LETTER CXIII 189 



is very well, & all my Brats. We go over to Wakefield to- 

 morrow to spend a few days. I was indulging Myself in writing 

 at my Leizure to you before I went, & now I have a neighbouring 

 Captn & his Lady come in to dine, which obliges me to hurry 

 to a Conclusion. Our best Loves & wishes attend You & all 

 Eriends of Hampshire. 



I am ever, Dear Gil, Afftely Your's, 



J. Mulso. 



Letter 113. 



Thornhill, 



June 29, 1764. 

 Dear Gil : 



It is very true that I have not wrote to you a long Time ; 

 But my Brother has, from my House. You have therefore 

 had some Account of our Proceedings. Of late I might have 

 taken up ye Pen, but I did not know whether I might not be 

 writing to a Man, who was on the Road to visit me. You have 

 most grievously cut off that Expectation. I now set down with 

 more certainty of my Letter's being received in Hampshire, 

 & more Sorrow that your perverse Curacy makes it so certain. 

 As to Mrs John Mulso & myself, it is more agreable to Us to 

 divide our Friends into different Parties, by which means they 

 enliven different Seasons ; but for your own Sake I could have 

 wished You wth my present Party, especially as my Brother 

 would have made a more able & agreable Companion in Jaunts 

 about ye Country, than Myself. But it is over for this Year ; 

 say no more : I am content, i.e. I cannot help Myself. 



I am now, & have been for near a week, seeing six or seven 

 acres of Hay spoiling under the Rain. You enquire of my 

 Brother whether I have a proper Patience for such a Sight. I 

 learned it last Year, when all my Acres were in the same 

 Condition : at present I have half not cut down, which is a 

 great Comfort. But I did not learn it of Farmers ; I never heard 

 of their being proper School- Masters on such Occasions, who are 

 universally Grumblers. I have just bought a Barometer, but 

 I bought it a day or Two too late ; Had I been possessed of it 

 Time enough to have been advertised of the Change of Weather, 

 I should have saved niy Hay. In Times past I could have taken 

 Heart at ye Sight of a Gleam of Sunshine, & hoped for an Oppor- 

 tunity of housing ; but this devilish Glass — sink, sink, sink ! ! — 

 But why don't You look off from it, say you ? — The Question was 

 put to a Man who was sp — wing his Heart up at a nasty Some- 

 thing under a Wall : — Oo-ak, Oo-ak, Oo-ak ! Pox on it — I can't 

 look off it, Oo-ak ! !— 



You tell me of your soft silky Scenes at Selbourne. We have 



