LETTER CLXXXVI 289 



I came to Winchester on Novr 24i/i, being detained in the 

 Country by the Sickness of Mrs M., myself, & Children & 

 Servants. We are all alive but my Manservant, who died. My 

 Son John is gone into Warwickshire wth his Friend Cox to spend 

 great Part if not all the Vacation. Billy is perhaps at Halifax, 

 or, if the St. Lawrence is navigable, at Quebec wth Captain 

 Young his Cosin. My Wife is pretty well & much Your's, & so 

 are my Girls. I have got my Niece Sophy Young vvth me. . I 

 find our Acquaintance Miss Batty* has joined herself in holy 

 Matrimony to a Captn Young, f of whom Mr Etty gave me a 

 Sight at Meonstoke ; I like her Choice well. He seems a good 

 Man as well as a handsome One. You are very stingy of your 

 family & Neighbourly Intelligence : I know You write slow, but 

 if You are got into your old winter Plan & have Nobody at your 

 Elbow, I think You might cram more into your Pages before 

 Eight o'clock at Night. You have said Nothing of your Aunt 

 in Sussex, nor of poor John. 



All here join in Love & best wishes wth 



Dear Gil, Your affte Old Friend & humble Servt 



J. Mulso. 



The Bishop hearty, & all in Town, but Mrs Mulso, well. 



Letter 186. 

 Reverend Mr White, Winchester, 



Selbourne near Alton, Hants. March 18, 1780. 



Dear Gil: 



I am very much obliged to You for your Letter, especially 

 as it was wrote under that Notion, which it gives me great 

 Pleasure that You should retain, that I interest Myself in the 

 Concerns & Welfare of You & yr family. It does me but Justice, 

 yet I feel Myself obliged by it. I grow too old to expect new 

 friends; I do not depend upon them, for I said "the Old are 

 better." 



I could be almost sorry for good Mrs Snooke ; but that the 

 Maturity of her Age, & perhaps the Quietness of her Exit, made 

 her End rather an enviable than a deplorable Event. I enter 

 into your Feelings at quitting Ringmer, a neat & beautiful! Spot, 

 and never enter'd without being associated wth ye Idea of a 

 warm & valuable Relation, & hospitable Hostess — Such has been 

 in part my Sensation; Such, if I live, must be my compleat 

 Feeling at the View of Farnham Castle. I know nothing of the 

 Value of ye Farm that your Aunt has bequeathed you, or of its 



* Miss Anna Batty, the eldest of the three sisters, the " Sorceresses," 

 mentioned in Letter 107. 



t Afterwards Admiral Sir George Young. 

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