viii Gilbert White of Selborne 207 



College, Oxford, and was presented by the College 

 to the living of Selborne in 1681. This Gilbert 

 White was apparently a well-to-do man, for he left 

 considerable bequests to the village, and doubtless 

 inherited wealth from his father, who had been an 

 eminent citizen of Oxford in the time of Cromwell. 

 Sampson White, whom we may call the founder 

 of the fanuly, was a draper in the High Street ; 

 he had migrated to the city from Coggs near 

 Witney, where his family had been settled for 

 many generations. He was Mayor in 1660, served 

 as "butler of the beer -cellar" at the coronation 

 of Charles II., and was knighted among many 

 others at that gay time. Thus I may claim the 

 recluse of Selborne as in some sort an Oxfordshire 

 man. But that his own Hampshire folk may have 

 their due, I must add that not only was his 

 grandmother a Hampshire lady, but, if Anthony 

 Wood is to be trusted, the family was "originally 

 descended from the Whites of South Warnborough 

 in Hampshire." ^ 



Apparently the love of village life was strong in 

 the family; for John, son of Gilbert the Vicar, 

 settled down in Selborne after his father's death as 



1 I am indebted for these particulars to my friend the Rev. 

 Andrew Clark, who has allowed me to consult the third volume 

 (as yet unpublished) of his edition of Wood's lAfe and Times. 

 Since this paper was written many details have come to light about 

 White's life and ancestry. 



