1753 CUEATE OF DUELEY 77 



Kalendar was continued very much as before, and 

 in his handwriting, until the end of October. It 

 commences again towards the end of February, 

 1754. 



Writing to his friend on October 18th, 1753, 

 Mulso says : — 



"I am well pleased to hear from yourself that you are 

 settled for a Time and in a Place to your liking. ... I who 

 came to attend your Glory, when you glistened in your 

 Velvet, and powdered your grand wig every day, find an 

 equal desire to wait upon the weather-beaten curate of 

 Durley, in his dirty Boots and dripping Bob. * Omnis 

 Aristippum decuit Color et Status et Ees.* You are the 

 Philosopher. ... I remember the hospitality of Gibson on 

 our way to Gosport from Winchester. I likewise remem- 

 ber the romantic scene which you mention in your letter, 

 which paid me for being more than half starved in going 

 to see it. . . . My uncle [the Bishop] asked me, how you 

 came to take a curacy ? I told him because I knew that 

 it was your sentiment that a Clergyman should not be idle 

 and unemployed" — 



a remark of some importance in view of certain 

 strictures to which it will be necessary to refer 

 presently. It is to be noted that upon this senti- 

 ment Gilbert White acted during his whole life. 



In October, 1753, the Curate of Durley posted to 

 Oxford in order to resign the Deanship of Oriel. 

 Returning to Durley he bought, and no doubt care- 

 fully studied, a new edition of * Miller's Gardening 

 Dictionary' and 'Raii Methodus,' the latter a^book 

 to which he constantly refers in after years. 



