APPENDIX C 



LETTER FROM SAMUEL FOTHERGILL TO A YOUNG WOMAN 

 A SHORT TIME BEFORE HER MARRIAGE 



HAVING heard that thou art shortly to enter a garden enclosed, 

 and knowing that thou art at present a stranger to this 

 garden, permit me, an old friend, to give thee an account of 

 it. I have travelled every path and part thereof and know 

 the productions of every kind it can possibly yield. My 

 information can do no harm, it may do some good. 



Thou knowest there is but one way of entrance into this 

 garden enclosed. I hardly need tell thee that it is commonly 

 extremely gay and glittering, strewed with flowers of every 

 hue and fragrance, all that art or imagination can invent ; 

 and thou wilt fondly hope this scene of rapture will never 

 alter. At least thou wilt not see the end of this path when 

 thou enterest it : to some it proves a very short way, and even 

 to thee it will appear very different in the retrospect. 



Here let me caution thee, my dear girl, not to dream of 

 perfect happiness; if thou dost, experience will make thee know 

 that it never existed on earth but in visions or visionary heads. 



Thou wilt meet with many productions in this garden 

 that are charming to- the eye and pleasing to the taste, 

 but they are not all so. Let me just remark that you both 

 carry to this place one of the most delicate and delicious in 

 all nature, I mean Good Humour. Do not drop it or lose it 

 as many do after they are entered, and seldom find it again. 

 It is a treasure nothing can make up the want of to you. 



When you have got to the end of the first path, which lasts 

 about thirty paces, and which is usually called Honeymoon 

 Path, you will see the garden expand and open into a variety 

 of views. Here I must caution you against productions which 

 are nauseous and even fatal in their tendency to the unwary 

 and the ignorant. There is a small plant in almost every 

 path called Indifference ; it is not often perceived at the 

 entrance, but thou wilt always know when near this plant, 



