is my best customer. With regard to yourself I inclose you L10., and you
will let me know when it is gone, and I will see what more I can do. You
say you are very poorly, which I am sorry to hear; but you must pluck
up your spirits, and take in plain work; and I really think you ought
to apply to Mr. Robert Beaufort. He bears a high character; and
notwithstanding your lawsuit, which I cannot approve of, I dare say he
might allow you L40. or L50. a-year, if you apply properly, which would
be the right thing in him. So much for you. As for the boys--poor,
fatherless creatures!--it is very hard that they should be so punished
for no fault of their own; and my wife, who, though strict, is a
good-hearted woman, is ready and willing to do what I wish about them.
You say the eldest is near sixteen and well come on in his studies. I
can get him a very good thing in a light genteel way. My wife's brother,
Mr. Christopher Plaskwith, is a bookseller and stationer with pretty
practice, in R----. He is a clever man, and has a newspaper, which he
kindly sends me every week; and, though it is not my county, it has some
very sensible views and is often noticed in the London papers, as 'our
provincial contemporary.'--Mr. Plaskwith owes me some money, which I
advanced him when he set up the paper; and he has several times most
honestly offered to pay me, in shares in the said paper. But, as the
thing might break, and I don't like concerns I don't understand, I have
not taken advantage of his very handsome proposals. Now, Plaskwith wrote
me word, two days ago, that he wanted a genteel, smart lad, as assistant
and 'prentice, and offered to take my eldest boy; but we can't spare
him. I write to Christopher by this post; and if your youth will run
down on the top of the coach, and inquire for Mr. Plaskwith--the fare is
trifling--I have no doubt he will be engaged at once. But you will say,
'There's the premium to consider!' No such thing; Kit will set off the
premium against his debt to me; so you will have nothing to pay. 'Tis a
very pretty business; and the lad's education will get him on; so that's
off your mind. As to the little chap, I'll take him at once. You say he
is a pretty boy; and a pretty boy is always a help in a linendraper's
shop. He shall share and share with my own young folks; and Mrs. Morton
will take care of his washing and morals. I conclude--(this is Mrs. M's.
suggestion)--that he has had the measles, cowpock, and whoop