With what pleasure did I read over your letter! how happy am I to find that you have such a just sense of your duty! I agree with you that an old man, whose health has been injured by cares and sorrows, ought not to work for his bread, when he has young and healthy children. Allow him as much of your salary as you can spare; it is the first debt you ought to pay. You may, by this means, be obliged to deny yourself some superfluities, and even what the world calls necessaries, but how richly will you be repaid for this self-denial! However since you have confided in me, let me take the liberty to suggest to you, that you must never recede from an engagement deliberately entered into with a father. Weigh this matter well in your mind, and consider that no marriage contract will release you from this prior one; and if, after mature deliberation, you find that you have sufficient resolution to fulfil what you intend to promise, give way to that laudable ardour, which your love and gratitude for your father inspires. If not, permit him, as long as heaven grants him strength, to follow his present employment, and allow him as much as you can spare to lighten his cares, without making any formal promise. As to your marrying one woman while you love another, it appears to me the most shocking breach of duty; and we are not to fulfil one duty by sacrificing another. I must own I do not think you can have any great chance for happiness (supposing your affections were not engaged) with a woman old enough to be your mother. No, do not marry the widow! Have a little patience, and in a year or two you may be able to offer your hand to the girl your heart has chosen, and your father may be happy in the bosom of your family. Do you think that he could be happy if your peace was sacrificed to procure him a few of the conveniences of life? You know little of him, if you think so; he would be doubly distressed if he saw you unhappy. Believe me, a father like yours can only find his happiness in the happiness of his child; open your heart to him, and never think of marrying without his approbation. For my part, I hope never to enter into the marriage state without having my choice confirmed by the consent of my parents, who, I am sure, will never persuade me to marry merely from pecuniary motives. I have heard my father say, that a child should always choose the person he is to be united to; but a parent who has acted like a friend by giving his children a good education, ought always to have a negative voice. I shall make no apology for having complied with your request: try what has flowed from the sincerity of my heart by the test of a wiser judgment, and believe me to be sincerely your friend, CHARLES. LETTER XXXIX. WILLIAM _to_ LANDBERGEN.