188 LETTERS TO GILBEBT WHITE 



whatever You may bring upon Yourself. Every Year's Loss is 

 a severe One ; and every new One brings some new Embargo, 

 that unless broke thro' would be an annual Hindrance & a 

 successive Procrastination. I cannot therefore bear the Thought 

 that the Filling of my better Rooms, should prevent your occupy- 

 ing one in my House. I hope You retain so much of your former 

 Self, as to be indifferent to accommodations ; if not, your Health 

 must be alter'd, & You are in that Sense, a worse Man than 

 when I saw You; which I hope is not the Case. Mrs Mulso 

 joins wth me in referring to Yourself, after displaying the Naked- 

 ness of ye Land, whether we may expect your Company this 

 Summer or no. You will be so Kind as to let me know as soon 

 as You can. 



I thank You for your Verses : ♦ They are as good as ever You 

 wrote. They are full of lively Description, of natural Painting, 

 of Tenderness & Elegance. 



I have got Lowth's Grammar, which I had long determfned 

 to have, before I reed Your last Letter. It answers what You 

 say of it. It is in it's present Shape too long, & too full of ye 

 Defence of itself; but that by a less ingenious Head might be 

 reduced into ye just Form, & Decisiveness of a Grammar, and 

 the Notes put at ye End. A Foreigner would by that Means be 

 sooner Master of our Rules of Language, & afterwards see the 

 Accuracies & Inaccuracies of ye Authors in it. Yet ye Examples 

 are, to Us, the most entertaining & improving Part of ye Book. 



I have read CoUins's Life.t Not enough is said, if it was 

 right to say any Thing at all : His Genius is not enough called 

 forth to Light, to whet ye Reader to buy one of his Works. As 

 to Hampton, we had always a Dislike to ye Man, tho' ingenious, 

 & his present Life does not take ofi that Prevention. 



We cannot recover ye Disadvantages that ye long Rains have 

 laid our Environs uuder. Little as I am of a Farmer, You can- 

 not conceive how many ways my Folks are employed, & how 

 much One Thing treads on Another's Heels. My Peas are but 

 a Foot high, & my Cucumbers are but just planted out in the 

 Hot beds. My beggarly old Wall Trees are just in Blossom. 

 My Fields but just fencing in ; an annual & heavy Expence 

 & Loss of Time. 



I hope Your Neighbour Etty is safely brought to Bed, & your 

 Sister in good Heart about her Turn. I thank God Mrs Mulso 



* Probably " Selborne Hanger, A winter piece," addressed "To the Miss 

 Battles, " which was written in November, 1763. 



+ This refers to a biographical notice which appeared in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine of January, 1764, of Johnson's character of William Collins in 

 the Poetical Calendar, Vol. xii. Hampton, the writer of this notice, was 

 cotemporary at Oxford with John Mulso & Gilbert White, and well known to 

 both of them. 



