13 [Vol. xxxiii. 



rington the Inventer'*. In 1751 Gilbert White became 

 curate-in-charge of Selborne, the Vicar, Dr. Bristowe, being 

 non-resident, and seems to have occupied the parsonage 

 house. 



In 1752 he became Junior Proctor to his University, that 

 office having come to the turn of Oriel ; and though it seems 

 to have been somewhat unusual for a non-resident to hold 

 the position, his claim was recognized and he resigned his 

 Selborne curacy accordingly. In January 1753, when 

 Gilbert White was at Selborne for the Christmas vacation, 

 his brother John and other members of the family seem to 

 have been engaged in the construction of the ' Zigzag/ that 

 well-known zigzag path which leads to the top of Selborne 

 Hanger, and is so familiar to all who know Selborne village. 



In May 1753 Gilbert White's term as Junior Proctor' 

 expired; he also held, about this time, the office of Dean to 

 his College, the most important post after the Provostship. 

 Gilbert White became a candidate for the Provostship 

 when that office became vacant in 1757, but he was unsuc- 

 cessful although he seems to have had influential support. 

 The election went in favour of Chardin, fourth son of 

 Sir Christopher Musgrave, of Edenhall, between whom and 

 Gilbert White there seems to have been some unpleasantness 

 (c/. Life and Letters, vol. i. p. 74). 



In September 1753 Gilbert White became curate at 

 Durley, near Bishop's Waltham, where he resided for a 

 year, and in October 1753 he resigned his Deanship of 

 Oriel. In 1755 he was for a time curate of West Dene or 

 Deane on the Wiltshire-Hampshire border, and he also 

 seems at the same time to have held the curacy of Newton 

 Valence, near Selborne. 



Towards the close of 1756 the Naturalist appears to have 

 resigned both these curacies and to have become curate-in- 

 charge of Selborne for the second time, when he boarded 

 with his father at 'The Wakes' and only used the Vicarage 

 for sleeping accommodation. In 1757 the perpetual curacy 



* Both these diaries are in the British Museum. The latter has never 

 jet been published. 



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