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known but few pleasures in this life, to be deprived of your husband so soon, and the rest of your life spent under so many infirmities. But your letter convinceth me that you have felt more real pleasure in the practice of virtue and resignation to the Divine will, than ever can be had in any, nay, even the greatest temporal employments. I have sent enclosed a few lines to your son, to which I refer you for a more explicit answer, and am,

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Madam, your sincere well wisher.

SIR,

LETTER 98.

The Young Lady to the Young Gentleman.

I received yours, together with one enclosed from your mother, and congratulate you on the happiness you have had in being brought up under so pious and indulgent a parent. I hope that her conduct will be a pattern for you to copy after, in the whole of your future life. It is virtue alone, sir, which can make you happy. With respect to myself, I freely acknowledge that I have not at present any reason to reject your offer, although I cannot give you a positive answer until I have first consulted with my guardian. Monday next I set out for his seat at Bloomingdale, whence you may be sure of hearing from me as soon as possible, and am,

Your sincere well wisher.

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In my last I told you, that you should hear from me as soon as possible, and therefore I now sit down to fulfil my promise. I communicated your proposal to Mr. Melvill, who, after he had written to his correspondent in New York, told me as follows:

"Miss, I have inquired concerning the young gentleman, and the information I have received is such, that I not only approve of your choice, but must also confess, that, if I did not do every thing in my power to for ward your union, I should be acting contrary to the request of your father when he lay on his death bed. You may," said he, "communicate this to your lover as soon as you please, and may every happiness attend you both in time and eternity."

And now, sir, have I not told you enough? Some, perhaps, might think too much; but I am determined to begin with as much sincerity as I could wish to practice if standing in the presence of my Maker. To expect the same from you is reasonable; I look for it, and shall be very unhappy if disappointed. But I will hope the best, and doubt not but the religious education bestowed on you by your worthy mother, will operate on the whole of your future conduct in life. You may, therefore, lay aside the tedious formality of courtship, and write to me as one with whom you mean to spend your time in this world.

Ever since my arrival here, my time has been spent in visiting the woods, the fields, and cottages, meditating on the unbounded goodness of the Almighty Creator. How

infinite is his wisdom! How unbounded his liberality! Every thing in nature conspires to exalt his praise, and acknowledge with gratitude their dependance upon him. But I will not tire you with such dull descriptions of real beauties. Present my sincere respects to your worthy mother. I hope she gets the better of her disorder, and be assured that I am,

Yours and hers with the greatest affection.

LETTER 100.

The Young Gentleman's Answer.

MY DEAR GIRL,

Is there any medium between pleasure and pain? Can mourning and mirth be reconciled? Will you believe my dear, that whilst I was reading your letter with the greatest pleasure, I was shedding tears for an affectionate parent! Thus Divine Providence thinks proper to mix some gall with our portion in life. It is impossible for me to describe the variety of passions now struggling in my breast. Ten thousand blessings to my charmer on the one hand, and as many tears to a beloved parent on the other. I conceived a notion of two impossibilities ;— one of which I am obliged to struggle with, the other, thanks to you, is over. I thought I could not live without my dear and honored mother, nor enjoy one moment's comfort unless I could call you mine; but I am now obliged to submit to the one whilst I have the pleasing prospect of being in possession of the other. Will my dear sympathise with me, or will she bear with human passions? And although all my hope of temporal happiness is centred in you, yet I doubt not but you will excuse

my shedding a tear over the remains of a dear parent, which I am now going to commit to the tomb. My dear creature, were it possible for me to describe the many virtues of that worthy woman who is now no more, you would draw a veil over the partiality of filial duty. Her last words were these: "My dear child, I am now going to pay that debt imposed on the whole human race, in consequence of the disobedience of our first parents. You know what instructions I have given you from time to time; and let me beg of you to adhere to them so far as they are consistent with the will of God, revealed in his word. May you be happy in the possession of that young lady on whom you have placed your affections; but may both you and she remember, that real happiness is not to be found in this world; and you must consider your life in this world as merely a state of probation. To the Almighty God I commend you."

She was going on, when the thread of life was broken, and she was no more. Such was the last end of my dear mother, whose remains are to be interred this evening, and as soon as I can settle her affairs with her executors, I will, as it were, fly to meet you. God grant that our happiness in this life may be conducive toward promoting our everlasting felicity hereafter. I am, as before, Yours while life remains.

LETTER 101.

From the Lady after Marriage, to an unmarried Cousin.

DEAR COUSIN,

I have now changed my name, and instead of liberty must subscribe wife. What an awkward expression, say

some! How pleasing, say others! But let that be as it may, I have been married to my Charles these three months, and I can freely acknowledge that I never knew happiness till now. To have a real friend to whom I can communicate my secrets, and who, on all occasions, is ready to sympathise with me, is what I never before experienced. All these benefits, my dear cousin, I have met with in my beloved husband. His principal care seems to be to do every thing possible to please me; and is there not something called duty incumbent on me? Perhaps you will laugh at the word duty, and say that it imports something like slavery; but nothing is more false; for even the life of a servant is as pleasant as any other, when he obeys from motives of love instead of fear. For my own part, my dear, I cannot say that I am unwilling to be obedient, and yet I am not commanded to be so by my husband. You have often spoken contemptuously of the marriage state, and I believe your reasons were that most of those you knew were unhappy; but that is an erroneous way of judging. It was designed by the Almighty, that men and women should live together in a state of society, that they should become mutual helps to each other; and if they are blessed with children to assist each other in giving them a virtuous education. Let me therefore beg that my dear cousin will no longer despise that state for which she was designed, and which is calculated to make her happy. But then, my dear, there are two sorts of men you must studiously avoid; I mean misers and rakes. The first will take every opportunity of abridging your necessary expenses, and the second will leave you nothing for a subsistence. The first, by his penuriousness, will cause you to suffer from imaginary wants; the second, by his prodigality, will make you a real beg

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