204 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



of Life. I am complaining of ye weather ; it is here perpetual 

 Rains, wth worse than Winter Eoads, so that Riding is quite 

 disagreable. I have but this Day adventured to begin my Hay, 

 which groaned for ye Scythe. My Glass rises a little, & so I 

 took Courage, & hope for Success. If I can get my Hay well 

 in, there is a greater Plenty of it than has been known for many 

 Years. May I hope that you will put my Horses upon it after 

 our Rides in the latter End of this Summer, if we live to see 

 it? Come, my dear friend, Time is precious. Some how or 

 other it has enter'd into my Head that I shall not stay long 

 in this Country : Let me have ye Satisfaction of shewing to you 

 a very pretty part of it. Sr Philip Musgrave took Us in his way 

 into ye North, & is pleased wth our Place. We had some Item 

 about Dr Ogle's calling, but have heard or seen Nothing of him. 

 I had a civil Message from my Patron the other Day, but he 

 stayed hardly at all in these Parts this year; he was twice 

 called from Leeds in the little Time he could give to his Militia, 

 of which he is very fond. Pray tell my Sister Mulso that her 

 Brother & Sister whip'd over here in a Tim Whisky the other 

 day, & gave Us a very kind Invitation to Wakefield ; which we 

 were not well enough to accept, tho', I assure You, Vaux Hall 

 Gardens are opened at Wakefield, which must be a strong Temp- 

 tation. Tell my dear Sister Chapone that if She has reed my 

 Letter & it's inclosed for some Time, She is not very polite 

 to a new Correspondent, nor grateful! to me who tired myself 

 to Death in the Quantity of words that I wrote for her ; tho' 

 I do not repent, if it gave her Pleasure. 



Farewell, my dear Friend, I am going wth my Wife & 

 Children into ye Hay Field. It has an Arcadian Sort of Sound 

 wth it, but to say Truth I am too dunder headed to think poeti- 

 cally or in a romantic way. Serious things best suit me now, 

 & therefore seriously, tho' not sadly, I am. 



My dear Gil, Ever afftely Your's 



Jno Mulso. 



P.S. Mrs Mulso's Love &c : & Jenny's. 



July 4. I have just reed a Lr fm my Brother & beg You 

 to give him the Inclosed. 



Letter 122. 



To the Reverend Mr White Witney, Oxfordshire. 



at Selborne near Alton, Hampshire. Apl. 13, 1767. 



Dear Gil, 



Tho' it is long since I heard from You, yet I determined 

 to keep Silence, 'till I knew ye Issue of ye Affair of this Collation 

 of ye Bishop of Winton. I have the Pleasure of dating from 

 ye Blanket-making Town, now my own Living, as I have received 



