240 GILBEET WHITE OF SELBORNE 1792 



We have enjoyed lately sweet summer weather : but last 

 night a most severe frost came on, with snow, and Thermo- 

 meter at 21° ! Newton friends lay here last night. 



Marelands house and farm belong to L*^ Stawell. 



To B, Marsham. Selborne, Mar. 20th, 1792. 



Dear Sir, — Yon, in a mild way, complain a little of 

 Procrastmation : but I, who have suffered all my life long 

 by that evil power, call her the Dcemon of Procrastination ; 

 and wish that Fuseli, the grotesque painter in London, 

 who excells in drawing witches, daemons, incubus's, and 

 incantations, was employed in delineating this ugly hag, 

 which fascinates in some measure the most determined and 

 resolute of men. 



You do not, I find, seem to assent to my story respecting 

 Mr. Chiswell's elm. There may be probably some mis- 

 apprehension on my side. I will therefore allow Mr. Ch. 

 that privilege which every Englishman demands as his 

 right, the liberty of speaking for himself. "In regard to 

 my tree," says he, " it is a Wych Mm, perfectly strait, and 

 fit for the keel of the largest man of war. The purveyor 

 of the navy offered my late Uncle £50 for it, although 

 it would have cost as much more to have conveyed it to 

 Portsmouth; and he would have run all risque of sound- 

 ness. It grows about eleven miles from Safron Walden, in 

 a deep soil, and near 30 from Cambridge, the nearest place 

 for water-carriage. I will measure it next summer." He 

 adds, " I have been, and am a considerable planter ; and 

 have been honoured with three gold medals from the Society 

 of Arts," &c. Thus far Mr. Ch. 



As I begin to look upon You as a Selborne man, at least as 

 one somewhat interested in the concerns of this place ; I wish 

 that you could see * The sixth Report of the Commissioners 

 appointed to enquire into the state, and condition of the 

 Woods, Forests, &c. of the Crown,' &c. This Report was 



