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sistent with your good nature; and, although I think it is beneath a generous mind to purchase a wife, yet I shall be willing to make you a settlement adequate to your ut most wishes, besides a sufficiency for your children, if we should be blessed with any. Your answer to this is impatiently expected by

Your real admirer.

SIR,

LETTER 117.

From the Lady, in Answer.

I perused your letter, and begin to be afraid that I have tampered with you too long, to conceal the real sentiments of my mind from one so justly entitled to know them as you are.

My objections, I assure you, sir, were not the effect of levity, but arose from the most mature deliberation; nor would I, on any account, impose on the man to whom I intended to give my hand, and consequently my heart. This would have been a crime, attended with more aggravated circumstances than any which you have mentioned, and less entitled to an excuse. Hypocrisy is the same under whatever character it appears; and, the person who is guilty of it in the smallest matters, will be equally so in the greatest. Your answer to my objections are altogether satisfactory, and I am now convinced that I may now become your wife, and at the same time, at least a nominal mother to your children; I say nominal, for although I should on all occasions consider myself oblig. ed to act with humanity to your children as well as my own, yet I may be still named by the above appellation

However, as your person, company and conversation are agreeable, and as your character stands unimpeached, I am almost inclined to try that life to which I have been hitherto a stranger. It is, I assure you, with diffidence, and if attended with any unfavorable circumstances, may possibly be more my fault than yours. We cannot foresee future events, and are therefore obliged to leave them to the direction of an unerring Providence. I shall therefore not detain you any longer, but only to inform you, that my brother was married yesterday to Miss Bright; may every happiness attend them both in time and eternity! You will receive a letter enclosed from him, and you may be assured that I have now not any objections against being connected with you for life. The time fixed for that period depends entirely upon your own choice and appointment, and I think you cannot reasonably desire more. All that I expect, nay, all that I desire, is only to be treated consistently with the professions you have already made. If so, I think I cannot fail of being as happy as is consistent with the state of affairs in this world, and I do not look for miracles. As you will doubt. less be much hurried before you set out for London, one letter more will be sufficient till I see you; in the mean time, may you rest content and happy.

I am, yours truly.

SIR;

LETTER 118.

The Brother's Letter.

I know not of any gentleman who ever yet honored me with his company, for whom I have a greater regard

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than yourself; and the agreeable hours we have spent together, cannot be equalled unless they are repeated. When I read your first letter to my sister, I considered your proposal of marriage as the highest honor that could be conferred on our family, and yet, without partiality, I firmly believe that the woman to whom you have paid your addresses has merit equal to any in the world. She returned from the boarding school about ten years ago, during which time she has superintended the affairs of my family, and conducted them with such prudence, as is seldom met with in one of her years. Many offers have been made to her, by fox hunters in our neighborhood, but their characters were so totally opposite to her sentiments, that she rejected them with the utmost disdain, although apparently beneficial. My sister, sir, has much more refined notions, than to pay any more regard to affluence, than what would procure her an independent subsistence, and too great a regard to her conscience, to sacrifice her peace of mind, to enjoy the greatest earthly grandeur. To use her own words, she considers riches as laying her under an additional obligation to act for the good of her fellow creatures, as a faithful steward of that Almighty Being, who has declared that he will exact a strict account from his creatures, in what manner they have used those gifts which his unbounded liberality has bestowed. Her leisure hours have been spent in reading; and when I have met with her in the garden or in the fields, she had constantly in her hands either Thompson, Milton, or Young, but most commonly the Bible. It may possibly occur to your thoughts that what I have said in commendation of a beloved sister, arises from a fraternal affection; but I do assure you, sir, that I could not help repeating her many accomplishments, were you an utter

stranger, and even a married man. A person even destitute of virtue and sensibility might remain ignorant of my sister's merits forever; but, by one of your worth, I doubt not but they will be estimated by their real value. Light and darkness cannot dwell together, nor can those of opposite tempers ever be happy; but where there is an intellectual as well as corporal union, nothing in this life can interrupt its rational enjoyment. But I had almost forgot that I was writing to one who is well acquainted with these things; nor should I have enlarged so much, had not I regarded your friendship and interest on the one hand, and my sister's happiness on the other. Yet, not to detain you any longer, my consent for a happy union, is not only at your service, but, as I said before, I shall consider it as a very happy event; and I have not the least doubt of your ever repenting of your choice. I have heard that secular affairs call for your attendance in London; when those are settled, I shall be glad to hear from you, and also of my sister and you being happily joined in marriage. In the mean time she is at my house, where you may freely correspond, and am,

Your sincere friend.

LETTER 119.

From the Gentleman, after his arrival in London, to the Lady in the Country.

MY DEAR,

For so I must now call you; I arrived here last night, and embrace this first opportunity of writing.

What a busy place is London! What a variety of objects, strange faces, and what a continual hurry of busi

ness! The citizens acquiring fortunes by trade, whilst the nobility and gentry are squandering away their estates left them by their ancestors; but such has always been the conduct of mankind in trading nations. One sows, another reaps, whilst a third part enjoys the fruit of their labor. For my own part, I am neither fond of gaiety nor solitude. In all things there is a medium, which ought to be preferred to extremes. A sudden elevation to affluence or grandeur, and a sudden fall from either, are equally dangerous: the one too often plunges the person into all sorts of immorality, whilst the effects of the other are most commonly despair. I would choose to spend three months in every year in London, and the remainder in the country. This, in my opinion, is a more rational scheme than the present mode of continually hurrying from place to place, without scarce ever relishing the pleasures of any. But I had almost forgot to whom I am writing. As soon as I have settled my affairs here, which will take up about three weeks, I intend going to Windsor, to visit my daughters at their boarding-school, and from thence hasten to your brother's; when I hope that union will take place which must terminate only with our lives. I have employed my attorney to draw up articles of a jointure for you, and which I shall bring along with me to be signed in the presence of your friends. I hope your brother and his wife are well. I received his excellent letter, and heartily thank him for the contents.

I am, my dear,

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Yours sincerely and affectionately.

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