* * * * *
"The house is not very large, but exceedingly comfortable and well
regulated; the grounds are fine and extensive. In taking the place, I
have made a large sacrifice in the way of salary, in the hope of
securing comfort,--by which word I do not mean to express good eating
and drinking, or warm fire, or a soft bed, but the society of cheerful
faces, and minds and hearts not dug out of a lead-mine, or cut from a
marble quarry. My salary is not really more than 16_l_. per annum,
though it is nominally 20_l_., but the expense of washing will be
deducted therefrom. My pupils are two in number, a girl of eight, and
a boy of six. As to my employers, you will not expect me to say much
about their characters when I tell you that I only arrived here
yesterday. I have not the faculty of telling an individual's
disposition at first sight. Before I can venture to pronounce on a
character, I must see it first under various lights and from various
points of view. All I can say therefore is, both Mr. and Mrs. ---
seem to me good sort of people. I have as yet had no cause to
complain of want of considerateness or civility. My pupils are wild
and unbroken, but apparently well-disposed. I wish I may be able to
say as much next time I write to you.
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