Many will disapprove of some of Fletcher’s deductions; but it is easier to disapprove than to refute.
On the 8th of June, 1781, Miss Bosanquet received Fletcher’s offer of marriage. They had long admired each other, but, when they first became acquainted, Fletcher regarded Miss Bosanquet’s fortune as an insuperable barrier to their union; and Miss Bosanquet was too much occupied with her philanthropic schemes to think of being married. Now, Fletcher, to a great extent, was an invalid, and, as much as any man alive, needed a pious and loving nurse. Miss Bosanquet, also, was in a quagmire of financial embarrassments, and greatly needed a tender, judicious friend.
Fletcher’s letter, despatched early in the month of June, led to a correspondence which lasted till August 1, when Fletcher arrived in Yorkshire to attend Wesley’s Conference at Leeds. Miss Bosanquet writes:—
“Mr. Fletcher came to Cross Hall, and abode there a month; preaching in different places with much power. Having opened our whole hearts to each other, both on temporals and spirituals, we believed it to be the order of God that we should become one, when He should make our way plain.”[[536]]
Properly enough, Fletcher wished, before marrying Miss Bosanquet, to consult her family, and to obtain their approval. To this she consented; and, three weeks after his return to Madeley, Fletcher wrote the following, hitherto unpublished, letters. Some will condemn the printing of this private correspondence; but as it contains nothing but what is honourable to all the parties concerned, and as it exhibits the Vicar of Madeley in a new position, most readers will be thankful for it.
The first letter was addressed to Miss Bosanquet, and shows the ardour of her wooer:—
“Madeley, September 22, 1781.
“My Dearest Friend,—I have received thy dear letter, with the one enclosed from thy brother. I shall send it back to thee by Mr. Brisco,[[537]] who will call here on his way to Birstal.
“O Polly! generous, faithful Polly! dost thou indeed permit me to write to thy friends, and to ask the invaluable gift of thy hand? That hand, that is half mine, shall be wholly mine. I have, to-day, written two letters,—one to thy uncle, the other to thy elder brother. Correct them, and, when thou hast, forward them with much prayer and love. Back them with some of thy sweet arguments. Thou knowest how to come at thy friends. I don’t: I have only followed my instinct for thee in this new business.
“Polly! I read thy letter, and wondered at the expression in it,—‘If you think me worth writing for.’ Ah! my holy, my loving, my lovely, my precious friend, I think thee worth writing for with my vital blood: I am only sorry that I had not thee beside me to write with thy wisdom. However, I write by the first post: direct the letters properly; and excuse my sending them by thee, as I don’t remember the names and streets.