284 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



starved himself on the death of his Master. See his History 

 of Cheshire *. 



P.S. in j friend who recommended to me the Nat. Hist, of 

 Selborne calld on me this morning & directed my letter. 



[Franked by " W. Windham."] 



LETTER XIII. 



WHITE TO MARSHAM. 



Selborne: Aug st 7. 1792. 



Dear Sir, 

 While all the young people of this neighbourhood are gone 

 madding this morning to the great last day's review at Bag- 

 shot f; I am sitting soberly down to write to my friend in 

 Norfolk ; almost forgetting, now I am old, the impulse that 

 young men feel to run after new sights ; & that I myself, in 

 the year 1756, set-off with a party at two o' the clock in the 

 morning to see the Hessian troops reviewed on a down near 

 Winchester J. While I was writing the sentence above, my 



* ['The Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, &c.' By Charles 

 Leigh. Oxford : 1700. Folio. Book ii. pp. 8, 9.— A. N.] 



t [' The Diary or Woodfall's Register ' for Wednesday, August 8th, 

 1792, contains the following paragraphs : — 



" Bagshot Camp. Tuesday, Four o'Clock — P.M. 



"The spectacle of this day exceeded any public exhibition in this 

 kingdom. At six at least a hundred thousand persons were upon the 

 ground. At eight the King and Queen, with the Prince, the Dukes of 

 York, Richmond, [Commander-in-Chief], &c, and their attendants. At 

 nine the Review began in the hollow, below Ctesar's Camp. ' * At 



one the concourse was so immense, that at least one hundred and fifty 

 thousand horsemen, (exclusive of the army) were upon the field. The 



Pedestrians were innumerable." 



******** 



" Yesterday being the grand Review of the troops encamped on Bag- 

 shot Heath, the King went from Windsor in his Post-chaise soon after 

 Eight o'Clock. * * The manoeuvres began soon after the King's 

 arrival, at half-past nine." — A. N.] 



t [These were doubtless the forces who have left so ill a name in the 



