A rather whimsical item about being a bachelor received a sharp, witty response from a spinster. Could this be the beginning of the dating agency?
“THE OLD BATCHELOR’S PETITION.
‘I wish I had been married thirty years ago; I wish a wife and half a score children would now start up around me, and bring along with them all that affection which we should have had for each other by being earlier acquainted.'”
Stamford Mercury, 18th May, 1804.
“THE OLD MAID’S PETITION.
[In reply to ‘The Old Batchelor’s Petition’, in this paper of May 18.]
‘I wish I was married, that I might be free from the chagrin and neglect with which an Old Maid is in general treated.’
ANONIMOUS.”
Stamford Mercury, 1st June, 1804.