26 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



Vacancies at Peterboro', my Sister has not been so usefully fatal ; 

 She has appear d (if You will allow a little poetical Prose) like 

 blooming Health, & inspired new Youth into ye wither'd Elders. 

 The Dean was as gay & galant as Twenty, & old Dr Robinson is 

 a passionate admirer ; perhaps You will think He dotes when I 

 tell you that He makes Eiddles & Rebuses : & there passes 

 between T. R. & H. M. such a pretty war of wit, as deserves 

 printing as much as Jo : Miller, & Durfey's Pills to purge 

 Melancholy. 



I have not resign'd my Liberty. I am willing enough, but 

 my Friends will have them Chains of Gold ; I must own they 

 ought to be so, & so I take up wth Liberty 'till I can get ye Gilt. 

 I am sick of ye word Liberty, & hate to hear it talk'd of as much 

 as I should hate ye Cant of Change Alley ; 'Tis a Thing we little 

 understand, & never value, I beleive, 'till it is lost; & whether I 

 can lose in ye way You meaa I would have you ask your Aunt. 



I have been backwards & forwards between this Place & 

 London so often this winter, that I wish I don't get ye Title of 

 Chaplain to ye Stage Coach ; I am to be sure as well known as 

 ye Bohemia Head ; & as Prince Hal says, am sworn Brother to 

 a Leash of Drawers. And yet it appears to me (to reverse the 

 wit of old Hippesley) that I am always coming back & never 

 goiog. My Eriends in Town are well & much your's. Jenny 

 intends to set apart a Room in ye Vicarage by the name ye White 

 Boom ; I could almost perswade Her to have a Child or two ye 

 less, for Fear of excluding my Friend. We are all much oblig'd 

 to You for making our Names so familiar in your Mouths, 

 because I dare say You speak from Friendship & ye abundance of 

 your Hearts. Pressy & Tom are good Christians & live in Hope. 

 My Uncle has refus'd ye See of Litchfield & Coventry, which is 

 bad for Tom, because the Secretary's Place is £250 pr An, My 

 Lord tells me I have no Reason to be sorry, as it is no great 

 Patronage for my Turn. 



We are much oblig'd to Miss Nanny* for her Desire to be 

 acquainted with our Girls. They would be glad of such a new 

 Friend. I had like to have laughed when You told me of ye 

 accident which happen'd to her Nose, I should never have sus- 

 pected Jier Nose of being longer than her arms. I could not help 

 thinking of the Nurses Story in Romeo & Juliet. I don't know 

 vyhether You remember ye innocent answer, when She stinted dk 

 cryed, ay. Bob Young having a good deal of Intimacy in ye 

 Whiston Family & hearing Family news there, made me find that 

 impertinent Story somewhat pertinent. Let me know whether I 

 am right, & how that matter goes on, for I hear it is near a 

 Conclusion. 



• Gilbert White's sister Anne. 



