is a girl whom I very much esteem, and there is no
doubt that she will make an excellent wife."

In a letter from his mother of July 6, 1818, she thus reassures him: "Mr.
Codman is married. He married a Miss Wheeler, of Newburyport, so you will
have no need of challenging him on account of Eliza Ralston."

In a postscript to the letter of November 1, Morse adds:--

"I have just read the political parts of this letter to my good friend
Mr. A----n, and he not only approves of the sentiments in it, but pays me
a compliment by saying that I have expressed the truth and nothing but
the truth in a very clear and proper manner, and hopes it may do good."

Among young Morse's friends in England at that time was Henry Thornton,
philanthropist and member of Parliament. In a letter to his parents of
January 1, 1813, he says:--

"Last Thursday week I received a very polite invitation from Henry
Thornton, Esq., to dine with him, which I accepted. I had no introduction
to him, but, hearing that your son was in the country, he found me out
and has shown me every attention. He is a very pleasant, sensible man,
but his character is too well known to you to need any eulogium from me.

"At his table was a son of Mr. Stephen, who was the author of the odious
Orders in Council. Mr. Thornton asked me at table if I thought that, if
the Orders in Council had been repealed a month or two sooner, it would
not have prevented the war. I told him I thought it would, at which he
was much pleased, and, turning to Mr. Stephen, he said: 'Do you hear
that, Mr. Stephen? I always told you so.'

"Last Wednesday I dined at Mr. Wilberforce's. I was extremely pleased
with him. At his house I met Mr. Grant and Mr. Thornton, members of
Parliament. In the course of conversation they introduced America, and
Mr. Wilberforce regretted the war extremely; he said it was like two of
the same family quarrelling; that he thought it a judgment on this
country for its wickedness, and that they had been justly punished for
their arrogance and insolence at sea, as well as the Americans for their
vaunting on land.

"As Mr. Thornton was going he invited me to spend a day or two at his
seat at Clapham, a few miles out of town. I accordingly went and was very
civilly treated. The _reserve_ which I mentioned in a former letter was
evident, however, here, and I felt a degree of embarrassment arising from
it which I never felt in America. The second day I was a little more