324 LETTERS TO GILBERT WHITE 



LeUer 212. 

 Revd Mr White, Meonstoke. 



Selborne near Alton, Hants. + at Alton. June 4th, 1785. 

 Dear Gil : 



I feel very happy when anything that I can do is of any 

 Pleasure or Advantage to You or Your's. I wish You Joy of 

 the Success of your Nephew Edmund White : my Contribution 

 to it was too small to deserve Thanks. I add my Congrats, on 

 the Prospect of Happiness between your Nephew Benjn & Miss 

 Mary White: But, Lord help us! what Ideas You & I have of 

 ye Qualifications for Happiness in the Marriage State, & how 

 different from this unprincipled & dissipated Age ! How could 

 You be so Httle knowivg as to commend the Caro Sposo as being 

 esteemed a Sober Man ? 



You see, by the Address above, that we have shifted our 

 Winter for our Summer Quarters. But, oh miserable I what an 

 appearance do we meet with in the face of ye natural World ? 

 The late Bains (for which we have the highest Reason to be 

 thankfull to Providence, as I think they saved Us from Plague, 

 Pestilence, & famine) have yet not been sufficient to repair the 

 Damages of the long Drought ; The Upland Grass must be late, 

 &, as it should appear, scanty ; and so must the Lent Corn be. 

 It is well for me that I deal in Water Meadows this Year. Our 

 Trees & Hedges are devoured by Cock- Chaffers, a Bace very 

 hatefuU to poor Sister Chapone. I seem to have no wall fruit 

 either here or at Winchester. How do You go on at my dear 

 Selborne in ybur Vegetable Kingdom ? The Bain, which we 

 have had, came down in a very gentle manner upon ye whole, 

 tho' at some times wth hard Hail Storms ; and, as we came 

 along the Boad on Thursday, in very heavy Showers indeed ; 

 the most penetrating that have fallen in this part of the Country. 

 I shall be very happy if we escape severe Thunder Storms, which 

 always terrify me & disagree wth me, tho' they might not 

 damage me. 



My Son John, who desires his best Services, is here wth Me. 

 He does not enter upon his new Station at Finedon 'till Mid- 

 summer ; he must take Oxford in his Way, to pack off some 

 Books & necessaries & to enjoy the Encaenia. He can have a 

 Day or two of Indulgence of his Principal at Finedon. He went 

 down for a short time with Sr Wm on a Visit to his Son Mr 

 Dolben at Finedon, & from thence went over to Twywell. I 

 beleive he will be an accurate & carefull Inspector, as he has 

 already besrun to make himself acquainted wth the extent of the 

 Estate, & the Tenures of ye Farmers. But he gives but a barren 

 Account of the Whole, & seems to think all future Inhabitation 

 to be impossible, unless we should providentially be enabled to 

 add to ye Estate, & renew the House, & change ye Scite of 



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