r which indeed I had the most profitable and urgent occasion, I had no
idea that you were yourself suffering poverty. That you, the head of our
family, should condescend to be governor to a brewer's son!--that you
should have to write for booksellers (except in so far as your own
genius might prompt you), never once entered my mind, until Mr. Foker's
letter came to us, and this would never have been shown--for Madam kept
it secret--had it not been for the difference which sprang up between
us.

"Poor Tom Diggle's estate and negroes being for sale, owing to
Tom's losses and extravagance at play, and his father's debts before
him--Madam Esmond saw here was a great opportunity of making a provision
for me, and that with six thousand pounds for the farm and stock, I
should be put in possession of as pretty a property as falls to most
younger sons in this country. It lies handy enough to Richmond, between
Kent and Hanover Court House--the mansion nothing for elegance
compared to ours at Castlewood, but the land excellent and the people
extraordinary healthy.

"Here was a second opportunity, Madam Esmond said, such as never might
again befall. By the sale of my commissions and her own savings I might
pay more than half of the price of the property, and get the rest of
the money on mortgage; though here, where money is scarce to procure,
it would have been difficult and dear. At this juncture, with our new
relative, Mr. Van den Bosch, bidding against us (his agent is wild that
we should have bought the property over him), my aunt's legacy most
opportunely fell in. And now I am owner of a good house and negroes in
my native country, shall be called, no doubt, to our House of Burgesses,
and hope to see my dearest brother and family under my own roof-tree.
To sit at my own fireside, to ride my own horses to my own hounds,
is better than going a-soldiering, now war is over, and there are no
French. to fight. Indeed, Madam Esmond made a condition that I should
leave the army, and live at home, when she brought me her 1750 pounds of
savings. She had lost one son, she said, who chose to write play-books,
and live in England--let the other stay with her at home.

"But, after the purchase of the estate was made, and my papers for
selling out were sent home, my mother would have had me marry a person
of her choosing, but by no means of mine. You remember Miss Betsy Pitts
at Williamsburgh? She is in no wise improved by having had her f