LBTTEB II 3 



my Love to Him ; where is Jo : Warton now & Tom ? * is that 

 agreeable Toad Carter with you? All these claim my Love, 

 never forgetting dear Tomkyns of new College : & Jack Budge. 

 There is not one person in this County that I have seen yet,t 

 Warton would not have made a jest of, they have all 

 some very obvious Peculiarities. I saw Collins J in Town, he is 

 entirely an Author, & hardly speaks out of Eule : I hope his 

 Subscriptions go on well in Oxford : He told me that poor 

 Hargrave was quite abandon' d, that He frequented night Cellars ; 

 I am sure you will be sorry for it, it really concerns me when I 

 think of it, that so sprightly a Genius & so much good-nature 

 should be so thrown away. Dear White, commend me to all 

 that are so kind as to enquire after me ; & pay my Respects to 

 Mr. Bentham, my mother loves you, you have a strong party in 

 a Family that you never saw, but I claim your Heart, & am 

 with Sincerity 



Your Affte Friend, & humble Sert. 



John Mulso. 



Letter 2. 

 To Mr. White, Lead's Abbey, 



at Oriel College, Oxford. Augst. 1744. 



Dearest Gil : 



I should have answer'd your very obliging Letter before 

 this Time, if I had not been hurried away on ye most agreeable 

 Tour to Canterbury, where I have been with all our Family at 

 my Uncle's this Fortnight, a Fortnight of very great pleasure, 

 but like all Pleasures, short. Sure your Caution was ill-tim'd, 

 & giv'n under some ill star, for I have been for ever in the 

 Corners of Coaches, since your's reached me. I was at ye Races, 

 ye Assemblies, ye Concerts, ye Plays, the — in short every thing 

 that can be call'd gay, & delightfull. Macklin presided over ye 

 last of ye Diversions I nam'd, & I saw him perform ye Jew in 

 the Merchant of Venice, which gave me ye utmost Satisfaction. 

 Nothing can possibly be so shocking as that Character perform'd 

 by him, & I felt that sort of pleasure which Evander tells -^Eneas 

 his people seem'd to express over ye Carcass of ye uncouth 

 Cacus. 1 have likewise for ye first Time seen ye Sea, my 

 Brother, & a young Gentleman, & I breakfasted on ye Brink of 



* Joseph and Thomas Warton, sons of Thomas Warton, Vicar of Basing- 

 stoke and master of the school of "the Guild of the Holy Ghost" there where 

 Gilbert White was educated. The former who was at Winchester College 

 with John Mulso, and subsequently at Oriel, attained some literary distinc- 

 tion and became Headmaster of Winchester College, the latter went to 

 Trinity College, Oxford, and became Professor of Poetry there, and Poet 

 Laureate. 



t Letter imperfect. 



J The poet, who was also Mulso's contemporary at Winchester College. 



