1776 CORRECTS 'BRITISH ZOOLOGY' 309 



stranger's hands, and has left standing many old errors ; so 

 that many sheets must be cancelled; and I must correct 

 over agam what I have corrected 'til I am quite sick ! ! 

 The printing also is very incorrect. 



Pray write very soon to this place. Respects to my sister. 

 Nanny White improves every day. Brother Ben. has a good 

 house at South Lambeth, elegantly furnished ; but the water 

 at present is deep in the cellar. Y"" loving Bro. 



Gil. White. 



On this letter Professor Newton sends the fol- 

 lowing note : — 



"The 'new edition' of Pennant's 'British Zoology' 

 referred to above is that which on the title-page is called 

 the fourth, and it appeared in 1776 in two forms — octavo 

 and quarto — with the same date, and each has on the 

 title-page of its four volumes, 'Warrington: printed by 

 William Eyres, for Benjamin White.' It is pretty evident 

 that the printer must have set up the type from a copy 

 of the old text, in which had not been marked the numerous 

 additions to and corrections of the same, which Gilbert 

 White had communicated to the author in the course of 

 the letters which now form the bulk of the first part of 

 'The Natural History of Selborne.' The fact of White's 

 having corrected the proofs of this edition is sufficient 

 explanation of the omission of his own name in passages 

 where it would have been expected to occur; for we may 

 be sure he would be the last man to intrude it. It was 

 thus left for Pennant to acknowledge the assistance he 

 received from White among others in the Preface of the 

 work; and the enormous improvements due to White's 

 co-operation can only be appreciated by those who compare 

 this fourth edition with its predecessors, and at the same 

 time bear in mind the contents of White's letters to Pen- 

 nant as subsequently published." 



