124 GILBEKT WHITE OF SELBORNE 1762 



Preferment. How agreeable do you men of Taste make 

 every Place you come at ! Your description of Tidworth 

 made me think of your prints of the antediluvian ages ; 

 and they conveyed simple and rural images, which amuse 

 and deceive the fancy ; but yet Tidworth may be exceeded, 

 and perhaps none since Adam have seen so fine a scene 

 as Mr. Morris's Gardens. ... I like your verses extremely, 

 the thought is happy, and the execution entirely in the vein 

 of Ovid. The fourth line I have some objections to. ... I am 

 pleased to catch you versifying. You will never be old " — 



a true enough remark ; few men retain to their 

 old age such a fresh and healthy enjoyment of life 

 as did the person addressed. 



The summer of 1762 passed away, and though 

 he had received frequent and pressing invitations 

 to visit his old friends in Yorkshire, the Naturalist 

 was either unable or unwilling to leave home and 

 his curacy for any long period. Moreover, his uncle 

 at Bradley, the Eev. Charles Whit^, was at this 

 time in greatly failing health, and this kept the 

 nephew near him. Meanwhile the improvements 

 and alterations in the garden at Selborne continued. 

 His friend writes on October 9th, 1762 : — 



"You tell me of an alcove at the end of your Terrace. 

 Which is your Terrace ? for you had no walk of that 

 denomination when I saw Selborne. Is it the north side 

 of Baker's Hill?"* or is it near the other Bench, where 

 the opening and new Bastion was, facing the Cynic Tub ? 

 Clear me up : for I am lost in the grandeur of your outlets, 

 and the multiplicity of your improvements." 



♦ Baker's Hill is the small elevation in the little park belonging to Tlie 

 Wakes, on the left hand, looking towards the Hanger from the house. 



