Once in my life, you know, if you had told me this and I had been a very bloody-minded young man, who knows but Mr.Codman might have been challenged.

But I suppose he takes advantage of my being in England.

If it is as you say, I am very happy to hear it, for Elizabeth is a girl whom I very much esteem, and there is no doubt that she will make an excellent wife." In a letter from his mother of July 6, 1818, she thus reassures him: "Mr.
Codman is married.

He married a Miss Wheeler, of Newburyport, so you will have no need of challenging him on account of Eliza Ralston." In a postscript to the letter of November 1, Morse adds:-- "I have just read the political parts of this letter to my good friend Mr.A----n, and he not only approves of the sentiments in it, but pays me a compliment by saying that I have expressed the truth and nothing but the truth in a very clear and proper manner, and hopes it may do good." Among young Morse's friends in England at that time was Henry Thornton, philanthropist and member of Parliament.

In a letter to his parents of January 1, 1813, he says:-- "Last Thursday week I received a very polite invitation from Henry Thornton, Esq., to dine with him, which I accepted.