LETTER CXXVII 209 



should be glad to know when you will be at Oxford & whether 

 you will peep at Us. 



I find you are going wth a large party to London. I had 

 hopes of meeting you there, but Mr & Mrs Stebbing have taken 

 Possession of my Nest, so I must delay my Flight, 'till I hear 

 of your being gone from London, which is a severe Tryal, because 

 meeting you in Town would have been a double Pleasure. 



I hope you will have ye Grace at least to let me hear from 

 you, when you see how sollicitous I am about You, & that in 

 spite of your Neglect of me, I am ever. 



Dear Gil, Your's affectly 



J. Mulso. 



P.S. Mrs Mulso's & ye family's affte Comps. to you. I have 

 not been on Horseback these 5 Weeks. 



Letter 127. 

 To the Eev. Mr White, Witney, 



at Selborne near Alton, Hants. Apl. 23, 1768. 



Dear Gil: 



I think it very long since we have continued the Corres- 

 pondence between Us : I do not know where it stopped, but I 

 have a Reason why I have not wrote of late, which is, that 

 there have been several Calls upon You to give your Attendance 

 at Oxford, and then I had Hope of seeing you here, as the 

 Distance is very little, & Conveyance various & easy. I hope 

 to hear you are well, as I have been dissappointed of asking the 

 Question by word of mouth : Let me know what is your family 

 & how You go on. Have You been a Sufferer, as I have, in your 

 Shrubbery by the Severity of the Winter ? I have lost several 

 of the Trees that You admired so much : great are the chasms 

 where flourished my Laurestinums, the roots are left, & a few 

 only promise to revive : my beautifull arbutus has it's Head 

 lopped off, & is, I fear, gone beyond recovery. My Jessamine 

 Trees, which shelter'd my Parlour have been forced to be cut in. 

 My late Gardener has left me, I have agreed wth another to 

 take Care of every thing, find Seeds, & live out of my House at 

 Twenty four Pounds pr Year. Half my Trees are spoiled by 

 the Carelessness of ye former Scoundrell, Some were not pruned 

 for three Years. The broad leaved Herb, which you enquired 

 after which has a hoar Leaf is the Moth Mullin or (as the 

 Gardener pronounces it) Hactaper, but I think it sounds as if 

 there was some Error in ye last word. 



I see by the Papers that your neighbour Btty has outlived 

 his Sweat at the Arch Bishop's & Has got Possession of his 

 Living. I saw him in London. 



I have a peculiar Business in my Church tomorrow. To 

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