Vol. xxxiii.] 14 



of Moreton Pinkney in Northampton, in the gift of Oriel,fell 

 vacant, and in the Provost's note-book occurs the following 

 en t rv : — ' Agreed to give it to the Senior Fellow [i.e. Gilbert 

 White] who will serve it in person/ Gilbert White was 

 duly licensed to this living in May 1758, and in the same 

 month he duly made his 'declaration' to the Bishop of 

 Peterborough to c conform to the Liturgy of the Church 

 of England/ However, he did not go into residence at 

 Moreton Pinkey, and the living was served by Mr. Cotton 

 as curate. 



In 1757 Gilbert White was again acting as curate of Dene 

 and Newton Valence, but the death of the Vicar of Selborne, 

 I)r. Bristowe, which took place in 1758, found him back 

 there again as curate-in-charge for the third time. In 1758 

 John White, Gilbert White's father, died at his residence 

 ' The Wakes/ directing by his Will that no monument should 

 be erected to him, ' not desiring to have my name recorded 

 save in the Book of Life." Neglectful of his wishes, 

 however, his descendants placed a tablet to his memory in 

 Selborne Church in 1811, on which the date of his death 

 is wrongly given as 1759. In October 1759 Gilbert White 

 resigned the curacy of Selborne to Mr. Etty, the new Vicar, 

 and set out for London and his brother-in-law's house at 

 Lyndon, near Rutland, where he made a visit of some six 

 months' duration. This was his last considerable absence 

 from Selborne, where he was shortly to settle down for the 

 remainder of his life. He seems to have realized about 

 this time that Selborne would be his residence by choice, 

 and in 1760 we find him purchasing f the upper part of 

 Lassam's orchard' to add to the premises of ' The Wakes/ 



In 1761 he became curate of Farringdon in Hants, near 

 by Selborne, which he served for twenty-five years, living at 

 'The Wakes' and riding backwards and forwards to his 

 duties by the bridle-path across the ' North Field/ In 

 1763 an important event took place in the life of the 

 naturalist ; in this year he inherited * from his uncle, 



* There is, however, no mention of ' The Wakes ' in Charles White's 

 Will, and Gilbert inherited as " heir at Law." 



