marry, and thus, by a union of interests, make one hereafter of their estates, and so settle all difficulties.

The thing was decided; they shook hands upon it over an extra bowl of punch; and old Mr. Goldburn undertook to have his daughter Sarah home from school, and Sir Thomas Fairland promised to write forthwith to his son John, who was at Oxford, to bid him come down into the country with all speed. The lawyers were to be relieved of their present labours and to have a pleasanter job for all parties given them, though a far less profitable one for themselves, in drawing the marriage articles for a speedy wedding. Sir Thomas fulfilled his promise in the following epistle, which for the benefit of such of our readers as may be desirous to inspect documents of this description, we give just as it came into our own hands.

To Mr. John Fairland, Batchelor of Arts, Exon College, Oxford. May 31st, 1720.

Son John, I have yours of the 25th instant, which is soe hastely wrote, soe full of blots and blurrs, that I could

hardly read it. Had I not formerly received from you some

of the same complexion, I should have believed it writ by a school boy rather than by a Univarsity scholar and a Batchelor of Arts; and that not to a father, but to the most ignorant of inferiors. The reasun of my not answering your former letter and sending you a bill, is your neglecting to give me a full and partickler account how you have disposed of the Thirty-seven pounds three shillings and sixpence which I have supplied you with since the 10th day of Febuarry last, which methinks you should have thought yourself obliged for to do in point both of duty and interest. Thirty-seven pounds three shillings and sixpence out of my pocket in four months time I find to be a very greate sum of money, and what I am a long time a getting together; and lastly, it is but reasunable I should know how it has been applied. Not only you, but many other things-such as making the new cart roade, my law suits, and the new pound at Goose Green-have been very expensive, and tenants don't pay and farms don't lett as they yused to do; and oats and Hay are rose high since Christmas; and my law bills have come in heavy. But I have hit upon a way to put a stop to them. For Squire Goldburn and I, happening to travil together in the Flying Coach, settled the matter between us, which will be a greate saveing of time and money to both parties-pitty we didn't think of it before; but better late than never is an old and a true saying. And I must say Squire Goldburn behaved neighbourly and like a man of sense, who saw his own interest when clearly put before him. Soe we agreed to end law and make a match of it, and by uniting the

estates hereafter in proper settlements to put an end to all difficulty about the subject of our disputes.

I am to pull down the hedge, he consents to give up the gate, and the old cart way is to be common between us both; I to be allowed the expence incurred in cutting the

new one.

You must come home as soon as you can on receipt of this to be married. Noland is drawing the settlements. You may order wedden clothes and new liveries, if you like it, in London; for I've my reasuns for not wishing to be shabby on the occasion. Don't forget to jog Simmon's memory about my South Sea stock. Tell Jenkins, if you see him (and he goes up with cattle to Smithfield Fair at this time every year), to send me down the sides of Hampshire bacon as yusual.

You may buy the wedden ring at Wergman's in St. James's Street, and any jim crack you may think proper on the occasion for Miss, not to exceed five pounds for the cost of the same. Say when you'll come. I do herewith inclose a bill for fifty pounds, though I was angry with you, as just cause was, when I begunn this letter. Soe no more at present from your father,

Northleigh Hall, ended this June 1st, 1720.

THOS. FAIRLAND.

The above elegant and fatherly epistle was duly sealed and sent; and about three weeks after, by the then weekly post, Sir Thomas received

the following affectionate and dutiful reply from his

son:

To Sir Thomas Fairland, Bart., &c., these.

Exeter College, Oxon.

Dear Father, Many thanks for the Bill; it would, however, have been more worth saying thank you for, if another of the same amount had come along with it. I have no great fancy for marrying; but I'll do it to oblige you. I never saw old Goldburn's daughter. Hope she's pretty and has some spirit in her. Can she dance, sit a horse well, and leap a gate? But never mind that; if she has money, the thing will do very well. That's what we want in the matter. How black the lawyers will look when they find that you and old Goldburn have made it up. I should like to have enjoyed the fun of telling them the news; that would have been a nut worth cracking. I'll do all in London as you wish, and will only stay there to see the new play at Lincoln's Inn Fields-The City Wife-and the great Bear bait about to take place in Tothill fields, and will then come down and be married as soon as you like.

Dear Father,

Your dutiful son,

JOHN FAIRLAND.

We thought it right to give our readers copies of

the above epistles, as they are highly characteristic of

both father and son. All was prepared as directed, and in the month of July following on one fine morning early, there was a great stir and bustle at Southmead House. Tables groaned with the preparations for a grand dinner; friends were arriving from far and near; tenants were collecting, and the poor were astir; they were to have a feast. All the fiddles the country round could produce were engaged for a ball in the evening; and there were to be bride-cakes, and scrambling for the wedding ring in a pail of water, and throwing the stocking, and all the other old English customs on the marriage of Miss Sarah Goldburn with Mr. John Fairland, as agreed upon between their worthy fathers.

It was said that the settlements were duly prepared, and were to have been signed ere the parties set out for church. All this was said; but whether truly or falsely we cannot at this distance of time possibly determine. Certain it is that one settlement took place on that day which, though final, was little expected, and least of all by the party most concerned in it. This arose from the sudden presence of