INTRODUCTOUY OBSERVATIONS. 
vii 
the moral obligation upon himself as a man and minister, to 
benefit his fellow creatures by impressing upon them the 
beneficence of the Creator, as exemplified in his works, and the 
contentment and cheerfulness of spirit which their study under 
proper restrictions imparts to the mind. And of this man we 
have handed down scarcely any biographical recollections, 
except what can be gathered from a short sketch by his brother, 
or that may be interspersed among his letters ; and these are 
very few, as he was not given to write of himself or his private 
affairs. Gilbert White, at one time the recluse, and almost 
obscure vicar of Selborne, had no biographer to record all the V-^'^-i^ ^ 
little outs and ins of his quiet career, he was not thought of 
until his letters pointed him out as a man of observation, and it 
is only since they have been edited and re-edited, that every 
source has been ransacked, with the hope of finding some 
memoranda of the worthy vicar and naturalist. 
The sketch which his brother John appended to the octavo 
edition of his works in 1802, is, as we have stated, the only 
memorial of his life, and as it is authentic and very short, it is 
best to print it as it was originally published. The same 
modest and retired habits never tempted him, so far as is known, 
to sit for any likeness, and no portrait or profile remains to recal 
the features of one whose writings have been so much and so 
widely read.* 
" Gilbert White was the eldest son of John White of Selborne, 
Esq., and of Anne, the daughter of Thomas Holt, rector of 
Streatham in Surrey. He was born at Selborne in July 18th, 
1720 ; and received his school education at Basingstoke, under 
the Bev. Thomas Warton, vicar of that place, and father of those 
two distinguished literary characters, Dr. Joseph Warton, 
master of Winchester school ; and Mr. Thomas Warton, poetry- 
professor at Oxford. He was admitted at Oriel College, Oxford, 
in December 1739, and took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 
June, 1743. In March, 1744, he was elected fellow of his college. 
He became Master of Arts in October, 1746, and was admitted 
as one of the senior procters of the University in April, 1752. 
Being of an unambitious temper, and strongly attached to the 
* ** Oriel College, of which Gilbert White was for more than fifty years a fellow, 
some years since offered to have a portrait painted of him for their hall. An 
inquiry was then made of all the members of his family ; but no portrait of any 
description could be found. I have heard my father say that Gilbert White was 
much pressed by his brother Thomas (my grandfather), to have his portrait 
painted, and that he talked of it; but it was never done." — A. Holt White. — 
Notes and Queries, September^ No. 204, page 304. 
