University of Virginia Library

December 20.—

I congratulate you, my sister, my friend, my ever beloved Cecilia. Happy! happy may you be in your nuptials! but in the midst of my joy for your being so nobly and worthily bestowed, self love forces a sigh from me. I have lost the pleasing hope of seeing you at the time fixed for your return. The station your husband holds at the court of Vienna, will, I fear, long detain my beloved in a foreign land. But you are not amongst strangers; a husband, a brother, and tender parent, must make every part of the globe equally your

home. I will therefore seek for my contentment in yours, and rest satisfied with believing that you will always continue to love me.