1775 NEWS FROM LONDON 273 



Lately I had a letter from Mrs. Snooke; in the former 

 part whereof she says that she had not been so well for 

 a long time : but in the postscript, written the next day, she 

 adds that the gout came on in the night. The present 

 cold weather, I fear, will pinch her. Winter comes on with 

 hasty strides this year : and I begin to fear we shall have a 

 severe one. Tell my niece Betty that I don't love snow now 

 near so well as when I was of her age : I then thought it a 

 very amusing, pleasing meteor. 



All friends here are well except Mr. H. Woods, who is in 

 a poor, dejected way: he says business will certainly kill 

 him if pursued ; that if he could be quiet he should be well ; 

 but that he is so embarrassed that he cannot possibly leave 

 off. Jack is five feet 8 inches and threequarters high without 

 shoes, and proportionably large. Pray tell Sam that I shall 

 hope to hear from him in prose or in verse, in Latin, or 

 English as he likes best. The insinuation that Mrs. Chapone 

 is a papist is a foolish slander thrown out by somebody that 

 envies her literary reputation: I have been assured since 

 that she is an Italian stage-dancer. Brother Harry has got 

 his roof on his new building and makes use of his new 

 kitchen. By February he probably will have an increase of 

 family ; not twins, I hope, though our sister looks very big. 

 I am, with all due respect, to all friends. 



Your affectionate brother, 



Gil. White. 



To the Rev. John White. 



Selborne, Jan. 5, 1775. 



Dear Brother, — When I had read your letter through and 

 found that no real damage ensued, I could not forbear 

 smiling at your accident, as I figured to myself the vicar 

 of Blackburn, the man who for eminence sake is called 

 the vicar riding on a post-horse with fardles buckled round 

 his waste. Jack with his long legs would straddle along 



VOL. I. — T 



