154 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



(tho' not at present increasing) Family, call upon Me to look more 

 to ye Comforts &, Conveniences than to the Gayeties of this 

 World : and if it please God but to keep me in Health & to 

 preserve to me the Blessings that he has given me, I can find 

 Myself in happiness enough in a ThankfuU Enjoyment of them. 



In my next perhaps I may give some Account of the Environs 

 & ye Neighbours. In the mean Time let me hear how & what 

 You do, & how you new modell & adorn your own beautifuU 

 Fields, to which We have Nothing comparable : Your Zigzag 

 hangs over my Study Door (the Hermitage I mean) & puts me 

 in Mind of Selbourne, if indeed I wanted a Monitor. The 

 farthur I am removed, consider me as more eager to know what 

 concerns my Friends : The Northern Air is in all Respects a 

 WJietter. Our Posts are slow, therefore do not You be dilatory. 



Mrs Mulso's affte Comps. & those of this Family attend You. 

 I have told my Gardiner of You and he longs to see You ; tho' 

 he grows old, he hopes to avail himself of your Knowledge, 

 which at least is modestly said. 



I am. Dear Gil, Your sincere & afifte Friend, 



J. Mulso. 



Letter 95. 



Thornhill, 



Aug : 11, 1760. 

 Dear Gil : 



By the assemblage of the Family at Selbourne we have 

 some Suspicions that Miss White has changed her Name ; if so, 

 or whenever that Event may take Place, may all the Happiness 

 that the married State can give fall to her Lot ! You put Us 

 to great Pain in reading ye account of your Uncle's Accident ; 

 the Escape was indeed providential, & may give Mr White 

 Spirits, by supposing that God Almighty who spared him in 

 that dangerous Moment, may prosper Him for many Years in 

 his late Acquisition : I am glad to hear that Tidworth is agre- 

 able, more I think for Harry's Sake than your Uncle's, for He 

 seems to have a Chance for most residence. I have been recol- 

 lecting & watching for five Days, since the Receipt of Your's, 

 but if You have the same Course of weather that we have here, 

 You have not yet dined in the Hermitage. The Image of that 

 Place, & the Pleasures we enjoyed fm the Circle that belong to 

 it, are so strong in our Minds, that we feel your Dissappointment 

 as if the Case was our own. I look up to ye Picture of it from 

 ye Chair I now sit in, (it hangs over my Study Door) & fill my 

 Self wth many a friendly Thought. I enjoy your new Pur- 

 chase-'= extremly ; I see ye Alteration, I could draw it now, but 



* Some orchard ground adjoining the house at Selbome. 



