should Mr. Elwell think so too, perhaps he may have no objection to your coming home to pass your birthday, and return to your studies again on Monday. You will therefore ask Mr. Elwell's leave, which should he grant, you shall be sent for to-morrow.

Your loving and affectionate Father,

B. O.

To MISS CHRISTIANA OAKLEY, BALHAM HILL.

MY DEAR CHRISTIANA,

Tooting Lodge, May 2, 1807.

I AM, and shall at all times be, glad to hear from you or either of your sisters; but I only wish it when your conduct is consistent: and if you have been inconsistent in the letter you have this day addressed to your mamma, it arises, I should hope, more from the instigation of your little playmates, than from your own feelings. I had anticipated much pleasure in the thought of seeing you and your sisters at the approaching ball; but that pleasure could only have been realized in seeing you appear in that dress which constitutes the simplicity and true character of a child of your years: that character cannot be sustained by the trifling distinction of satin slips and silk stockings.

Your accomplishments, if they are to attract your father's notice, must assume a nobler feature; they must emanate from the head, and not from the heels. You begin your letter by saying, "We will be much obliged." Who do you mean? I presume your sisters; but you do not mention their names: we applies to the plural number, and you write in your own person. This little fault I can excuse in a child of your years, and

can readily attribute the blunder to the silk stockings, which, probably, have so taken possession of your mind, that you were thinking of them instead of your grammar. When you can estimate the proud distinction of a well-dressed mind from a well-dressed head, I shall have great happiness in indulging you with what I shall then think an innocent appendage to your person. Your affectionate Father,

SIR,

To MR. HOUGHTON, LOWER TOOTING,

(Collector of Assessed Taxes.)

B. O.

Tooting Lodge, May 3, 1807.

I RETURN you the enclosed paper, filled up according to my meaning of the different clauses contained in it, which if irregular (which you will ascertain when you see the surveyor), you will let me know. I must recommend to you, in the discharge of the office you have recently entered upon, to do all in your power to assist your neighbours in the complicated mode of making their returns; and whenever you find them ignorant of the form to be observed, that you explain to them how it should be done, in order to prevent the frequent appeals, which have, in so many late instances, been productive of inconvenience to the appellants, as well as creating much dissatisfaction upon the decisions which the commissioners under the Act are bound to award. Never suffer any trifling emolument to bias your mind from a true, honest, and faithful discharge of your duty; but do all in your power to discourage, either in yourself

or others, any propensity to take advantage of the ignorance of your neighbours: for, be assured, that in doing this you are the Government's true friend and servant.

I am, &c.

B. O.

To GEORGE TOLDERVY, Esq.

MY DEAR SIR,

Stock Exchange, August 3, 1807.

THE postscript of your letter of the 28th ultimo has, I perceive, led you into serious reflections upon the times; and as I admit the present to be an awful crisis, I do not wonder at the alarm which seems to possess you: you are, perhaps, taking the worst side of the question, and it may be proper to do so. How far your property with me, in the event of an invasion, may be safe, is a strong question, and applies equally to mine as well as to yours. God knows who or what can be safe in such a convulsion.

I will suppose invasion possible, but not probable. We, in this (I was going to say, invulnerable) island, are infinitely more powerful than the Emperor of the French is upon the continent. What he has done on land does not equal our pre-eminence at sea; and until I can see France in possession of a navy double that of ours, I shall not despair of the liberties of my country being shaken. The enemy's chief aim is at the finances of England: he has, in as far as excluding us from the continent, done much to check its growth; but, with all his mighty efforts, we have a revenue exceeding any thing ever known in this country before; and as long as we continue a firm and united people, so long may