1784 WHITCHUECH EECTOEY 119 



Mr. Charles Etty* is gone to town, I suppose to prove 

 his brother's will. Mrs. Stebbingf had told us that she 

 should stay to the end of this week : but I was surprized 

 to see her in my parlor on Saturday morning, and to hear 

 her say she was come to take leave ; and that the chaise 

 was at the door. After a small pause, she told us that 

 she would not conceal from us the reason of this sudden 

 motion : for she was hasting home to consult D** Stebbing 

 about the living of Whitchurch, | which she had good 

 reason to suppose the L<* Chancellor § was disposed to give 

 him. The Lord Chancellor, it seems, was very nearly 

 related to D"^ Battie, and when a young Counsel used to 

 be almost every day at the D^'^ house, and consequently 

 intimate with Mrs. Stebbing and Etty : though no acquaint- 

 ance has been kept up for more than 20 years past, for 

 certain reasons. Mrs. Stebbing doubts much whether her 

 husband will be disposed to take Whitchurch at all, in 

 the first place because the D'^ hates all trouble, and business, 

 even to the writing a common letter: in the next place, 

 he must resign Streatly, which neats him £40 per annum ; 

 and the getting into Whitchurch, a second living, and 

 a Chancellor's living, will cost him £70, or £80 : so that 

 if he should dye within the year, his family will be a loser. 

 I wish myself he may take it, on Mrs. Etty's account, for 

 reasons too obvious to be mentioned. It is remarkable that 

 by the Battie interest Mr. Etty did enjoy, and D'' Stebbing 

 may, as it seems, enjoy the desirable and much sought for 

 parsonage of Whitchurch. Mrs. Etty does not now leave 

 Selborne 'til matters are finally settled. Poor Lady, she 

 bears her great loss with wonderful resignation. The next 



* Of Priestlands, in the parish of Milford, near Lymington, Hants, a 

 brother of the Rev. Andrew Etty. In the large view of Selborne (in the 

 quarto editions of 'The Natural History') he is represented standing in 

 the foreground. He died in 1797, and was buried at Selborne, by his 

 own desire. t Mrs. A. Etty's sister. 



t Held with Selborne by Mr. Etty. § Lord Thurlow. 



