Mary Egerton, Denmark Hill, London, to Mrs. Andrews, Isleworth, [Saturday], 31 July 1790.

Sat. Aft: July 31. 90

   I but this morning received your kind Letter my dr Mrs Andrews but the contents are of so interesting a Nature, that I cannot resist the inclination I feel to sympathize with my dear friends, & express the earnest wishes I feel for their Welfare –

   Either of the applications you describe would I am sure have been sufficient of itself to excite your most tender sollicitude – I can therefore easily conceive what the whole must be to one who feels so exquisitely for the distresses of those she loves – The impertinence which I should fear, it is more than probably one of your Invalids evinces during confinement, must not a little contribute to your uneasiness – unless the hand which inflicts this Sickness should at the same time make it salutary for the humbling of his heart – If not, my old friend, you have the delightful consolation of being enabled to discharge your Duty towards him, and this enables you to look up with serene confidence & Love to him who imparteth the ability & of whose Grace it should be considered as an evidence – when we regard our good actions, as springing from ourselves, & entitling us to the reward of Salvation < > led to Self admiration & the indulgence of Spiritual < >  when relying solely on the merits of the Redeemer.  We seek our strength alone from God, & consider every gracious disposition we are enabled to exercise, as fresh manifestations of his Love; our hearts are expanded with Gratitude & adoration – & we can look with the tenderest Pity on those hapless Objects of our attention whom the God of this World hath blinded & rendered insensible to Joys inexpressibly superior to all that the most prosperous circumstances can promise them.  It is not often I am afraid, that any of us experience much of this delightful frame – but when we do, it certainly raises us above all earthly Trials, & the good & gracious Lord, who wonderfully adapts our Tempers to our Circumstances, often aids People  under particular calamities, in a way that exceeds their utmost expectations – May it please God to shorten your present afflictions!  but while he sees good they should continue I pray you may be much comforted & supported, & that all, however grievous it now seems, may ultimately tend to the future benefit of yourself & my dear Sisters; not omitting him, who most unhappily for himself,  has so large a share in contributing to your uneasiness! –

   The day I wrote to you, (tho’ I wou’d not mention it to avoid giving you pain) I was much indisposed myself – I believe the going in the City on Sunday much contributed towards it – < > on Tuesd. & Weds. I was really ill – & when < > & fever subsided, it left my old companion behind, viz a Cough – I thank God however the Visit seems now quite ended – & I have not part about me disordered but my Heart!

   I am glad my dr Mrs Andrews, that you so approve the letters of Omicron, as I agree with you in thinking them on the whole more profitable than Cardiphonia – when you have done with them, as I said before, I will endevor to supply you with a new Stock –

   I am truly concerned for the indisposition of my dr Girls – pray don’t let Grace’s toe go without proper advice – such things are often of consequence – with respect to Anne, I think I have heard you are very conversant in those kind of complaints – a circumstance which affords me much satisfaction, as tho’ I know nothing of them, I have no great opinion of your medical People at Isleworth.  I make no doubt my dr Mdm but you know perfectly well what to do for her; but I have taken the Liberty to subjoin a Prescription which my Brother had Mr Pearson (the Gent. from whose advice he has derived so much Benefit) which speedily cured him of an ulcerated sore.  Though care should be taken not to swallow this Gargle, as the Sea Salt is likely to produce pains in the Bowels – I have neither Time nor room to write more – but I entreat, that if my dr little Anne is not able, you will relieve my anxiety by informing me how you go on – in the mean time < > wishes for yourself & my dr Sisters.  I remain  < >

My brother is well and desires to be kindly remembered to you.

Rx  Decoct:  Cort:  Per { viii

    Spt. Salis Marin    3 ii

    M.  ft. Garg.[iv]

Gargle several times a Day.

Text: Reeves Collection, Box 14.8.(g.), Bodleian Library, Oxford. Address: Miss Andrews | Isleworth | Middlesex.  Postmark: 31 July 1790.  Egerton was staying in Denmark Hill at the time of this letter. Cardiphonia, or the Utterance of the Heart (1781) was a popular work by John Newton. Michael Pearson (1730-1806), a popular physician among Dissenters and Evangelical Anglicans, resided at 34 Spital Square, London. In 1781 he moved to Spital Square into the former house of Lord Bolingbroke, becoming a neighbor of Dr. William Hawes, the founder of the Humane Society and a close friend of the family of the Baptist stenographer, Joseph Gurney (Hawe's daughter, Maria, married Gurney's eldest son, John, in 1795). During this decade Pearson, like Hawes, became affiliated with the Unitarians in London, attending the ministry of the General Baptist preacher William Vidler (1758-1816) at Parliament Court, London. Pearson, like many other Dissenters, was active in the reform politics of his day; he was a member of both the Revolution Society and the Society for Constitutional Information as well as a participant in the effort to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts in 1789. He appears in other letters on this site and can be found in the Biographical Index.

At the close of the letter is a rare example of a prescription from 1790. The recipe calls for 8 ounces (the ‘{’ is an early pharaceutical symbol for ‘ounce’) of an extract of Peruvian bark (‘Decoctum corticis Peruviani’), which produced quinine, combined with 2 drams (the ‘3’ is an early symbol for ‘dram’) of salt water (‘Salis Marin’), with the directions (what the symbol ‘M’ stands for) being simply to gargle frequently (which Egerton reiterates in her postcript, with the warning in the letter not to swallow the concoction). My thanks to Kim Hatcher, Pharm.D., and her associates at the Infirmary Medical Center, Mobile, AL, for assistance in decoding Dr Pearson’s prescription.