258 GILBEKT WHITE OF SELBOENE 1774 



time, I fear, is dead; and Jack and Jem* from Fleet street. 

 The house, especially the kitchen, is so small for twenty- two 

 in family, that Harry is embarked in building a wing of 

 thirty-six feet from the kitchen towards the brew-house; 

 this wing is to consist of a staircase, a large kitchen, a 

 parlor over, and a large garret. The kitchen is to com- 

 municate with the new staircase of the brew-house by a 

 narrow entry running against the chalk-wall; and thus 

 the whole house may be made use of without a person's 

 going abroad. The chambers over the brew-house are 

 finished, and very neat. All these buildings will cost a 

 great sum, and prevent the laying up of money; but as 

 more room is absolutely necessary, and things are all done 

 in the way of trade, I hope they will answer in the end. 



I am glad to hear Harry talk didactically about grammar 

 rules, and moods and tenses; for unless a school-master is 

 somewhat of a pedant, and a little sufficient in his way, 

 he must expect to be soon jaded with his drudgery.j- 



Swifts, as I suspected, invariably lay but Urn eggs ; and 

 as they breed but once, their encrease is very small ! I got 

 Harry's bricklayer one evening to open the tiles of his brew- 

 house, under which were several nests containing only two 

 squab young apiece ; and moreover his workmen all told me 

 that, when boys, they had invariably found only two eggs or 

 two birds. If I lived at Fyfield I should be more learned in 

 swifts ; for as you sit in the parlor, you see their proceedings 

 at the brew-house. 



I thank you for your strictures on my printed mono- 

 graphy, and wish you would extend them to the rest. I 

 had used the pronoun personal feminine to my swallows; 

 but somebody objected, so I put it in its place ; but I think 

 your are right, and shall replace she and her ; though there 



• Sons of Benjamin White. 



t A remark which singularly indicates its author's shrewdness. 



