A Modest Proposal

I think this is one of the most romantic marriage proposals ever:

In 1936, after his first wife had left him, Evelyn Waugh sent a letter to her cousin Laura Herbert, asking whether “you could bear the idea of marrying me.”


“I can’t advise you in my favour because I think it would be beastly for you,” he wrote, “but think how nice it would be for me. I am restless & moody and misanthropic & lazy & have no money except what I earn and if I got ill you would starve.

Did Laura think Waugh's proposal was irresistible? Read more at Futility Closet.