“…The news is just this, I am engaged to be married to a lady who I think is every way calculated to make me happy... I have not yet told you her name. It is Jane Loring. Her age I suppose to be 25 or 26, though this of course I do not know directly. I suppose she would not be called handsome, but she has a face beaming with good temper and full of intelligence. She is the perfect admiration of all her friends for her lovely and excellent qualities. She is I believe a truly pious girl, and is indeed a person in whom I have the utmost confidence and trust. She moves in the best, though seldom the most brilliant circles of Boston. Possesses all the usual accomplishments of persons in her station, but is most remarkable for a well-cultivated mind, and for her excellent practical powers.”²