190 LETTERS TO QILBEBT WHITE 



fine Views here, but no such Scenes. We want your Cultivation. 

 My Garden is never in order from one End to the Other. The 

 Master is no Gardener, & ye Gardener is no Master in his way ; 

 besides that, I want Hands, & cannot afford them : & when AH 

 would be done, it is an old fashioned Ground, pieced together, 

 & would want totally a new Disposition to make it tolerable. If 

 I did not call-in ye Country, I should never think of calling in 

 Any Body to take a Walk to the end of it. My Brother has 

 described to me your new alterations: I long to see Them, as 

 well as You. 



My Brother has been very poorly ever since he has been here, 

 but I think he is now much better. My Sister & Miss Baker 

 have had their Ailments, & my dear Wife, who used to be Heart 

 of Oak, has been subject to very alarming Complaints of Giddiness 

 & violent Sicknesses, withont a Cause that one would hope would 

 make them but temporary. However with all our Complaints 

 the Ladies have been at Balls at Wakefield ; & last Thursday 

 Sen'night we had a very agreable Ball in my House. Seven or 

 Eight Couple of genteel Figures, Six of the He-Things OSicers. 

 There's Comfort for the Lady- Birds in such a Eetreat. I did not 

 get to Bed till between Four & Five in the Morning. Yet I do 

 not find that any Body was the worse for it. We diverted our- 

 selves wth the Thought of your falling in wth Us that very 

 Night. How would you have stared I ! & what Music Book must 

 I have got for You to have studied in a Corner ? 



I thought I had got a Horse to my Mind. A young Thing, 

 under four Year old, quiet, & sure-footed : but upon good feeding 

 the Quietness is over, & it's Paces are so shambling that I cannot 

 think it safe at all. Sr George Savile who was here lately, 

 ordered one of his Stewards to buy me a Horse ; there is a 

 Gentleman in Nottinghamshire, who had a little Horse that he 

 used to shoot from to dispose of; he grew too bulky for it. 

 This Horse is to be sent for ; but I have not yet got it, so can tell 

 you Nothing about it. I shall part wth the other as soon as it 

 comes. I am sorry to hear that You are, as you once called me, 

 not a bottomless Traveller. I have no Idea of a Seperation 

 between You & a Horse, who were once the Centaur not fabulous. 



I wish You Joy of your Sister Woods' being safely brought to 

 Bed, & of the Arrival of your Nephew : as well as of the Health 

 of your Neighbours, & your Brother's agreable Purchase, & of all 

 the favourable Circumstances of your Family concerns. 



I see by the Papers that the Storm that has raged in some 

 Parts of the South has been as near you as King's Clere ; I do 

 not know exactly where that is, but I hope it came no nearer. 

 Wo to your Melon Glasses, if it has ! — I have now some Melons 

 near upon cutting. Beans, Pease, & Cucumbers, are old. We 

 are not here so fond of ye Cantaleupe Sort ; tho' we have some 



