GILBERT WHITE 



THE interest in Gilbert White, and in all that concerns 

 the parochial and natural history of Selborne, con- 

 tinues unabated. New editions of the History are 

 constantly appearing ; and lately a life of the naturalist, 

 in two large volumes, by his great-grand-nephew, has 

 been published. A large mass of correspondence, 

 never before made public, has been brought together ; 

 and many interesting details with regard to the daily 

 life of the great naturalist are for the first time given 

 to the world. 



It is well known that Gilbert White remained all his 

 life a bachelor; and it has been asserted by some of 

 his biographers including the late Professor Bell of 

 Selborne that this was due to an unrequited attach- 

 ment from which the naturalist never recovered. The 

 lady in question is said to have been Hester Mulso, 

 who afterwards became Mrs. Chapone, the sister of 

 his lifelong friend John Mulso, Rector of Meonstoke 

 and Canon of Winchester. This story, Mr. Holt- 

 White is at pains to show, has absolutely no founda- 

 tion, and it must be admitted that the series of letters 

 from Mulso to White, now for the first time published, 

 gives no encouragement to the idea ; " nor," adds his 

 latest biographer, " is any tradition of the disappointed 

 affections known among the family of the naturalist, 

 who had but one mistress Selborne." 



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