white] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
629 
daughter of Gilbert White, the Vicar of Selborne. In 1763, 
on the death of Charles White, the Rector of Bradley, Gilbert 
applied to Lord Chancellor Henley, in whose patronage it lay, 
for this living ; he was, however, unsuccessful in this, and the 
disappointment seems to have decided him to pass the rest 
of his life quietly at Selborne, since we find him in course of 
time declining numerous offers of college livings. In 1784 
Gilbert White resumed the curacy of Selborne for the fourth 
time — he was never Vicar, as has sometimes been stated — and 
this office he" held till his death. He was never married. 
During the last years of his life the widow of his brother John, 
who had died' in 1780, kept house for him at “ The Wakes.” 
That part of his life which is of the greater interest to 
us, viz. as a naturalist, now claims our attention. In 1751 
Gilbert White commenced to keep a diary, which he headed 
‘ ‘ The Garden Kalendar for the year 1751.” This he continued 
until 1767, when he replaced it by an oblong notebook with 
printed headings, which he entitled “The Naturalist’s J ournal, 
the gift of the Honourable Mr. Barrington, the Inventer.” 
Both these diaries are in the British Museum. But the com- 
mencement of his real work may be said to date from the 
beginning of his correspondence with Thomas Pennant in 
1767, although they do not appear to have become personally 
acquainted until 1771. Most probably it was through his 
brother Benjamin, the publisher of Pennant’s British Zoology , 
that Gilbert White made the latter’s acquaintance. His first 
letter to Pennant is dated August 4, 1767 (being the tenth of 
the printed series, the others being prefixed when Gilbert 
White wrote his book), and the last to this correspondent 
November 30, 1780. His other great correspondent was 
Daines Barrington, with whom he commenced to correspond 
June 30, 1769, and to whom his last letter is dated June 25, 
1787. And it is these letters, forty-four to Pennant and 
sixty-six to Daines Barrington, that form the Natural History 
of Selborne as it appeared in the original edition. 1 Thomas 
1 Gilbert White’s published letters, at any rate to Pennant, were rewritten for 
the purpose of publication, and differ very considerably from those of the original 
