240 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



ye Hanger to be pure & cold, & to demand every Succedaneum 

 to Comfort & Warmth. 



I should be very glad to see You here ; You know however 

 that I can offer no more than a Board; a Bed fitted up for a 

 fair Lady we have not. But as far as we can receive You, we 

 should do it gladly. 



You told me of Harry's Success in his small affair : I am 

 glad of it. You know how glad I shd be of an Opportunity of 

 serving You & Your's : But You know too that my Power is as 

 small as my Will is large. 



I reckon You have pure hospitable Christmas Doings in your 

 three Neighbourly Families. ''^ Be jovial & refresh your Hearts, 

 & forget not in your Cup your old & faithfuU Friend 



J. Mulso. 



Jack's Love to his Schoolfellow. 



Letter 149. 

 To the Revd Mr White Winton, 



Selbourne near Alton, Hants. March 27, '73. 



Dear Gil : 



In a late Letter from my Son, he tells me that He has had 

 the Pleasure of being with You, & how kind both You & my 

 Friend John had been to Him. He likewise reminded me from 

 You how excellent & Summery the Eoads & Paths now were 

 about You. I understand You ; but this last Season is, like 

 most specious Things, deceitfull : and your poor Friend, who is 

 subject to the Skye'y Influence, is caught by an Attempt to 

 recover his Liberty in walking ; The East Wind met me on the 

 Top of St Giles's Hill, & angry that it was not a Female, whom 

 he might compress, and impregnate wth Plague, Pestilence & 

 Famine, He seized me by the Nape of the Neck & inflicted his 

 Rheumatic Pains on that & my Shoulders & Arms ; of which 

 Contest I have been the Martyr and the Prisoner for several 

 Days past & am so still : So that this dry Weather has been lost 

 upon Me, & I am but just now able to tell You why I have let 

 slip so fair an Occasion. I am mortified at This ; I had hoped 

 for real Pleasure in your's & your Brother's Company. 



Pray let me know, whether, when my Jack was wth You, 

 You thought Him so bad wth a Cough as to suppose it a Hooping 

 Cough ; for he now tells me that he hoops in his Coughing & 

 has frequent Sickness, as is constantly the Case in That Dis- 

 temper. I grow the more uneasy about this, as, if it is that 

 Illness, I cannot well bring him Home, because my Two youngest 



* The Whites and Ettys at Selbome, and the Yaldeus at Newton 

 Valence. 



