“ . . . . . . I have received a long letter from your brother on the subject of your intended marriage. I have no doubt but you also have one on this business. I am well pleased to find that upon the whole he does not seem to see it in an unfavourable light. He says that if Mr. D. is a worthy man he shall have no objection to become the brother of a farmer; and he makes an odd request to me, that I shall set out to Salisbury to look at, and examine into the means of, the said Mr. D., and speaks very confidently as if you would abide by my determination. A pretty sort of an office, truly. Shall I come?
“The objections he starts are only such as you and I
| 142 | CORYDON DOWLING. |
“You have gone too far in this affair for any interference to be at all desirable; and if you had not, I really do not know what my wishes would be. When you bring Mr. Dowling at Christmas, I suppose it will be quite time for me to sit in judgment upon him; but my examination will not be a very severe one. If you fancy a very young man, and he likes an elderly gentlewoman:* if he likes a learned and accomplished lady, and you like a not very learned youth, who may need a little polishing, which probably he will never acquire, it is all very well; and God bless you both together, and may you be both very long in the same mind.
“I am to assist you too, your brother says, in drawing up the marriage settlements—another thankful office! I am not, it seems, to suffer you to keep too much money in your own power, and yet I am to take care of you in case of bankruptcy, &c.; and I am to recommend to you, for the better management of this point, the serious perusal of Jeremy Taylor, his opinion on the marriage state, especially his advice against separate interests in that happy state
“My respects to Corydon [Dowling], mother, and aunty. Farewell. My best wishes are with you.
