1749 



HESTEK MULSO 55 



panded this statement into a touching little romance, 

 in which Gilbert White figures as a blighted being, 

 who never married because of the enduring effect of 

 his early disappointment. But all this rests upon 

 no foundation whatever in fact. Mr. Jesse, who 

 certainly saw some of Gilbert White's unpublished 

 MSS., had very probably also been shown the letters 

 to him from John Mulso (which, indeed, he mentions 

 in the next paragraph), and had noted cursorily 

 some such passages as the one above quoted. Any- 

 one who examines the whole series of these letters 

 with the slightest care, however, will see at once 

 that, though John Mulso and his family, who were 

 really very fond of Gilbert White, would have 

 welcomed the union, neither the gentleman nor the 

 lady, though excellent and intimate friends, ever 

 appear to have manifested the least hint of anything 

 more than friendship for each other. *The Post- 

 humous Works of Mrs. Chapone, etc.,'^ contain '* An 

 Account of her Life and Character, drawn up by 

 one of the Family." Herein there is no mention of 

 Gilbert White, nor even the slightest allusion to him, 

 though her liking for Mr. Chapone " from their first 

 introduction," and their three years' engagement 

 previous to marriage in 1760, are dwelt upon. Nor 

 is any tradition of the disappointed affections known 

 among the family of the naturalist, who had but one 

 mistress — Selborne. 



♦ John Mun*ay, 1807 (2nd edition). 



