| Description | Dear Sir,
I am much concerned to find by your kind letter of the 10th instant, received this day, that your health is not mended by your excursion. I shou'd have hoped that the relaxation from business alone might have caused an improvement; but you possibly thought too much of home to benefit from indulgence.
I have wrote to the person to say that the accommodations and wages you meant to give wou'd not, you feared, be adequate to her merits, as your family was small, and you presumed she had been accustomed to a large family; therefore you declined engaging. Now I know your wages, I may be better able to judge; but a person who wou'd serve you as I wish they shou'd wou'd deserve perhaps something more than your limits, for you are to consider that, if she is occasionally to appear to make your breakfast, she ought to be decently dressed; this, with a degree of deportment above the common stamp, wou'd claim something more. At the same time, I am of your opinion that too high wages might bring on consequent expences unless the person you may engage with shou'd be frugal in her department, but you must sacrifice something to your ease and comfort. I will, however, still make it my business to look out.
The house is indeed dull without you and Mr. Watt but at C. Lodge I have Mrs. Vere, or I shou'd probably find both places very dull. I am infinitely obliged by your kind invitation, which it wou'd give me great pleasure to accept, but is now out of my power for various reasons. I rejoice, however, to learn that the coast is clear, and that I may be mistress of the field; tell Miss Boulton, with my kind love, that I will not make an ill use of my command, but that I shall always remain both her and your very affectionate friend,
C. Matthews
[Edited transcript.] |