of social and intellectual beings." And yet you pause, and fear! Why not hope? And how, with such a confession on your lips, will you parry the question, or excuse, even to yourself, the unmanly weakness of remaining a moment longer than necessary, in a thraldom so degrading? You cannot, you will not!

66

Mr. D. certainly merits all your encomiums; when self the balance shakes, 'tis rarely right adjusted," and even I must admit that his proposition is not only liberal, but expedient. I had forgotten, until he sug gested it, that "a sudden change from active to sedentary life, might injure your health and prove ruinous to our schemes." Let your improvement of the time and advantages placed at your disposal, evince that his generosity has not been lavished on an undeserver. Use them, my dear brother, as if every moment lost were a fortune squandered. It is, I know, unwelcome advice which says to youth-absent yourself from the young and gay, and therefore I will not give it; but attach yourself closely to books, and you will find that happiness does not consist in the noisy mirth of rude associates. To me, the most exceptionable feature in Mr. D―'s plan, is, that it must necessarily detain you another year or more in New England; for, in sober earnest, I do dread your "falling unawares" into the yankee custom from time immemorial; namely, entering into the most important contract in your power to make, one too, which cannot be annulled without forfeiture of your reputation as an honorable man, at an age when the law nullifies pecuniary transactions, on account of "immaturity of judgment.' These "long engagements" are objectionable in every point of view; they hang like dead weights on any enter

prise that requires the undivided energies of character, are generally contracted with a man's, or rather a boy's equal, if not superior, in years; and eventually become irksome to one party in proportion as their perpetuity is indispensable to the happiness of the other. I did not remain quite long enough in Virginia, to imbibe the southern notion, that a man should be old enough for his wife's father, neither do I give in to the New England system (as elucidated by practice), that it is immaterial which has the seniority. "Il n'y a que New York que toujours la raison;"* a man should be older than his wife; though, were I lawgiver, ten years should be about the limit of disparity. Here at the north, five would answer; but a few years more or less are not so important after all, as some other matters. Now you cannot expect free admission into your former and appropriate circle, yet no member of any other can be to you a desirable companion, least of all a female. Some there may be, beautiful in person and fascinating in manner; but were they well-born, intelligent, refined, pure and high-minded, as the companions of my brother should be, they would not be found in a subordinate sphere. But allowing the lady to be the sublimated essence of all feminine attraction, a matrimonial entanglement, whether near or more remotely prospective, would in your case, prove the death blow to all lofty aspiration; and you would, when too late, hate the innocent cause of your blighted hopes, with an intensity, bitter as shame, disappointment, and crushed ambition could engender!

But enough of this-I fear you have already had a

It is only New York that is always in the right.

surfeit of good advice, so to change the subject, allow me to say how much I was gratified by the improvement evinced in your last. With the exception of a few grave errors in orthography, and some trifling ones in punctuation and direction-the latter intended to be quizzical, I suppose, though the exterior is not exactly the place for such things-the matter and manner of the whole would have been creditable to almost any one. Indeed I was

quite amused at the sang-froid with which you state your grievances, and inquire "where I picked up so much outlandish lingo"-why among beaux, novels, newspapers, and such like good company-where else do you suppose? You know very well that I know nothing in fact of la langue Francois; but must not expect me to mend my ways, or regret all the study "these pestilent phrases" have cost you. Did it never occur to you that they were inserted for that very purpose, not for display, or to exercise the yankee prerogative of " guessing?" The sentinels on the ramparts of the "King's English" do, to be sure, declaim, as becomes them, in a style of lofty invective against having the immaculate purity of vernacular corrupted by these foreign interlopers; but I am not responsible for their introduction, and now that they are admitted, it is nearly as necessary they should be made to pass for exactly what they are worth, and no more, as to know that two and two make four.

As a sojourner among "the everlasting yankee nation," it is reasonable to suppose you have an extra horror of impostors, wooden nutmegs, and other abominations; so compassionating your situation, I insert, in a pocket lexicon, a leaf from Webster's Spelling-book,

which will assist in unmasking a few of these formidable incognitæ.

The former, I know, you will value more as my gift, than for its own intrinsic beauty or value, but permit me to remind you that it is designed for use, not show, and entreat, that henceforth you will suffer no word with whose orthography, and import, you are not thoroughly au fait, to escape you, until both are indelibly impressed on your memory. If you were to keep a common-place book, and transcribe, in a legible hand, every word and definition for which you had occasion to look, you would soon find the habit beneficial in more ways than one. Among other things, it would insure some little practice in penmanship; and should your next specimen exceed the last, as much as that did its predecessor, I shall soon have occasion to blush for such a heathenish looking scrawl as this. I am something mortified as the case now stands, and can sympathize very feelingly with your "stiff fingers;" mine will not readily relax after this long contraction.

Past twelve, so good night, and pleasant dreams to you, my dear brother.

Votre Sour LOUISE.

EPITHALAMIUM.

WRITTEN FOR A YOUNG FRIEND.

Now joy be thine, my noble brother,
For thou hast won a gifted bride;
And the heart that never loved another
Is throbbing fondly at thy side.

The charm of youth may not endure,
Earth's finest gold has some alloy;
But that trusting heart, so high and pure,
Is wealth-and thine-I give thee joy!

LETTER VII.

METAPHYSICS AND OTHER VAGARIES.

DEAR EVELYN:

H..

Mass., Jan., 1834.

A LITTLE gossip or nonsense is, you know, very refreshing, but the duplicate is intolerable; so I shall abandon "interesting items" to the regular residents, throw the reins to my good steed, La Plume, and just follow wherever its mother instinct leads.

You ask for a portrait of your friend-a careless outline is all I can give-and should that displease, you must blame the curiosity that procured a bad likeness, not the unskillful limner. She talks, I think, less nonsense than most people-and that is no small compliment, considering that she talks all the time-has some amusing, but no bad, and many estimable qualities, for which I esteem her highly. And then, again, she piques herself upon some others which she has not;firmness of character, for instance, to which a weathervane has just as much pretension, and rather more, for that does stand still when it rusts down.

She looks upon all young ladies as her special proteges, and an admirable chaperone she would make, for that is her forte; but having assumed the style and title of governess long before my schoolmates came out, she must excuse me from addicting myself to leadingstrings just now. Yet none the less for that do I feel obliged by the interest she takes in my welfare, despite a lurking suspicion that it is given chiefly to your sister; and a little owing perhaps to my being such a gem of a listener.