126 GILBEET WHITE OF SELBOENE 1763 



Why Charles White omitted to bequeath The 

 Wakes to his nephew Gilbert is not clear, since 

 he left him "the orchard or garden, now in his 

 [Gilbert White's] father's possession,^ and adjoining 

 to his father's house." He mentions, however, re- 

 specting some other property formerly Mrs. Charles 

 White's, ''supposing that the said Gilbert White will 

 enjoy [it] after my death as heir at Law to his aunt 

 my late dear wife." 



Mr. Bell, who owned the property, in his edition 

 of '' The Natural History and Antiquities of Sel- 

 borne," vol. i. p. xxvii., states positively that 

 Gilbert White "became the actual possessor of the 

 property only on the decease of his uncle Charles, 

 the Eector of Bradley, in 1763. The deedt is thus 

 endorsed in Gilbert's handwriting — 



* Copy for the Wakes my Dwellinghouse,' etc." 



Eeferring to the refusal of the living, Mulso com- 

 ments thus in an undated letter, apparently written 

 about April, 1763, upon the situation: — 



" I am sorry that the Patron refused you what you asked 

 for, as it would have brought your matters within Compass, 

 and you might still have resided at your beloved Selbourne. . . . 

 You are now arrived at that happiest of human states, Inde- 

 pendence. For though you may be glad to have an addition 

 to your Fortune, especially in lieu of your Fellowship if you 

 find yourself inclined to marry, yet as you have all in your 



• The will was made in 1763. 



t Presumably his copy of the admission to the copyhold tenure of the 

 property on the Manor Rolls. 



