1775 MULSO PKAISES HIS WEITINGS 287 



fit of Pride of your Performance. I am going to see 

 whether the Hambledonian has furnished me with another 

 flower that will puzzle you. Come and see. I believe I 

 have a great deal to say to you. Old friends cannot meet 

 without confab. I constantly feel a disposition to welcome 

 rou, being ever, my dear Gil, yours affctly., 



J. MuLSO. 



After visiting his friend at Selborne, who took the 

 opportunity to read some of his compositions in 

 natural history, he writes again on July 8th, 

 1775 :— 



"I do not know that ever I made a visit more to my 

 satisfaction than this that I have just finished to you. . . . 

 You have a double felicity in your manner of entertainment ; 

 you can gratify your visitors both with beautiful originals, 

 and high descriptions; representations studiously copied 

 from nature, and finished with a masterly hand. As you 

 intend your works for the public, I would not say so much 

 in a strain of flattery ; for though I would not tell an author 

 how much I liked his productions, yet I might slubber them 

 over with a hasty careless compliment, or lose them in silence. 

 . . . You have happily grounded ethics on a stable and 

 beautiful basis, the works of God ; and your figures, formed 

 from naked and genuine beauty, beat every finical composi- 

 tion that would fascinate the judgment by adventitious 

 ornament. This is my real opinion of your Work. But 

 mem. I do not mean by the close of the last sentence a 

 slur on your intention of employing the art of Mr. Grimm, 

 or any other more accomplished designer. I wish he may 

 add to the pleasure of the world, as much as he will gratify 

 my partiality, if he can convey . . .* your truly delectable 

 scenes." 



* Letter imperfect. 



