126 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



to Us -while we had the pleasure of being with You : which 

 Pleasure was so great, that I will not tell You how much Pain it 

 gave us to part from it : I shall attribute a good deal of Mrs 

 Mulso's Success in her future Operations (if it please God to 

 grant her Success) to this very happy Expedition. She joins 

 wth me in begging that our most gratefuU Returns may be made 

 acceptable to your good Father, your kind Sisters, & to my dear 

 Friend himRelf for all the Favours We received at Selbourno. 



You will be glad to hear how we proceeded after parting from 

 You & Mr Ben : White at Alton : Truly we made not so much 

 Hast to get from You as we did to get to You : we past none of 

 our Stages wth great Expedition, nor did we urge any of the 

 Drivers beyond the Pace they had a mind to go : at Bagshot we 

 sat down to a hot Dinner & a good Fire, both which we enjoyed 

 very much, & stayed to make an End of at Leizure. It was half 

 an Hour after four when we arrived at our own Door. You may 

 let Mr Benj : White & Mr. Butler of the Swan at Alton know 

 that we passed all the Turnpike Boad at the Rate of Ninepence 

 pr Mile (tho' not without some little attempt at Farnham to take 

 us in for a Shilling, but not one word towards it at Bagshot) and 

 tho' we paid 6 Shills for ye cross miles home, which are between 

 6 & 6, yet had they been seven we should have been asked no 

 more, as Banyard himself told me, that being the lowest Bate 

 at which they put to a Pair of Horses ; but when in ye Traces a 

 Mile or two makes no Difference. Mr Butler laid us under 

 great Injunctions not to expose him for carrying us so cheap ; so 

 You may assure him that his Honour is safe. I thank God we 

 had no accident, nor other Inconvenience than exceeding low 

 Spirits all the Way : We found Mr Young very well, & surprized 

 to see Us enter the Parlour, for he did not hear the Chaise ; k 

 thought we should have been prevailed upon by the Ladies to 

 trespassed for a longer Time, which we should very easily have 

 been, had not we have given our word to Him to return on the 

 Day that we did. Your Family will be the Subject of many 

 Conversations & many good Wishes ; even your Dogs are 

 remembered wth Pleasure, in spite of Fleas. We beg our Com- 

 plements of Thanks may be made to Dr Bristow & Mrs Bristow 

 & the Yalden Family, who, I know, will add to many Favours 

 that of enquiring after our Healths & how Wo got home. 



We hope John, Carpenter, & Hercules* are both upon their 

 Legs again ; I do not take them to be congenial, tho' the Carpen- 

 ter seems a pretty Stick of wood enough, & I wish he had no 

 more Pain than the Subject matter that he works upon. 



I do not think that our Leaf here is more fallen than wth 



• Tliis was a " board-Btatuo " of Hercules erected in the grounds of Tho 

 Wakes at Selbome. 



