170 LBTTBRS TO GILBERT WHITE 



Letter 103. 



Thornhill, 



Oct : 9, 1762. 

 Dear Gil : 



Nothing could well exceed our Dissappointment at the 

 Beceipt of your Letter ; it was so very, so unusually long before 

 it came, that we concluded we should see You at our Gate, 

 instead of your Handwriting ; and my Heart beat several Times 

 at seeing men of clerical appearance riding along ye Lane, which 

 is at a little Distance from my House. I desire that you would 

 not aim at Wit any more; it seldom succeeds well, when it's 

 Design is to impose upon any One ; Mrs Mulso is so angry at 

 You that She almost gives You up. Let me see an immediate 

 Beformation in You, or She vows that this is the last Letter 

 I shall write to You, 'till I have seen You. 



Yet how, as You have stated ye Case, am I to justify my 

 Hopes of seeing you, since you tell me it depends upon your 

 Uncle's Death ? *Tis true a Change from a State of weakness 

 & Pain, to Life & Immortality would be a Happiness to Him ; 

 but what Friend here who has known Him & respected him, 

 ought to dictate ye Time in their Minds, or would willingly part 

 with Him ? That I long to see You is certain, but that I wish 

 Length of Days in Peace & Honour to Mr White is as certain ; 

 and tho' it makes against my wishes in one way, I cannot but 

 enter into ye Feelings of you & your family in regard to a Man, 

 whose many good offices have deserved your Affections. I leave 

 therefore this Event to Him who best knows how to dispose 

 of us, & beg you in ye mean Time to let me see You often in 

 Black & white. This too my Wife insists upon ; if She did not 

 love You well, She would not be so angry at You as She is. 



You tell me of an Alcove at ye End of your Terrace. Which 

 is your Terrace ? for you had no Walk of that Denomination 

 when I saw Selbourne ; Is it the North Side of Bakers Hill ? 

 or is it near ye other Bench, where the opening & new Bastion 

 was, facing the Cynic Tub? Clear me up: for I am lost in ye 

 Grandeur of your Outlets & ye Multiplicity of your Improvements* 



We are so far like you that we have hardly a field about us 

 that does not deserve an Alcove ; but I content myself with 

 plain Benches. I have lately put up one near my house, & it 

 is call'd Fisher's Bench, for it was at his Bequest that I put 

 it up, tho' I had before designed it in my own Mind. You will 

 hereafter, please God, know it for one of the most delectable 

 Spots that You have seen. Mr Fisher stay'd but for ye Christen- 

 ing of his eighth So7i, & then set out for Thornhill. His Stay 

 from so large a family could be but short, but he was so kind 

 as to seem delighted with everything he saw here. I have some 

 Flower roots coming by the waggon from him. My Garden is 



