-- In short, I became enamoured of a
country life; and my success greatly exceeded my expectation -- I
drained bogs, burned heath, grubbed up furze and fern; I planted
copse and willows where nothing else would grow; I gradually
inclosed all my farms, and made such improvements that my estate
now yields me clear twelve hundred pounds a year -- All this time
my wife and I have enjoyed uninterrupted health, and a regular
flow of spirits, except on a very few occasions, when our
cheerfulness was invaded by such accidents as are inseparable
from the condition of life. I lost two children in their infancy,
by the small-pox, so that I have one son only, in whom all our
hopes are centered. -- He went yesterday to visit a friend, with
whom he has stayed all night, but he will be here to dinner. -- I
shall this day have the pleasure of presenting him to you and
your family; and I flatter myself you will find him not
altogether unworthy of our affection.
'The truth is, either I am blinded by the partiality of a parent,
or he is a boy of very amiable character; and yet his conduct has
given us unspeakable disquiet. -- You must know, we had projected a
match between him and a gentleman's daughter in the next county,
who will in all probability be heiress of a considerable fortune;
but, it seems, he had a personal disgust to the alliance.
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