Syntactic Trees

Family letter from Maria Monteiro to her brother, João Bicudo Correia

The author apologizes to her brother for not having written before. She tells him she received a letter from their brother, in which he told her that her niece was now living next to him.

Domingos Luís Leme was accused of planning the murder of his wife, Isabel Bicuda, the daughter of João Bicudo Correia, in order to marry another woman. The murder never took place because Domingos Luís Leme was talked out of the idea by Manuel Nunes Viano. Some people told a different version of the story, claiming that it was Isabel Bicuda who had run away and got together with another man. Domingos Luís Leme argued that he married his second wife, Maria Morais de Madureira, because her parents forced him to, threatening to kill him if he didn’t. Despite that, he confessed that he considered killing his wife a justified act, given that she had cheated on him with another man.

You are right to complain that I didn’t write you. Don’t think that I forgot you. I’m always asking about you to people coming from there. May Our Lord concede you many years of live […] so that we can get together in the final days of our old age. It's just like the saying, “long time, no see”. And this way, we can still meet again, as long as God lends us life. I also give you part of my life. As I get older, I sum up illness after illness and I’m not getting any better. You also ask me, in your letter, to pray to God in your behalf. It is my job to ask God for each of my brothers. And I do the same to my sister-in-law, to the rest of the girls and boys, and to everyone, in general. Your goddaughter asks you for your blessing. I also inform you that our brother Francisco Alves Correia wrote me from Rio das Contas, saying my niece Isabel Bicuda was living with him, as his neighbour. In the meantime, Domingos Luís arrived at the place where [...] she was. They informed her immediately. She retracted and went back to Bahia to meet her son who is studying. And the letter our brother wrote me, I will send it through my nephew, Manuel Bicudo, when he goes, so that you can see it. And may God keep you for many years. From your sister who wishes you well,

Maria Moreira. Today, 8th April, 1772.