Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-07
Great Mems Love Letters
Warren Hastings to HIS Wife.

Warren Hastings to Ills Wife.
 To those who have been interested u the history of Warren Hastings, the dis tinguished governor general of India, this letter to his wife will be doubly in- teresting.> as showing the man more in- timately than we can find hln in any record of his public life as we see it through the mist of accusations and de- fense that arises from his infamous trial. made famous by the triple elo- quence of Fox, Burke and Sheridan, all directed against him.
 Hastings life with his wife, who was always his Beloved Marian was a pe- culiarly happy one, and their union more perfect than is usual in a world whose best harmony Is sure to be full of dis cords. Mrs. Hastings was divorced from her first husband, Baron Imhoff, to whom she was married when she first met Hastings. who was on hIs way to India, whence they were also bound.
 The letter following was written to Mrs. Hastings after she had left her husband to go to England in 17Sl, where he joined her a year later to enter upon the anxieties of a trial that clouded him for so many years with obliquy from which he emerged so completely that the house that impeached him, and from whose decision he appealed to the lords, rose uncovered to receive him when he appeared before them twenty years la tr:
 "Benares, Oct. l. 17S4.
 My Dearest Marian: I am, indeed, 8 most fortunate man, and am tempted to adopt the term even to superstition; and no wonder, for the belief has seized others long ago, and universally. Lrst night Major Sands brought me the news of Pipps arrival at Calcutta and q short but blessed letter from you written on board the Atlas It tells me that you were safe on board and well. but it tells enough, and is written in the language of cheerfulness and affection.
 "All my past doubts and the fixed gloom which has for so long everspread my imagination are dissipated, like the i darkness before the equinoctial sun ris- 1 ing on the plains of Suckrow (do, my dear Marian, allow me to talk nonse), and have given place to the conf dent hope that every dreaded obstruc- tion will follow me and that I am tnce more destined to happiness.
 At what time will you have arrived in England? If nothing has happened between the Surprises departure and your landing to change the pubic opin- 1 ion of your huSband-and I think it is not likely that it will be changed--you Will find him standing in high and uni varsal credit, and what a welcome at 1 will be to you. I have now but ont wish remaining-to be able to leave the active stage of life while my fortune Is in the zenith of it's prosperity, and whilt 1T nave a constitution yet repairable.'
 "I must repress myself, for if I Hvritt all that the fullness of my heart I ready to dictate I shall never come t an end, and I have this to copy. Adieu my beloved, my lovely and most deserv | ing Marian. May the God whose good I ness I have so wonderfully experienced bless you with health, safety and com fort. and me with the possession cf m. | sweet Marianl Amen! Amen! I neve loved you so much as I do at this in stant and as I have loved since th delightful news of last night.
 "Adieu, my most beloved, adieu!" Il The lady to whom this letter was ad dressed was a divorced baroness. whon he married on August 8, 1777. She wa
 thirty years of age at the time. Tn \ marriage does not seem to have cause
 any scandal.
 Nothing could be more characteristi
 than the quiet tenacity with whssh Hast ings carried on this strange and pro tracted love affair." Indeed, 1t only cease : with his long life, on August 22, 181S l He was buried near the Dalesfor
 church, which he restored in 1S16. an
 Mrs. Hastings was buried by his side t 1887.