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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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As requested, here are more sample letters from my 19th century letter writer. The book was printed in 1870, and contains sample correspondence from at least as early as the 1850s. It also includes sample legal and accounting documents, and expounds the new (!) double entry bookkeeping system.
A respectable Citizen asks the hand of a Young Lady:
Dear Miss M____:
Scarcely had I the pleasure of becoming acquainted with you, when I felt the most ardent desire of being united to you for life. Should your heart be still disengaged, and you feel that you can return the affection that I entertain for you, you would make me the happiest man on earth. In thus asking for your hand, I consider it my duty to inform you of my circumstances. I have a complete establishment, and my fortune is such, that I can offer you a life free from the usual cares of existence.
I claim nothing but your amiable person; and your hand is more valuable to me, than all the riches of the world.
Please to decide my fate as soon as possible.
Your favorable answer will fill my heart with joy, for no one can love you more than
Your affectionate friend,
__________
The Lady consents:
Dear Sir:
Your kind letter has confirmed what I have long supposed, from your attentive conduct towards me. I think that I have never given you cause to doubt my affection for you, and if such should have been the case involuntarily, I ask your pardon;, and reckon upon it with the greater confidence, as I can assure you of my warmest gratitude for the affection which you entertain for me. I have always enjoyed the purest pleasure in your society, and shall be happy to cement our relation by nearer and dearer ties, whilst I give you the solemn promise, next to God and to my parents, to look upon you as the sole confident of my heart, the only participator of my joys and sorrows.
I have concealed nothing from my parents; I have read your letter to them; they approve of our union, and leave all to myself. I have decided in your favor, and accept of your heart, anticipating a happy future, for which I find a guarantee in the excellent qualities of your character. I am proud of the love of the man who is esteemed by every body for his rare merit. But esteem is not all I feel for you, it is the purest and most fervent affection, that has made your society so indispensable to me, and has centered all my joys in the sphere of your actions. May I never want opportunities to prove how tenderly I am devoted to you.
Your ever faithful,
++++++++
There are others, but this post is long. I shall offer them another day.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ohhhh, S-I-G-H ! That is SO beautiful! Oh, I was born into the wrong century, I think. Swoon! Thank you, my friend.
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jackie, if you enjoy that sort of stuff, you might want to pick up a copy of Anita Shreve's "Fortune's Rocks". the setting is the shores of New Hampshire at the turn of the century, the theme is reminiscent of Fitzgerald's _Tender is the Night_, the imagery is stunning and her command of language is masterfully compelling. just a warning, though: it's difficult to put down, as i discovered last night/this morning *YAWN*.  ~B
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veteran
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veteran
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I dunno, Jackie. You may be more of a hopeless romantic than I am. I suspect that all that high-flown wordy stuff was like Victorian decorations: much frou-frou to hide something which can't stand alone. I imagine something like the following going through the minds of the writers whilst they were composing these epistles:
HE: Well honey, I've run around so much and had the clap so often I can't get any decent woman to marry me, and I need an heir, so you'll do. I know you're a bit long in the tooth and decidedly plain, but you'll do, and I dare say you won't be as prissy about a good toss in the hay as those upper-class twats. You won't cost me anything in the way of settlements, and look what I'll save by cutting down on the sporting gels.
SHE: Ugh, you fat disgusting swine! If it weren't that I can't bear drudging away any longer as governess to these little cannibals and their filthy parents, I wouldn't touch you with a bargepole. But anything to have place of my own and not have to slave away all the time with the servants sniggering at me behind my back. What a woman has to put up with in this world!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Without prejudice to Jackie:
I don't know about all that, bobby, but that exchange of letters might have put a Vicky flourish on a plain accounting. Business is business, but why call it that?
Jackie,
Where you find love, who could doubt it?
IP
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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. I imagine something like the following going through the minds of the writers whilst they were composing these epistles:CYNIC!!  Like Jackie, I was moved by the letters, while recognising the possibility that your "translation" may be valid. It is at least as likely that your jaundiced interpretation is utterly wrong, and the hopeful romantic in me chooses to think so.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I dunno, Jackie. You may be more of a hopeless romantic than I am. Bob!! That was terrible! Yuck! Now I'll never marry you!  That was worse than, "Yeah, let's get it on, Bay-bee!"
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Well, Jackie, my best regards to you and Max, as one romantic to others. Maybe I overstated my case, but I still have to stand by the basic proposition. Romantic I may be, but I can't get teary-eyed over what is, by its own admission, a piece of boilerplate.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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With regard to the beginning love letters. I am assuming that each had a lawyer to write and/or review a marriage contract. If a pompous man is a stuffed shirt, what is the female counterpart?
I do endorse Ben Franklin's remark that before marriage a man should have his eyes wide open, and thereafter keep them half shut. Too many lovers do it vice/versa.
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stranger
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stranger
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Despite what others have said, (I won't name names). I thought the letters were lovely. Sort of like poetry. Perhaps a bit wordy, but I think that adds to the charm.
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