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CORRESPONDENCE OF ROBERT MARSHA M, 



OF STRATTON-STRAWLESS, IN THK COUNTY OF NORFOLK, 



AND GILBERT WHITE. 



[Among the numerous letters to and from Gilbert White 

 kindly communicated to me by Algernon Holt White, Esq., 

 were ten from Mr. Marsham ; and it happened that exactly 

 the same number of autograph letters from Gilbert White to 

 Marsham, constituting together very nearly the complete cor- 

 respondence, were in the possession of the Rev. H. P. Mar- 

 sham, of Rippon Hall, near Norwich, the great-grandson of 

 White's correspondent. The interchange of copies of the re- 

 spective letters enabled the Council of an excellent local 

 natural-history society at Norwich * to publish the correspon- 

 dence entire. I have selected the following brief notice of 

 Mr. Marsham from some account of his life by Thomas South- 

 well, Esq., the secretary of the society. — T. B. 



" Though far less celebrated than his contemporary and 

 correspondent, Robert Marsham is already known to most 

 readers of White's posthumously published writings as one to 

 whose opinions the latter often referred in terms of respect. 

 Born the 27th of January, 1708, Marsham began to show 

 early in life a fondness for arboriculture. On the 8th of 

 Februaiy, 1728, he entered as Fellow-commoner of Claro 

 Hall in the University of Cambridge, but it does not appear 

 that he ever proceeded to a degree. He subsequently went 

 abroad (in 1737 and 1738) and travelled through France, 

 Switzerland, and Italy, amassing much knowledge, which 

 * [The Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society.] 



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