Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor Of The Freemasons' Magazine.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , I AM that insulated being called an Old Batchelor . A creature wearisome to myself and beloved by no one . I have spent the noon of my days in a single state , from , the dread of incurring the expences incident to a married life with a woman who had nothing , and now sorely do I repent that I had not generosity enough to
overlook this consideration in favour of a charming girl that 1 truly loved , and who wanted nothing but fortune to recommend her . I was formerly clerk to her father , then a merchant of great respectability , but some years after greatly reduced by the unfortunate turn of affairs in the late contest between us and America . When he failedI was settled in the worldand miht have saved his
, , g amiable girl from many a year of fatigue and distress into which their poverty immersed them . But with sang froid , for which I now detest myself , I then stood aloof ^ tore my thoughts from the sweet Eliza , and driving forward into the heart of the city , determined to lose myself in the recesses of counting-houses , and the accumulation of money . Thus avoiding all the plagues and
expences of a family , for which I deemed the society of an elegant and affectionate woman by no means an equivalent . Alas Mr . Editor , I now see howl miscalculated ; how much such a partnership would have been for my advantage in the long run . I now put the mutual participation of pleasure and pain , the
endearments of our children , that flattering interest which Eliza would have taken in me ( for whom by the way nobody now cares a straw ) , I put all these on the credit side of the ledger , and find in the opposite page , only such a portion of expences as I have actually brought upon myself , by being drawn in to give tavern dinners , and a thousand other extravagancies that young men know not how to avoid . You will easily seewhen a just account is made
, out , what I have gained , or rather what I have lost . Instead of the . bright hearth ' and smiling faces of my family , instead of sitting down in the midst of beings who owe life to me , and portioning put their little meal with the delicious sensations of a father , I take my solitary chop at a coffee-house , and afterwards saunter to the theatre , where venal beauty spreads her net and I am caught I
Alas ! here is no mind , here is . no modesty to make sentiment interesting . After having seen a public entertainment with Eliza , with what delight might wc have passed the remainder of the evening . Her taste and sensibility would have made us live the hours over again with additional pleasure . — Mer bosom would have been my harbour in the storms of life , and there 1 should have found resources from ennui in the calm season of prosperity . In the day of sickness her voice could have whispered comfort , and in my dying hour the pure invocations of my children might have availed
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor Of The Freemasons' Magazine.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , I AM that insulated being called an Old Batchelor . A creature wearisome to myself and beloved by no one . I have spent the noon of my days in a single state , from , the dread of incurring the expences incident to a married life with a woman who had nothing , and now sorely do I repent that I had not generosity enough to
overlook this consideration in favour of a charming girl that 1 truly loved , and who wanted nothing but fortune to recommend her . I was formerly clerk to her father , then a merchant of great respectability , but some years after greatly reduced by the unfortunate turn of affairs in the late contest between us and America . When he failedI was settled in the worldand miht have saved his
, , g amiable girl from many a year of fatigue and distress into which their poverty immersed them . But with sang froid , for which I now detest myself , I then stood aloof ^ tore my thoughts from the sweet Eliza , and driving forward into the heart of the city , determined to lose myself in the recesses of counting-houses , and the accumulation of money . Thus avoiding all the plagues and
expences of a family , for which I deemed the society of an elegant and affectionate woman by no means an equivalent . Alas Mr . Editor , I now see howl miscalculated ; how much such a partnership would have been for my advantage in the long run . I now put the mutual participation of pleasure and pain , the
endearments of our children , that flattering interest which Eliza would have taken in me ( for whom by the way nobody now cares a straw ) , I put all these on the credit side of the ledger , and find in the opposite page , only such a portion of expences as I have actually brought upon myself , by being drawn in to give tavern dinners , and a thousand other extravagancies that young men know not how to avoid . You will easily seewhen a just account is made
, out , what I have gained , or rather what I have lost . Instead of the . bright hearth ' and smiling faces of my family , instead of sitting down in the midst of beings who owe life to me , and portioning put their little meal with the delicious sensations of a father , I take my solitary chop at a coffee-house , and afterwards saunter to the theatre , where venal beauty spreads her net and I am caught I
Alas ! here is no mind , here is . no modesty to make sentiment interesting . After having seen a public entertainment with Eliza , with what delight might wc have passed the remainder of the evening . Her taste and sensibility would have made us live the hours over again with additional pleasure . — Mer bosom would have been my harbour in the storms of life , and there 1 should have found resources from ennui in the calm season of prosperity . In the day of sickness her voice could have whispered comfort , and in my dying hour the pure invocations of my children might have availed