e bestowed an annuity of L800 on his
parents, while to other relations and friends he was proportionately
liberal. He was a devotedly attached husband, as his letters to Lady
Clive bear testimony. Her maiden name was Maskelyne, sister to the
eminent mathematician, so called, who long held the post of astronomer
royal. This marriage, which took place in 1752, with the circumstances
attending it, are somewhat singular, and worth recording: Clive, who was
at that period just twenty-seven, had formed a previous friendship with
one of the lady's brothers, like himself a resident at Madras. The
brother and sister, it appears, kept up an affectionate and constant
correspondence--that is, as constant an interchange of epistolary
communication as could be accomplished nearly a century ago, when the
distance between Great Britain and the East appeared so much more
formidable, and the facilities of postal conveyance so comparatively
tardy. The epistles of the lady, through the partiality of her brother,
were frequently shown to Clive, and they bespoke her to be what from all
accounts she was--a woman of very superior understanding, and of much
amiability of character. Clive was charmed with her letters, for in
those days, be it remembered, the fair sex were not so familiarized to
the pen as at the present period. At that time, to indite a really good
epistle as to penmanship and diction, was a formidable task, and what
few ladies, comparatively speaking, could attain to. The accomplished
sister of Dr. Maskelyne was one of the few exceptions, and so strongly
did her epistolary powers attract the interest, and gain for her the
affections of Clive, that it ended by his offering to marry the young
lady, if she could be induced to visit her brother at Madras. The
latter, through whom the suggestion was to be made, hesitated, and
seemed inclined to discourage the proposition; but Clive in this
instance evinced that determination of purpose which was so strong a
feature in his character. He could urge, too, with more confidence a
measure on which so much of his happiness depended--for he was now no
longer the poor neglected boy, sent out to seek his fortune, but one who
had already acquired a fame which promised future greatness. In short,
he would take no refusal; and then was the brother of Miss Maskelyne
forced to own, that highly as his sister was endowed with every mental
qualification, nature had been singularly unfavorable to her--p