12 GILBEKT WHITE OF SELBOENE 



"Perchance then, my lord, there be knaves abroad ! " 

 Upon which his lordship, looking at him, replied, 

 " Ay, and fools too ! " 



Sir Sampson White's eldest brother John is 

 described as "of Northley, near Witney." The next 

 brother, Eichard, became Vicar of Basingstoke ; and 

 the next, Henry White of Coggs, died ccelebs in 

 1677, and was buried at Coggs. In this church 

 there is a monument to him with a Latin inscription 

 under his coat-of-arms, in which he is stated to be 

 "ex famiM vicum hunc (ultra certam temporis 

 prescriptionem) habitante." The inscription records 

 his travels through various parts of England, his 

 readiness to impart information thus acquired, his 

 charity, etc., and states that the memorial was 

 erected by his nephews Henry, Francis, and John — 

 three of Sir Sampson's sons, one of whom was his 

 heir under his will. 



Possibly this member of the family may have 

 owned Swan Hall ; but it seems almost certain that 

 Gilbert White was mistaken in asserting that Sir 

 Sampson White's father, John White, owned it, since 

 there is no mention of this estate in his (John White's) 

 will. It seems more probable that his son Sir Sampson, 

 who became the wealthy man of the family, bought 

 this property in his native village of Coggs, with 

 a view to one of his sons living there. 



Sir Sampson White, who married Mary, daughter 

 of Richard Soper, Arm., of East Oakley, in Hamp- 

 shire, died 



