248 GILBEET WHITE OF SELBORNE 1792 



that time; and then they linger there till the latter end 

 of the month. 



Surely my dear Sir, we live in a very eventful time, that 

 must cut-out much work for Historians and Biographers! 

 but whether all these strange commotions will turn out to 

 the benefit or disadvantage of old England, God only knows ! 

 We have experienced a sad spring, summer, and autumn: 

 and now the fallows are so wet, and the land-springs break 

 forth so frequently, that men cannot sow their wheat in any 

 comfort. Our barley is much damaged; and malt will be 

 bad. 



Have you read Mr. Arthur Young's 'Travels through 

 France ' ? He says (p. 543), when speaking of the French 

 clergy — " One did not find among them poachers, or fox- 

 hunters who having spent the morning in scampering after 

 hounds, dedicate the evening to the bottle, and reel from 

 inebriety to the pulpit." Now, pray, who is Mr. Young ; is 

 he a man of fortune, or one that writes for a livelihood? 

 He seems to reside in Suffolk, near Bury St. Edmund ; so 

 probably you can tell me somewhat about him. 



Pray do wood-peckers ever damage, and bore your timber- 

 trees ? not those, I imagine, of your own planting, but 

 only those that are tending to decay. I had a brood this 

 year in my outlet hatched, I suspect, in the bodies of some 

 old willows. My dissertation on the Caprimidgus is almost 

 finished. 



I remain, with all due respect, and esteem. 



Your most obedient and obliged servant, 



Gil. White. 



On November 10th Benjamin White quitted South 

 Lambeth, and came to reside at his house Mareland, 

 near Farnham. 



