 5 ' 



The first of the family who ever resided at Selborne 

 was the Rev. Gilbert White, who was vicar of the parish, 

 and was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, of which 

 he was also, at one period, Vice-President. He was the 

 grandfather and godfather of the naturalist. His grand- 

 father was Sir Samson White, of Swan Hall. There 

 is no reason to suppose that the father of Gilbert was 

 ever the possessor of the estate at Selborne. The Rev. 

 Charles White married Elizabeth, daughter of the vicar, 

 as appears in the church register of Selborne, in January 

 1730, and she died in 1753. Her husband died in 

 March 1763. He was the rector of Bradley and vicar 



