LETTER CXC 295 



permit, should be entertaining & enlivening. But the Occasion 

 which I had purposed writing to you upon, was far from That, 

 being ye Death of your poor Brother Jno White, which I had 

 ye first Notice of from seeing his Living disposed of in the 

 Papers. I have pass'd my Time so ill by repeated Indispositions, 

 that I imagine one of them put me off from my Purpose, & my 

 shatter'd Memory would not retain the Certainty. As his Con- 

 stitution was irrecoverably injured, his Eelease was a Blessing 

 to himself, as a very worthy Man. But his family & friends 

 miss him much ; & I think the world had a Loss in him, for 

 he was a Man of more than private accomplishments, and united 

 in himself things which do not commonly assemble, Mathematics 

 & Poetry, Philosophy & Humour. Pray what is to become of 

 his Fauna?* That work is not, I hope,' to be secreted, like 

 a certain Person's, whose false Modesty will not trust forth 

 a piece really good, for Fear it should not be absolutely perfect, 

 "which would be prodigii instar. 



We are still in Mourning for poor Bob: Young, your old 

 acquaintance, who has diverted You often ; a Man, who wth 

 an uncommon Understanding was more famous for raising a 

 Laugh than improving his Friends ; and wth great Opportunities 

 of forming just Opinions, rather piqued himself upon holding 

 peculiar Ones. He died in Novr last, at his House a few Leagues 

 from Paris. His dying in France has unhappily embarrast his 

 Affairs, particularly the Share that my Wife was intended by 

 Him to be benefitted by ; of which we can get no clear & satis- 

 factory Account, & beleive it will be totally lost by the Distress 

 of present Times. He meant, however, kindly to her & we have 

 the same Obligation to his Memory, as if all was smooth. 



I had a Letter lately from Gibson, who sollicited to preach 

 my Turn at Salisbury, which I could not grant. He asks me 

 after You, & tells me that he will call on You next Summer 

 at Selbourne, as he has now Leizure, having dismiss'd all his 

 Pupille. Our Dean thinks that he is a Minor Canon at Salisbury, 

 but he is not sure. He is One who has made a poor Use of very 

 quick Parts : He has surely had Something very capricious in 

 his Mind or in his Fortune ; for he has generally seemed to turn 

 to ye worst, at the Time that his Situation promised the best. 



If You go to Town soon You will make my Comps. to your 

 Brothers & families. I am very glad to hear that Mr Thomas 

 White has got rid of his ague, which is worse than a hard-trotting 

 Horse ; and that, you know, with me, conveys the Idea of very 

 terrible Shaking. 



* The completed MS. of the " Fauna Calpensis " was at this time in 

 Gilbert White's possession at Selborne. It was never published, and it is 

 hardly probable that it is now in existence. 



