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Dear Sir,
When I consented to sign a bond for the payment of 200£ a year to Mrs. Fothergill I understood it to be for and dureing the term of my natural life-or rather our joint lives-and you'l see by my pencil erasures in the bond the words that I think should be expunged.
When a man is doing an act that is to be binding upon his children after his death, he ought conscientously to consider whether he has a natural to do it and whether it is a just act. If I had gain'd a large fortune by my own industry, I should think I had a right to give a part of it away from my children, and in the present case I feel I should have done it, but when I do not leave them a fortune equal to that which their mother brought (viz. 30 Ml.) and which was intrusted to my care, I think I should be guilty of a robbery if I was to bind my children to pay out of their own-or, say, the impared fortune of their mother-the sum of £200 a year to a family which, I thank God, is so much better provided for, and which in all probability would not have been the case had not I unceasingly struggled to recover the ruinous state of B. & F. affairs and keep them from falling into bankruptcy.
Whilest I am living I am willing to pay £200 a year to Mrs. Fothergill and 50 to Mrs. Swellengrable-but I am not clear that my children will be able to do it after my death, even if they were ever so much disposed to do it.
What I do is from reasons set forth in the bond (viz. affection to the family), but it is impossible I can bind and oblige my son to have the same affection, although I should be happy to see it, provided it arose from natural causes.
If you and Mrs. Fothergill concur in sentiments with me and will send me a bond adapted to my sentiments, I will execute it and return it per first post.
With sentiments of affection to Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. Fothergill, and yourself, I remain, dear sir, your faithfull friend.
Mattw. Boulton
[Edited transcript.] |