Mr. George Seton, who has devoted much attention to this theme, tells an American story in which a brief letter holds a prominent place. He states that "in 1693, the Rev. Stephen Mix made a journey to Northampton in search of a wife. He arrived at the Rev. Solomon Stoddard's, and informed him of the object of his visit. Mr. Stoddard introduced him to his six daughters, and then retired. Addressing Mary, the eldest, Mr. Mix said that he had lately settled at Wethersfield, was desirous of obtaining a wife, and concluded by offering his heart and hand. The blushing damsel replied that so important a proposal required time for consideration; and accordingly Mr. Mix left the room in order to smoke a pipe with her father, while she took the case to 'avizandum.' On her answer being sent for, she requested further time for consideration; and it was agreed that she should send her answer by letter to Wethersfield. In the course of a few weeks, Mr. Mix received a reply, which was soon followed by the wedding:-- "Northampton, 3rd November, 1693. Rev. Stephen Mix,--Yes.--Mary Stoddard." We will bring to a close our examples of laconic letters with another specimen from the other side of the Atlantic. A notable dark day at Boston, on the 19th March, 1790, induced a lady to write to Dr. Byles, an eccentric but clever notability, the following note:-- "Dear Doctor,--How do you account for this darkness?" He simply said:-- "Dear Madam,--I am as much in the dark as you are." THE END Index. Ainsworth, W. H., 88 Alfreton, staked at Cards, 107 American Novelists, 65 Andersen, H. C., 20, 68 Andrews, Henry, 206-212 _Argosy_, 29 Arnold, Sir Edwin, 23 Austen, Jane, 67 Appleby, 215 Bacchanalian toasts, 124 Balloon Tytler, 12 Balzac, 14-16 Barnes, editor of _The Times_, 54 Beaconsfield, Earl of, 59-60 Bells, Rhymes on, 104, 106 Benwell Hall, 222 Beresford, James, 68 Beverley, 32, 101 Bills of Fare, 114, 115-116 Biographical Romance: Swan's Strange Story, 222-227 _Blackwood's Magazine_, 13 Blair's "Sermons," 72 Bloomfield, Robert, 73, 81 Bolas Magna, 201 Books, Southey's love of, 19 Boswell, 7 Braddon, Miss, 31-34 Bradstreet, Anne, 143-148 Brewer, Dr., 57-58 Briscoe, J. Potter, on Miller's Works, 196-198 Bristol, Procession of Nayler at, 219 Brooks, Henry M., 133 Brontë, Charlotte, 69-71 Browning, Robert, 64 Buchan's "Domestic Medicine," 72 Burleigh, Lord of, 199 Burns, Robert, 11, 91, 92, 98, 116-118 Butler, author of "Hudibras," 77-78 Butler, Professor, on Scrap-books, 131-133 Byron, Lord, 20, 50, 51, 73, 82, 84, 85 Campbell, Thomas, 55 Cards, 107 Carlyle, T., 2-3, 16 Catherine, Spelling of, 150-151 Cecil, Henry, 199 Celebrated Songs of Scotland, 11 Chalk, Lines on, 95 _Chambers's Journal_, 34 Charles II., letter to, 231 Chepstow, 219 Christian's View of Death, 171 Civil War, 213