As you rightly conjecture, I had
heard a little hint of what you allude to before, and the account
gave me pleasure, coupled as it was with the assurance that the
object of your regard is a worthy and estimable woman. The step no
doubt will by many of your friends be considered scarcely as a
prudent one, _since_ fortune is not amongst the number of the young
lady's advantages. For my own part, I must confess that I esteem you
the more for not hunting after wealth if there be strength of mind,
firmness of principle, and sweetness of temper to compensate for the
absence of that usually all-powerful attraction. The wife who brings
riches to her husband sometimes also brings an idea of her own
importance and a tenacity about what she conceives to be her rights,
little calculated to produce happiness in the married state. Most
probably she will wish to control when nature and affection bind her
to submit--in this case there cannot, I should think, be much
comfort.
'On the other hand, it must be considered that when two persons marry
without money, there ought to be moral courage and physical exertion
to atone for the deficiency--there should be spirit to scorn
dependence, patience to endure privation, and energy to labour for a
livelihood.
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