21 [Vol. xxxiii. 



To return to White's private life : of his last years there 

 is but little to relate ; during this period his sister-in-law, 

 the widow of his brother John, who had died in 1780, 

 kept house for him at Selborne, and his door was con- 

 stantly open to the various members of his family, whom 

 he liked to entertain in kindly fashion, as he felt became 

 his position as head of the family. No portrait of Gilbert 

 White is known to exist, and though various supposed 

 likenesses in the shape of paintings have appeared from 

 time to time the whole weight of evidence is against their 

 authenticity (cf. articles by Rashleigh Holt-White, ' The 

 Selborne Magazine/ May and June 1913). He is thus 

 described by his nephew, Francis White, in the preface to 

 Bell's edition, p. lviii : ' He was only five feet three inches in 

 stature, of a spare form and remarkably upright carriage. 

 The expression of his countenance was as those who knew 

 him have recorded, intelligent, kindly, and vivacious, his 

 constitution sound and vigorous, his manners courteous and 

 affable/ He died after a short illness on the 26th June, 

 1793, having officiated at the funeral of a parishioner but a 

 few days previously ; the last entry in the Parish Register 

 of Selborne'* signed by him being as follows: — 'Mary 

 Busbey, aged 16 of this Parish, was buried June 10, 1793 

 Registered June 10 by me, Gil. White, Curate.' 



The next entry in the register being that of his own 

 burial, which took place on July 1st, the service being 

 conducted by Mr. Taylor, the Vicar. On the 15th of the 

 previous month he had written to Marsham the ominous 

 words — ' The season with us is unhealthy/ 



'The Natural History of Selborne' has attained a position 

 reached by few books in the English language ; the cause of 

 this great and growing popularity is difficult to determine, 

 and though many explanations have been attempted none 

 of them seems altogether satisfactory. 



To quote Professor Newton (Private Reprint from Diet. 

 Nat. Biog.) : 'That White's 'Selborne' is the only work 



* He had become curate-in-charge of Selborne for the fourth time in 

 1784. (He was never Vicar.) 



