well pleased that she is not of a fickle nature, for whoever has not an apt and steadfast wife, be she ever so polished and rich, will become a poor miserable man. Therefore, dear Johann, follow my advice, for I give you faithful counsel. It is true there are eleven children to provide for, some of whom are still little, but possibly may become fewer in number, and there is a good fortune, the greater part of it in landed property. Therefore bethink you, dear son, I do not wish to constrain you to change your condition, but it would be the greatest pleasure to me were you to enter this family, for looking into the future, I can see no place that would altogether suit you so well as this one. Dear Johann, if this idea should please you, and you should wish to see her and that she should see you beforehand, come here in the first week of Lent with any travelling companions that you like, to give you security on the road; but keep your purpose to yourself, saying nothing of it to your companions till a day or two before your departure, then tell Justinian that you are going home. But do not tell him why you wish to go home, but make it appear as if it were on account of your property which you wish to regulate, as I had written to you so strongly in my last three letters about it, declining to administer it any longer, as is indeed my intention, if you will in nowise take my advice. There is good reason why you should prevent his saying a word, in order that it should remain secret. Dear Johann, I beg of you to bethink yourself of how the times are, and that it is not fitting for you to remain longer unsettled. Ah! may my brother-in-law Herr Hammann find a wife also for Justinian now; it would do him no harm, as he leads a life of pleasure; and let it not be with him as it was with his deceased cousin Blasius, who had so accustomed himself to a profligate life that no one could persuade him to marry till he became old and had lost his health; he had no child, and now his wife is betrothed again to a nobleman, one Schenk of Schweinsburg. They say she will soon celebrate her nuptials: God grant her happiness." Thus far the letter: the wish of the prudent mother was fulfilled; her son returned, as she had so cautiously charged him to do, to Frankfort; he married the maiden of her choice, and they lived together forty years in happy matrimony.