Dear Booke,
Several shocking things have happened.
I had a letter from Marianne, which I will keep in these pages. ’Tis unfortunate that I wrote to Mr. Dryden before her letter arrived. It was not a long letter that I sent, but I told him I hoped to see him one day soon and that I was grateful for his attentions. In other words, I was not declining his advances, certainly.
But after reading Marianne’s letter, I think I must have been tricked…although he is not the wrinkled, tanned old man that she claims. It is strange, but I did not see him at all in the way she described.
Certainly he dresses plainly enough that perhaps it could be considered a sign of frugality, which is a better way of describing someone than using a word like “miser.” It is true that his wife will have to depend o
