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men in England: my wife, you must know, sir, understands, as she says, the art of rising in the world better than any body else, and she has always some infallible scheme to make our fortunes; but unluckily, from some cause or other, which she protests nobody could have foreseen, these schemes constantly fail of success.

When I married her I had a handsome independence; she was portionless, but as I thought I had enough for both, that was no obstacle to our union. Some of my relations were foolish enough to reflect upon Mrs. Loveplan's want of fortune; and from that moment her mind has been employed in schemes to let them see, as she expresses it, that if she had not a fortune, she knows how to make

one.

What the principles of her system were I never took the trouble to learn, but its effects dispossessed me of nearly a third of my income; for the land was so impoverished by her management, that, after she had tried experiments on it for several years, which always turned out unsuccessfully, I was glad to dispose of it at last for a mere nothing.

I was in hopes, Mr. Adviser, that this first failure, as it was of such a serious nature, would have sickened her of experiments. No such thing: just at that time a distant relation of hers was going out to one of our most remote settlements abroad, and Mrs. Loveplan took it into her head, that a fortune might easily be made by sending out a cargo of beads, knives, lookingglasses, &c. &c. &c. She directly attacked me for money to purchase these commodities, but I firmly declared my intention not to risk any thing. I wish to Heaven I had kept my word! But you, as a single man, can have no notion, Mr. Ad

At this time we lived in the country, and her first project was, to persuade me to take into my own hands a farm which I let for a good rent. I represented to her that I knew nothing of agriculture; but she assured me, with the great-viser, how difficult it is for us Beest confidence, that she was well skilled in the theory of it, having made it her study for years. I own I was far from thinking that her practice would be equal to her theory, but as I am naturally of an easy temper, rather than be eternally teased, I yielded, though I own, reluctantly enough.

The first fruit of her plan was an expense of nearly one hundred pounds in agricultural books, which were, as she assured me, absolutely necessary to enable her to form a system of her own, which should combine every thing that was good in those of other people, and consequently surpass them all. ·

nedicts to resist a point which a wife is determined to carry. During three months I was besieged incessantly: the subject was introduced in all manner of ways; tears, complaints, caresses, entreaties, were alternately and unceasingly employed, till I was partly coaxed, partly worried into allowing my wife to borrow a sum of money to be laid out in commodities. She had recourse to a Jew, who took care to have a bond drawn in such a manner, that the money must be returned by a certain time under a heavy penalty. Five hundred pounds was raised and expended, and my wife congratulated herself

upon the certainty, that we should soon let people see we knew how to make much of a little. The young man set sail with our venture, and from that day to this, now a period of fifteen years, we have never received any intelligence either of it or him.

to get me immediately an excellent place under government. She had concealed from me till then the debts which she contracted, but as soon as she received this promise, she acknowledged them, consoling me at the same time with an assurance, that they would soon be all paid, and our fortunes made into the bargain, if I would only assist her to get votes for her friend Mr. Plausible.

Though I had no very sanguine reliance on his promise, yet as our situation was really desperate, and I looked upon it that we had no other chance, I agreed to do all in my power. My wife was now in her element. She ran about among the voters, begged, coaxed, argu

The Jew having waited beyond his stipulated time, took care to enforce the penalty, the payment of which reduced us very much indeed; but we had still sufficient for the necessaries of life, could my wife have been contented with them. This, however, was not the case; the mania of making a fortune had not yet quitted her: she now found out, that the readiest means of doing it, would be to take a number of houses, furnished, and certainly some of her arthem handsomely, and let them. This last project she executed without consulting me, as she easily found credit; but, alas! it has turned out like all the rest. Some of the houses stood a long time emp-sum which was necessary to enable ty, others were let to people who did not pay, and the little rent she did receive was totally insufficient to discharge the enormous debts which she was obliged to contract, to furnish them in the style which she thought necessary.

However, just as she was beginning to be terribly embarrassed, a circumstance occurred which gave her, as she said, a sure means of extricating us from them: this was an acquaintance she formed with a gentleman who was about to stand candidate for a seat in parliament; he found little difficulty in persuading her, that his interest with the great was all-powerful, and he promised, if she would procure him a certain number of votes,

guments were very weighty ones; at last she succeeded in getting the number of votes she wanted, but not before I had executed a bond to a money-lender, for a certain

us to complete the business. We were completely successful; our friend was returned, and when I went to congratulate him on the occasion, he renewed his promise in so unequivocal a manner, that I returned home fully convinced, that, for once in her life, my wife was right, and that my fortune, if not made, would at least be repaired: but this cheering prospect soon vanished, for that was the last time I ever found Mr. Plausible at home. Weeks, and even months passed without my hearing from him; I wrote, but my letters remained unanswered, and when at last, up-on my being arrested, Mrs. Loveplan applied to him for the loan of a small sum, which, by the way, was

nothing near what his election had cost me, she received a note, in which he regretted, that he had lately spent so much money in donations to public charities, that he had not just then the command of a shilling; but he certainly would send to her as soon as it was in his power. I need hardly tell you, that we heard no more of him.

This last blow proved nearly our ruin, but, through the kindness of some friends, a small annuity was secured to me out of the wreck of my property, which is just sufficient to keep us from want.

Scarcely were matters settled, when my indefatigable wife started a new plan. Somebody told her, that a celebrated authoress has lately cleared a considerable sum by a work called " France;" and she immediately calculated, that if so much could be gained only by residing a few months in a country, and then publishing an account of it, a vast deal more must be made by an author who would employ four or five years in travelling over the Continent, and then publish an account of its principal countries. I have represented to her in vain, that an unknown author stands bút

a poor chance of pecuniary remu neration for a work of that nature; she is firmly persuaded that her travels must prove a mine of wealth, and for the last three months, she has teased me incessantly to sell my annuity, and set out with her for the Continent. It is on this subject, sir, that I want your advice: I have tried all methods to cure her of this fancy, but in vain ; and if you, Mr. Adviser, can point out to me any way likely to bring her to reason, you will for ever oblige yours, &c.

LAURENCE LOVEPLAN.

I consider this poor gentleman's case as a truly hard one, but I know not how it can be remedied, unless he can persuade his wife to travel by the fire-side; a method which, from various circumstances, I am inclined to think many of our modern tour-writers do actually practise. If she will not be prevailed upon to adopt this plan, all that he can do is, to remain proof to her entreaties, since it is pretty evident, that of all the projects she has yet adopted, this last is the most unpromising.

S. SAGEPHIZ.

upon the veracity of the writer, and the editor is not at all respon

TO THE EDITOR.

SALE AND DISPOSAL OF LADIES IN THE EAST INDIES. THE Editor subjoins the two following letters on a singular subject touched upon by an old corre-sible for them. spondent, who signs himself in the last number A Bachelor. He does not think it necessary to make any comment upon either, as the first only relates to a matter of fact, and the last is of itself sufficiently explanatory: of course, the particulars supplied by S. N. B. depend

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SIR,

Noticing in your last publication a communication, stating that at Madras a raffle had been set on foot for the disposal of certain ladies who had visited India for

matrimonial purposes, I think it of lottery; the most fortunate holdmay be useful to inform you, thaters, I suppose, being allowed their the Princess Charlotte, which sailed for Bengal in the course of the last month, carried out no less than forty females, who are bound upon the same speculation.

choice out of the collection, and the owners of the lesser prizes being obliged to take up with the leavings. Whether any of the tickets of this lottery or raffle were divided and shared, we do not learn; but if they were, it is difficult to see how the matter could be ad

We all know, that there is at present such a glut of British manufactured goods in the Indianmarkets, that they have sustained a de-justed for suppose one female to preciation of little less than 100 per cent. below the prime cost. Whether this be the fact at present with females, I am not informed: it is not an article of trade in which I have been accustomed to deal, nor am I able exactly to set a price upon the ladies of my country, so as to be able to form a judgment; but really, if importations into each Presidency be as numerous as those by the Princess Charlotte, there is much reason to fear that they will come to a bad market.

To the question, whether such a mode of disposing of ladies by the throwing of dice do really exist, I can only say, that I have heard of it; and that were it not a fact, I should apprehend it would not have been permitted to be inserted in the newspaper of Madras. I am, &c. A MERCHANT.

FOR THE REPOSITORY. Mr. EDITOR,

fall to the lot of two, three, or four gentlemen, in what way could the business be settled, unless the gentlemen again threw among themselves for the lucky chance, or unless they consented to stated periods of possession, which, if the practice of raffling be allowed at all, is not impossible. Your correspondent, however, admits, that he doubts whether the whole advertisement be intended to be taken in joke or in earnest; and he requires some information upon that particular subject, which I do not pretend to be able to supply, never having been in India myself, and fortunately never having had a female relation who went there upon a speculation like that to which he refers. I should have thought, that from his maiden aunt, of whom he speaks as having tried her fortune there and failed, he might have obtained some curious intelligence, that would have thrown a little light upon a subject in which we are kept in comparative darkness. This obscurity and secrecy he pro

Your correspondent, A Bachelor, in the last number of the Repository, quotes an advertisement, if I recollect rightly (for Iperly hints arises from an unwilhave not the article before me), lingness in the females to talk upon from the Madras Journal, which is such unpleasant subjects, or to entitled, "A raffle for ladies;" and communicate any information as to which announces, that on a certain the contrivances employed by them day a number of females, recently to obtain husbands at any rate. If, imported, would be put into a sort || nevertheless, I am not prepared to

supply any information regarding the custom of raffling for females at Madras, I have it in my power, through a channel I will presently name, to give a faithful account of the mode in which matters of this kind were formerly arranged at Calcutta.

You are no doubt aware, that, from the different system of government now prevailing in our Indian possessions, and from various other causes to which I need not allude, much fewer fortunes are now made there than about twenty, or even ten years ago, when the larger number of male adventurers, who went out in the interest of some great man or family, obtained petty governments or states, and ruled over them just as best suited their own views and purposes; so that if. the governor wished to obtain a large fortune rapidly (and you may readily believe that very few did not entertain this desire), they only had to lay double taxes on their miserable subjects, who were without appeal to any higher tribunal, and were therefore compelled to pay. This condition of affairs is now completely altered, I am happy to say, but with it has been introduced an alteration of serious importance to the fair sex; viz. that those gentlemen who go out to India single, are often obliged to remain so, at least for a great number of years, and there is consequently a much less demand for females than formerly. This I know is a melancholy piece of information for ladies of a certain age in this country, but all recent advices concur in representing it

as true.

to me to render it probable, that the advertisement inserted by A Bachelor in his letter is a genuine and serious proposal, and is a new expedient resorted to by a number of ladies in despair, after waiting long and vainly for offers from those who really are not in a condition to marry them. Whether marriage were to be the consequence of obtaining a prize in this lottery or raffle, or whether that point were left to the discretion and choice of the parties winning, is a question it seems material to decide, with a view to the moral part of the subject, which has properly been noticed by your correspondent.

But, Mr. Editor, it is not a little singular, though in no inconsiderable degree offensive to our oldfashioned notions of propriety, to observe the mode in which ladies, some of rank and education, were a few years ago accustomed to dispose of themselves at Calcutta, and I apprehend at Madras and Bombay. This will be ascertained from the following extract of a letter from a young female, who, in ignorance of the prevailing practice, and having neither fortune nor friends in this country, and only beauty and a good understanding to recommend her, was induced to go out in one of the fleets to the Indies. I apprehend that it gives but too true a picture of what was the real state of things, and we cannot rejoice too much that the necessity of the case at least has produced some alteration for the better. I quote the particulars of her letter in her own words, omitting some of the prefatory parts, that relate merely to her private affairs,

It is this circumstance that seems and to her few and poor connections

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