18 GILBERT WHITE OF SELBORNE 1777 



work, all but the entomology, once over ; and am proceeding 

 to read several parts twice over. In the whole I much 

 approve of your book. Your preface is neat; your history 

 is what I call true Natural History, because it abounds with 

 anecdote, and circumstance ; and I verily think your disserta- 

 tions on the Hirundines are the best tracts I ever saw of the 

 kind, as they throw much light on the dark but curious 

 business of migration ; and possess such merit as alone might 

 keep any book from sinking. If consulted I therefore protest 

 loudly against the intention of throwing your papers aside ; 

 for I think in a thousand instances they will delight a good 

 Naturalist. I therefore pronounce as the Vice-chancellor of 

 Oxon. does on similar occasions — imprimatur. But then to 

 act as an impartial critic, I must also say, that sometimes 

 (and others think so as well as myself) your language is 

 rather diffuse, and your sentences too long ; and what I most 

 wonder at is, that at times you not only use the same verb, 

 or its derivations five or six times in a paragraph, but some- 

 times twice or thrice in the same sentence. Being jealous 

 of the honor of your work, I cannot admit of these inaccur- 

 acies, and have therefore presumed to amend some of them, 

 but with what success I must leave you to judge. I must 

 therefore desire you, who are so perfectly capable, to bestow 

 a fresh and severe inspection on the language. Brother 

 Thomas is now in town, and I wish you would desire him to 

 send me down your entomology which I long to see. 



No wonder that you did not much relish D^ Chandler's 

 proposal of rejecting all system ; the reason of sending you 

 that advice was that I thought then that System was the 

 stumbling-block between you and your chapman ; but now I 

 plainly perceive that warm words and some heats have arisen 

 between you, which I hope will all soon be forgotten. Indeed 

 I wonder that in these days any work should stick on hand 

 of your sort; as I cannot but think that it might sell. 

 Would it not therefore be best to make fresh advances 



