But, let us return, from the misery of arrests and elections, to peace, industry, family union, and love, in the happy cottage of Rosanna. No obstacles now prevented the marriage of Stafford and Rose; it was celebrated with every simple demonstration of rural felicity. The bride had the blessings of her fond father and mother, the congratulations of her beloved brothers, and the applause of her own heart. Are not these better things than even forty fine wedding gowns, or a coach of Hatchett’s best workmanship? Rose thought so, and her future life proved she was not much mistaken. Stafford some time after his marriage took his wife to England, to see his mother, who was soon reconciled to him and her Irish daughter-in-law, whose gentle manners and willing obedience overcame her unreasonable dislike. Old Mrs. Stafford declared to her son, when he was returning, that she had so far got the better of what he called her prejudices, that, if she could but travel to Ireland, without crossing the sea, she verily believed she would go and spend a year with him and the Grays at Rosanna. {Footnote: Having heard, from good judges, that the language used by _Farmer Gray_ in this story appears superior to his condition, we insert a letter which we lately received from him; matter, manner, and orthography _his own_. “To R. L. EDGEWORTH, ESQ. “HON. SIR, “I have read your valuable present with care, so has also the whole family; its design is excellent, it breathes forth a spirit of virtue and industry and in a word all the social virtues which constitute human happiness--Its other characters are admirably adapted to expose vice in all its hideous forms, and gives us a view of those baneful principles which terminate in certain misery and proves beyond a doubt that many of mankind are the authors of their own calamities and frequently involve others in the same or similar unhappy circumstances-- “Thrice happy are they who in affluence endeavour thus to amend the morals of mankind; it’s they only who enjoy true felicity--their example and their precepts have a powerful influence on all around them, and never fail to excite a virtuous emulation, except, among the utterly abandoned and profligate-- “On the contrary, families in elevated situations of life who devote their time to dissipation and its sensual allurements are the pest of society--the vices and crimes of the great are frequently imitated by the lower ranks--they all die, and no memorial is left behind but that of folly and an ill-spent life. “May that life of virtue so strongly recommended be long the shining ornament of you and your family, and its end be rewarded with a crown of eternal happiness, which is the joint wish of the family of-- “FARMER GRAY.” “_July 1st, 1804._“} MURAD THE UNLUCKY CHAPTER I.