278 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



or at least as much. Mr Nott is a real Friend to me ; & he will 

 do all he can to incline the Provost to take this young Man 

 under his own Wing. I think there is, or is to be, a Mr Traquair 

 to be the Tutor of the College : but Tutorage alone will not do, 

 I must have Friendship. My Boy has a good heart, but a mix'd 

 Temper ; he will be led, but not driven. The Eeius must guide 

 & manage him, but he must not see much of them, neq' Audit 

 currus habenas ; but then this is not obstinacy, but that Sort 

 of Pride which is a Consciousness of being deficient, & a Despair 

 that would arise from having his Powers too much urged, or 

 his Defects too much exposed. Mr Willis has been deplorably 

 deficient in leading him into Composition; he might have been 

 led : and in giving him a View & Tast of some of the livelier 

 Authors. But he has done him Justice in the Grammatical 

 Part : In short, he grew too much of a Man in Size & too little 

 in Sense for Mr Willis to conduct. 



My Son William is wth Mr Evans at Waltham : I thought 

 of sending him out by Adml Barrington to his Uncle or Cousin ; 

 the Admiral has been spoken to, but he joins wth many friends 

 in thinking that he had better stay here for his Uncle, who will 

 be in England in July : & that he is rather too young. I beleive 

 we shall acquiesce in this. 



Farewell. Remember me to your Brothers &c when You 

 meet : Meantime, to your good Selbourne Neighbours. The 

 Hermitage is hanging over my Chimney now, and I do all I can 

 to persuade Myself that it is like : but your little Motto * at the 

 Bottom does more towards bringing it to my Mind than all 

 Grimm's graveing. Success to your Lares ! 



I am, Dear Gil, Ever atfectely Your's, 



J. Mulso. 



Letter 178. 

 Revd Mr White Winchester. 



at Selbourne near Alton, Hants. June 25, 1778. 



Dear Gil : 



This shall seek for You at dear old Selbourne ; but now the 

 Fit of rambling is on You, the Lord knows where You are. 



I have been very ill of a bilious Diarrhoea, Gravell, &c : & 

 have been confined here a Fortnight since my Goods went to 

 Meoustoke, & Some of my family. My Wife's Maidservant like- 

 wise has been extreamly ill, & is gone to her friends at Stoke with 

 another Servt yesterday. My Young Folks, viz : 2 Daughters & 

 Billy wth a Maid, set out presently in a Coach, Mrs Mulso & 

 Myself shall follow, please God, in ye Ev'ning, the Mid-Day 



• " — where the Hennit hangs his straw-clad cell." 



