CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 101 



My Bro. and sister John (who have been with me about a 

 fortnight) are much favoured by this delicate weather, and 

 will, I hope, be tolerably seasoned before severe frosts set in. 



Bro. John is frequently incommoded by hoarseness, an 

 infirmity that is very troublesome to a clergyman. 



You will I hope write soon, and let me know how you 

 succeed in y r studies, and how much you and y r sisters 

 improve in drawing, and particularly in designing. Your 

 sentiments on any subject will be very agreeable to me. All 

 friends join in respects. I am 



Y r affectionate friend, 



GIL. WHITE. 



This autumn I had plenty of most delicate grapes, such as 

 I have never seen since autumn 1762. The vines blowed 

 very late ; but the burning summer ripened the fruit at a vast 

 rate, and made grapes and bunches of a vast size ; and yet, 

 what is very strange, the bearing wood for next year is very 

 slender and poorly ripened. 



LETTER IV. 



TO THOMAS BARKER. 



Selborne, Sept. 14, 1773. 



Dear Sir, 

 I CAN readily give you credit for the change of colour that 

 befell the bulfinch, because when I first undertook the church 

 of Faringdon, the person where I used to dine on a Sunday 

 caught a cock bulfinch in the fields after it had arrived at its 

 full colours*. In about a twelvemonth it began to grow 

 dingy ; and losing by degrees its gay apparel, it became 

 leisurely, in I think about three years, as black or blacker 

 than a blackbird, all save some of its wing feathers, which 



* [This fact is particularly mentioned in the XVth letter to Pennant. 

 See Vol. I. p. 45, and note. — T. B.] 



