Care and anxiety await us in every stage of life; but when we weigh our pleasures with our solicitudes, we shall find they are nearly balanced. May then your anxiety, at this moment, lead to the expectation of increased domestic happiness in the speedy addition to your family group! At the request of your sisters, I have brought together, in chronological order, nearly all the letters I have, at various times, written to them; as also others of a multifarious cast, which it has been their uniform practice to copy and preserve; thereby enabling me to connect, in one chain, the various links which are to form this volume. Having no secrets which I would not cheerfully repose in the bosoms of my children, nor expressed any sentiment I would wish to recal, I felt no hesitation in complying with their request; well knowing, as I do, the pleasure it gives them, at all times, to run over the hurried effusions of my observations and advice, whenever directed in epistolary forms. Bringing therefore together a continued series of events, it may serve to show, and bring to their recollection, scenes of delight and anxiety, forming, as it were, “an unvarnished tale of my whole course of love" for them— their comforts, happiness, and prosperity. If in the reperusal of these letters it should serve to bring to their remembrance the anxieties of a parent for the welfare of his children-if in this short epitome of his life it should excite in them a desire to infuse into the minds of those whom, in the order of Providence, it may be their duty to instruct, the admonitions there set forth may, perhaps, prove salutary and useful; and when the heart which dictated, and the hand which wrote them, are frozen in the icy tomb, they will remain as testimonials of his solicitude and cares. - To you, my dear Adriana, my first parental letter was written to you, then, I address the last which closes this long catalogue. You, as a mother, can estimate the value of a parent's advice: and as your tender vigilance is directed to the lovely offspring around you, you will know how to appreciate the return of their gratitude, as I do that of yourself, your sisters, and brother, for the uniform affection and attention they have ever shown to Your loving Father, B. O. I have been prevailed upon to publish also my perambulatory Remarks:- these, and the Letters, have occupied my winter evenings for some time past. Should they be acceptable to my children, for whose use, and that of a few select friends, they are intended, I shall be amply repaid for the time it has taken me in arranging them for the press. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY J. MOYES, GREVILLE STREET. |