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insinuate themselves to such depths 1 The rains this winter have 
been prodigious! In NovenT - last 7 inches; in December 6 
inches. The whole rain atSelborne in 1790 was 32 inches. Sure 
such thunder, & lightening & winds have never fallen out 
within your observation in one winter ! Had I known You 30 
years ago, I should have been much pleased ; because I would 
have gone to have seen you ; & perhaps You might have been 
prevailed on, when all our timber was standing, to have returned 
the visit. In the year 1716 I lived for six months at Thorney in 
the Isle of Ely, to settle an executorship, & dispose of live 
stock : there I lost nine oxen by their eating yew, as mentioned 
in my book. 5 I hope you will write not long hence. With the 
truest respect & esteem I remain, 
Your most humble servant, 
Gil. White. 
The dark butterfly which you saw was the papilio urticce : it 
is often more early than the yellow papilio rhamni. At this 
moment the Barometer stands somewhat below 28 inches 5 tens ! 
the rain this day has been very great from the S.E. ! 
5 See Letter V on the Antiquities of Selborne. — J.E.II. 
LETTER VI. 
[White to Marsham.] 
Selborne: Feb. 25tii: 1791. 
Dear Sir, 
It was elegantly remarked on our common friend, 
& my quondam neighbour Doctor Stephen Hales, by one 
who has written his character in Latin, that — “ scientiam philo- 
sophicam usibus humanis famulari jussit.” 1 The observation was 
1 This line was written by Dr. John Burton, and will be found in his 
1 Opuscula Miscellanea Metrico-Pvosaica (1771) p. 55. Di. Burton lias 
himself been eulogized as “a man whose liberality of sentiment always 
induced him to pay public respect to those whom he esteemed desen ing ol 
it.” See the ‘ Gentleman’s Magazine,’ April, 1780, p. ICG. -J.E.II. 
