324 GILBERT WHITE OF SELBOENE 1776 



the harpsichord. Mrs. Etty was very ill in the spring ; but 

 is recovered. Mr. and Mrs. Yalden are at Sarum attending 

 on the nuptials of Molly Fort, the youngest lady. 



Y" affect., 

 Write soon. Gil. White. 



On July 8th, 1776, the Naturalist's Journal 

 records — 



" Mr. Grimm, my artist, came from London to take some of 

 our finest views." 



Writing on July 16th, 1776, Mulso regrets his 

 inability to visit at Selborne. 



"While you are enjoying yourself, like an Italian mag- 

 nifico, with your designer at your elbow, I am waiting for 

 an artist in his way, that may be perhaps as profitable, 

 but is not half so agreeable to my taste — I mean a surveyor. 

 . . . You may imagine that you whet my curiosity by 

 telling me what a pleasure I might partake from Grimm's 

 pencil, and the liberality of his manner: and it would be 

 no small part of my satisfaction to see my old friend taking 

 such voluptuous rides upon his hobby-horse. No man com- 

 municates the pleasure of his excursions, or makes the world 

 partake of them in a more useful manner, than you do. 



It is the 



* Solemne viris opus, utile famse, 

 Vitseque et membris.' 



*'Your work, upon the whole, will immortalize your 

 place of abode as well as yourself; it will convert men's 

 principles ; and give health to those who chuse to visit 

 the scenes of Mr. Grimm's pencil, in their original. I 

 have a good opinion of the correctness of Mr. Grimm's 

 fancy, by what he judges of my brother Mulso. ... I 

 have seen something of what you mean of Mr. Grimm's 



