176 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



eager to hesur from You. I long to be under a Roof, where 

 such interesting Characters are so well preserved as those of 

 Friends & Brothers. As to ye addition of nay Sister Chapone's 

 Company, that will be as her Hosts please, but I can answer 

 for her that her Heart, like mine, will be with You. How 

 busy will you be when This reaches you, in showing out your 

 delightfull Places? My Sister Mulso, if She has Strength to 

 I'each them, has a Soul to enjoy them ; my Brother's picturesque 

 Genius will find Food : Yes, I see you upon ye Area of ye 

 Hermitage, the arm extended & the Finger pointing out ye 

 happier Lights & Shades of ye Prospect I I see You under 

 ye Beeches of the Lythe, You are in more soft & mild attitudes, 

 a Sort of Pastoral Spirit possesses You, You hardly want to 

 look over ye blue Forest, so contented are You in your green 

 Recess ; you see even ye possible Lake before You, & almost 

 hear ye Waterfall from ye imaginary Rock. 



But how will all your walks be spoiled, & your Prospects 

 clouded if You should be, as we are, deluged sub Jove pluvio. 

 Yes, Gil, that deplorable medallic Image, with his long Visage 

 & sweepy, dripping Locks, stares me in ye face, & threatens 

 me with the Loss of my Hay, which is almost all Soaking. 

 Whence have You had your Drought & we our Deluge at ye 

 same Time and with ye same Winds ? I do not understand it : 

 we have never had so rainy a Summer as this has been hitherto. 

 Put not your Trust in Almanack Makers, nor make your Hay by 

 weather-Glasses, for there is no Help in them ! 



My Brother, Wm Young, has made a Visit here, like a Dream. 

 He pretended to come for a Month & is gone in ten days. But 

 he has given me a fresh Occasion of showing my Regard for You, 

 in thinking of you when I am seeing agreable Places. Your 

 Letter met us at Wakefield in our Way to York, whither he 

 carried Mrs Mulso & myself & a neighbour, Miss Allot, in Post 

 Chaises. I have formerly spoke to you of York : but at ye Inn 

 there we fell in wth a Mr Tierny & Family who were going on 

 to Scarborough & purposed to take Castle Howard in their Way: 

 Thither we accompanied them : there we dined, there we lay at 

 an Inn in ye Park that looks like a Pallace. Indeed I thought 

 of you : ye Place is Princely. Our Country, tho' populous & 

 rich in natural Scenes, is not at all elegant. Even our Gentry 

 do not deal in ye high Tast : we therefore ye more relish'd ye 

 Grandeur of Castle Howard. There are noble & almost endless 

 Woods around the mansion, at proper Distances, & falling one 

 behind another in a beautifuU manner. The first View of ye 

 House & Environs from ye Turn of a Hill chilled me, like 

 Blenheim when I first saw it. The House, ye Inn, which has 

 a Pyramid in ye middle of it, the Castle Gate in ye Bottom, ye 

 Temple, ye Mausoleum which is a vast Peristylly with a Cupola, 



