Mary Egerton, London, to Mrs. Mary Andrews, Isleworth, [Thursday], 28 August 1788.

   Your Mint Tea, my Dr Mrs Andrews, like every thing you administer, did me a great deal of good, and I had a very agreeble ride to Town, in Company with a Lady from Isleworth, & a remarkable thin < > Gentleman from Brentford –

   The first news I < > doubtless Pompey, was < > likewise the fine Spanish that had been consigned to the care of Mrs N. – The first however in consideration no doubt of his beauty & charm was yesterday suffered to return – but the latter, perhaps for weighty reasons, is still retained – You must think my dr Mdm that I am sadly at a loss to entertain you with Trifles like these – and indeed you will think right for nothing but the inclination to persecute you with < > could induce me to write out so unfavorable a [Montage] – Yes, I must renew the Subject I have so often talked about in Town – I cannot let you rest till I have prevailed in so far as to get some more positive assurance – I shall absolutely expect you the beginning of next week – Mrs N. joins in my sollicitation, & says it will be more comfortable to all parties than a later period, as we very shortly expect a family from the Country – not but that I can at every desire equally accommodate my dr Mrs A., only I wish when she is with me, to < > every little thing as agreeable as possible, & to enjoy < > loved Society without the smallest interruption – You cannot now with any propriety refuse this request.

   My brother dined with me yesterday & is something better than when I left him, but still retaining too much of his Gloom – You cannot think my dear Mdm how dull & lowspirited I continued the Day of my return – We never feel how much we love people till we leave them – it is then that all the pleasures of their Society & the marks of tenderness we receive from them are most strongly recollected while the delight]fully pleasing remembrance renders everything insipid & < > –

   Did I return to persons who were wholly indifferent to me, the transition would doubtless be insupportable – but as it is, among the few friends that Heaven has graciously afforded me, where can I trace the unneglected Tenderness of my dr Mrs A–  the amiable sweetness of my little Girls?  others may indeed feel a great deal of regard for you, but alas there are none who have the same means of expressing it! –

   I need not tell you that I desire to hear from you soon – It is a pleasure I [will] be impatient to receive, but more particularly at present < > I know you are perplexed in disagreeables, & < > in earnest Expectation of a favorable reply – How do the Shores behave?  bad enough no doubt – it is impossible they should ever regain our tolerable opinion – what is said in sallies of passion may be excised however insulting but the little meannesses they have recourse to betray a littleness & vulgarity I am certain you will never be able to endure – Let me entreat you then not to < > before any disputes occur to detain you. 

   Remember me most affectionately to my dr young friends & make my best Compts to [Mr A.– ]  tell him too, that the fruit was not spoiled thanks to his care & attention.

   Adieu my dr Mdm & love me always & be my good friend, for be assured no one cares more truly intently in your health & happiness than yr sincere affectionate

                                                                                 M Egerton

Thursd. Noon  Aug. 2[8]  88.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 1-2 (edited version); Reeves Collection, Box 14.8.(a.), Bodleian Library, Oxford. Address: Mrs Andrews | at Mr Ed: Shores | Isleworth | Middlesex. Postmark: 28 August 1788. The letter is in very poor condition with several passages unreadable. 

Mary Egerton (c.1765-1840) was the sister of Thomas Egerton, bookseller, Charing Cross, 1784-1830, and John Egerton, with whom Thomas traded from 1784-95 (see Ian Maxted, The London Book Trades 1775-1800 (Folkstone, Kent: Dawson, 1977), p. 73; The Universal British Directory, 5 vols (London: Printed for the Patentees [Peter Barfoot and John Wilkes], and sold by Champanye and Whitrow, Jewry Street, Aldgate, 1791–1798), vol. 1, part 2, p. 136.  For a biographical account of Mary Egerton Scott, click here; for a selection from her writings, see Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 7, pp. 207-74. 

In the above letter, the Mrs ‘N.’ appears to live in Grosvenor Square. In letter 9, the use of ‘N.’ occurs once again, this time in reference to John Newton (1725-1807), at that time vicar of St Mary Woolnoth, and his ailing wife, Mary, who lived in the Coleman Street Buildings, London, across town from Grosvenor Square. Both Mary Egerton and the Andrewses knew Thomas Scott and the Newtons as well. Mary Newton died in 1790, the same year as the first Mrs Scott. The Shores lived in Isleworth and were friends of the Andrews family and of Mary Egerton.