from 1740 :)
1. Never to contradict my dear Husband without it being quite necessary and then with the greatest good nature I am mistress of.
2. To serve God more sincerely than I have done in the state I am now about to leave and to lead a life suitable to the Blessed calling of my Husband.
3. Never to fret or fall into a Passion about small matters but to have always a cheerful heart, knowing my blessings much exceed any troubles that can possibly befall me, and in all dangers to commit myself and family to an All-Wise Providence, and then to be easy about the event.
4. I likewise resolve to lay aside all fondness for dress but to be always neat and clean.
5. I resolve to be very active and never for the sake of saving myself a walk to neglect anything, though it be never so great a trifle.
6. I resolve to be very frugal and never to put my Husband to any needless expense.
7. I resolve to be very kind to my servants, as well to their souls as to their bodies, and always to give exact orders and never to be in a passion if they not be executed.
8. I resolve to treat my friends kindly, but not extravagantly, and to be full as glad to see his relations as my own.
Mary Christian
28 April 1740
written the night before she was wed
(Taken from: Fragile Paradise; Fletcher Christian of HMS Bounty)
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