52 LETTERS TO HIS BROTHER 



whole house with specimens ; still u Some Demon whispers, 

 Bubo, have a taste" *. 



Sir Tho. Gatehouse is rained, and locked up in a garret 

 here in town for fear of his creditors ; and his lady, who 

 brought a £1000 per ami., will for his life be reduced to 

 poverty ! ! 



LETTER XXIV, 



Fyfield, May 15, 177G. 



Dear Brother, 

 Brother Thomas and his daughter have been with me for a 

 week : yesterday we all three came down to this place, and 

 found all well. 



As I had got a frank for you, I thought it best to take it 

 down with us, that all that had occasion might make use of it 

 together. 



Forster was presented to his doctor's degree at Oxford on 

 account of his literary fame, and because he had hazarded 

 his life in a circumnavigation in the pursuit of natural know- 

 ledge. 



Pray write to Linn. ; for if he only tells you of your new 

 genera, &c, and affixes no names, he leaves you in the lurch; 

 direct to him as an Academician, for reasons assigned in a 

 former letter f. 



We are glad you find your heavy duty so easy ; for what 

 is paid to curates is all neat money and occasions considerable 

 deductions from a moderate living. Holdsworth I have pro- 

 cured ; but I can't say the work gives me so much pleasure 

 as it seems to have afforded you. I did not find so many 

 genuine criticisms drawn from the face of the country and the 

 modern practices in husbandry as I expected, but rather a 

 collection of parallel passages from Cato and Columella. So 

 much easier is it to compile, than to advance fresh remarks. 



* " Some demon whispers, ' Visto have a taste.' " — Pope's Essays. 

 t [Linnanis's second and most severe attack of apoplexy occurred about 

 tliis time.— T. B,l 



