218 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



Sollicitude to see Us adds to my Regret for my Inability to 

 comply. 



Letter 133. 



To the Reverend Mr White Witney, 



at Selboume near Alton, Hants. Nov : 1, 1769. 



Dear Gil ; 



You are a Man, as I have long known, so very much 

 Master of your Passions, & so guarded in your Behaviour & even 

 in your Expressions, that when I see a little Ebullition I guess 

 there is a considerable Fire beneath. Thus in your Letter that 

 lies before me, I see that You was more than commonly dissap- 

 pointed in not having my Wife's & Daughter's Company & mine 

 at Selborne this Summer. But to appease You, I do assure 

 you, that it was a Thing, tho' much in my Wishes, yet entirely 

 out of my Power. What another Year may produce God only 

 knows ; but I dare hardly give my wishes Vent, having almost 

 always found Myself dissappointed in them, tho', I trust, for the 

 best, in the whole. Yet You hardly now know what you ask, 

 when You ask for our Company, & for a good while. We are 

 expensive & we are troublesome Guests. We both cry out, 

 *' Non Sum qualis eram," Mrs Mulso no longer walks like a 

 Woman wth Child, & I have forgot to put on Boots, tho' wth 

 the Direction of left Leg. So that we are greazy, sedentary, 

 potations Inmates. Take us therefore if you dare ; but let there 

 be some agreeable Female Companion at hand to sit wth Mrs 

 Mulso in the Bottom, while I once more wheeze & sweat to 

 arrive at the Top of the charming Hanger. My Jenny will be an 

 almost indefatigable Companion, & an assiduous Scholar in your 

 Botanic Searches : You have already taught her to be peering at 

 the Bottoms of old walls tho' a S-r r-v-rence lies close to her 

 Foot. 



I am glad to hear that your Brother John has made so 

 handsome a Contribution to your Feet Measure of Nephews & 

 Nieces, & that you all approve of the Mother of the Boy. I wish 

 him Success & do not wonder that he is tired of the Rock, but 

 yet I think he is more like to lay up there than in any Place that 

 he can change for in England. However he is an Emeritus & 

 has deserved Indulgence. If he proceeds as a Southern Natura- 

 list, he ought to be under the Pay of his Brother Ben : for he 

 has had fine Pickings out of your Naturals — I mean your 

 NaturaZtsis — of late Years. Pray who is Osbeck? for you 

 never made Mention of his Name before, & who is his Trans- 

 lator, & what is the Nature of his Work ? 



I congratulate you upon this fine Season that we have 

 enjoyed. It has been one of the pleasantest Years that We 



