1759 



HIS CONDUCT ATTACKED 103 



at that time the conscience of the College was shocked at this 

 proposal and the claim only reluctantly admitted. White 

 continued to enjoy the emoluments of his Fellowship and 

 of his College living while he resided on his patrimonial 

 estate at Selborne, and, although it was much doubted 

 whether his fortune did not exceed the amount allowed by 

 the Statutes, he acted on the maxim that anything can be 

 held by a man who can hold his tongue, and he continued 

 to enjoy his Fellowship and his living till his death." * 



That, in ** taking and holding" with his Fellowship 

 the small college living of Moreton Pinkney, Gilbert 

 White only did what the Fellows before him, and 

 many afterwards did without question, is certain ; 

 and, as has been already stated, the College had 

 never previously sought to attach the condition of 

 residence. His conduct in this matter does not 

 appear, then, to have been exceptional or blameable. 

 But the gravamen of the attack on his reputation — 

 for it can be called nothing else — is undoubtedly the 

 charge that he, by concealing his real pecuniary 

 position from his College, continued to hold im- 

 properly his Fellowship while living **on his patri- 

 monial estate at Selborne" — a statement, it should 

 be observed, which is wholly based on the one entry 

 of November 1st, 1758, in the Provost of Oriel's 

 memorandum-book. 



So serious an imputation upon his honour must be 

 fully examined, even at the risk of tediousness, by a 

 biographer. 



* Vide "The Colleges of Oxford," edited by Andrew Clark, 1891, p. 121. 



