sumption and haughtiness, but in reality an incitement to marriage. Men in years ought always to secure a friend to take care of declining life, and watch narrowly as they fall the last minute particles of the hourglass. A bachelor will seldom find, among all his kindred, so true a nurse, so faithful a friend, so disinterested a companion, as one tied to him by the double chain of duty and affection. A wife could not be banished from his chamber, or his unhappy hours of retirement; nor had the dean felt a blow, or wanted a companion, had he been married, or, in other words, had Stella lived. All that a friend could do, has been done by Mrs. Whiteway; all that a companion could persuade, has been attempted by Mrs. Ridgeway. The rest — but I shall run on for ever, and I set out at first only with an intention of thanking you for your letter, and assuring you that
I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant,
volumes, the earl of Clarendon's history in three folio volumes, and my best Bible, together with thirteen small Persian pictures in the drawingroom, and the small silver tankard given to me by the contribution of some friends whose names are engraved at the bottom of the said tankard."
