Ainsworth's Magazine; A Miscellany of Romance, General Literature and Art Volume 20 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851 edition. Excerpt: ... NEVER MARRY FOR MONEY. BY MRS. ZD WARD THOMAS. Chapter I. "then you really do intend to retire from practice, Walker? I wonder at your decision, for you appear to me just as capable to attend to business as ever; your health is still remarkably good, your faculties excellent, and your name stands in the first rank of your profession. Then, your profits are immense, your risks absolutely trivial--all your outlay being some few imposing-looking japan tin-boxes (with a Chubb's patent lock), bearing the names of your noble clients in Patigonian letters, and a certain number of elevated shelves round your office, on which to arrange them conspicuously--et voila tout." "Very true, Stevenson; I may boast, and, without any peculiar selfdelusion, of enjoying a vigorous old age. My faculties are, as you assert, yet unimpaired, and my profits unimpeachable; but you must know that I am one of those strange anomalies whose eccentric deviation from the beaten track of commerce does occasionally startle and confound the prudent and calculating--a rara avis in terris, in fact--a man who is convinced (and not against his will) that he has realised a sufficiency, and is resolved to be content therewith. It may be an idiosyncrasy, it may be even a contemptible weakness, an absolute folly in me; but so it is, nor am I ashamed to confess my delinquency." "Ashamed no, indeed, you ought to glory in it. It evinces a strength of mind, a liberality of sentiment, and an expansion of heart, rarely found in those who, like you and I, have had to toil, and toil inch by inch, to fabricate our fortunes. I admire and applaud, but I cannot imitate your conduct. Alas how frequently do we almost envy the magnanimity which we have not the fortitude to emulate." "Why...