14 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



me no more Eector, for Alack & welladay I shall be but a Vicar,* 

 the Church of St. Paul's taking ye other Title to Themselves, 

 which I could very well spare if they took nothing else ; however 

 I have no Reason to complain I am sure. I called on your 

 Brother Benjamin yesterday & found Him well : assure ye 

 timorous Mrsf & Miss Isaac that ye Roads between Alton & 

 London are passable & I wish They may have as little Dust as 

 I had & less Company. I find that Mr. Lyttleton has just pub- 

 lish'd a little Treatise on ye Conversion of St. Paul which is 

 universally approv'd, He who in his Youth was unsettled is be- 

 come a very steady & useful Christian. Let me hear of You 

 both before & during your Excursions : I thank You for ye use 

 of Squinny Junior, whose Absence I regrett, tho' ye Roads 

 about Loudon look so hot in comparaison of your charming woods 

 that ye Temptation to riding is but faint. I have forgot ye titles 

 of some Books which your uncle mention'd & which I would 

 endeavour to get if I could be reminded of Them. Disperse my 

 Compliments every where & believe me Your sincere Friend 



I can't help telling You, tho' 'tis a little uncharitable, that 

 Collins appears in good cloaths & a wretched carcass, at all ye 

 gay Places, tho' it was with ye utmost Difficulty that He scrap'd 

 together 5 pound for Miss Bundy at whose Suit He was arrested 

 & whom by his own confession He never intended to pay. I 

 don't beleive He will tell ye Story in Verse, tho' some circum- 

 stances of his taking would be burlesque enough. The Bailiff 

 introduc'd himself with 4 Gentlemen who came to drink Tea, A 

 who all together could raise but one Guinea. The i-vayvdipiais (a 

 word He is fond of) was quite striking & ye catastrophe quite 

 poetical & interesting. 



Letter 10. 

 To Mr Gilbert White August 1, 1746. 



at Selbourne near Alton Hampshire 

 I have a little the longer deferr'd writing to dear Gil :, 

 suspecting that ye charms of TodnamJ would occasion my 

 Letter's lying unopen'd at Selbourne, if I wrote sooner : and I 

 cannot believe that You pass'd by Tom Mander so quick as You 

 told me You would ; if I know him, He has ye Art of engaging a 

 little longer, & yet a little longer Tarrying, 



Lucretius's Suave mari magno &c. : was not ye Reason that I 

 laugh'd so heartily at your Stage Coach Sickness, which now you 

 have recover'd I hope You will forgive me; I beleive it was 



• Of Sunbury. t Aunt to Gilbert White. 



X Todenham near Moreton-in-tbe-Marsh, Gloucestershire. 



