Mary “Polly” Doddridge, Norwich, to Mercy Doddridge, Sr., Northampton, 20 December 1754. 

             More than ever my Dearest mamma have you oblig’d your Polly by your last very kind Letter, you are very Good Madm to forgive my having made you wait longer than you expected for my Letter, & then to pardon all my impertinance & to accept the Wish to please, I am sure it is owing to the endulgence of my Friends that my Letter meet with so Favourable a reception an endulgance for which I am sure I ought & think I am very graitful, I am oblig’d to you my Dear Mamma for giving me the pleasure to know that my Letter to Mrs Stonhouse was agreeable to yourself & that Lady who I am very Glad to hear is so Happy, & that she begins so well you say nothing of the Dr but I take it for granted he is in High Spirits for Long may their Felicity Continue & they make the wisest & best improvement of it

             I think myself happy that Mr C.'s [Clayton’s] letter met with your approbation. I confess it pleases me very much, but I am realy angry with him for writing so Silly a letter to my Sister, I wonder what is the matter with him that he can’t write as well to any body else as to me, as you guess Madm so it is I don’t at all thank you for keeping Mr C for her so long, as I suppose, he now begins to be impatient to hear from me & will think it a great while before I can write & send it bound by Northampton, if my Dear Mama thought proper to give her Consent I could now & then send a Frank from Norwich. Mr Wood could Direct it & it would soon be with him as their is a post that goes Directly from this place in to Scotland, in this Case I should be extreamly Careful no[t] to say any thing you ^Madm^ would disapprove, I am afraid my Dear Mamma should for this call me an incroching Girl but ^yet^ I hope I am not an encroching Girl neither

               I am extreamly Glad to hear my Brother goes on so well at St. Albans I hope both you[r] Son & ^we your^ Daughters will be Growing more & more evry Day like what you Dear Madm would wish to see us & then I am sure we shall be both Good & Happy, useful & ornamental in this world & Happy Etearnaly Happy when these Transitory scenes shall be known no more

            I hope my Dear Celia is well & Happy tho I look’d in vain for the pleasure of seeing her name in my last pacquet I beg my kind Love to her, I wish I could give my self the pleasure of writing to her now but my time will not permit, as I am unwiling to omit sending by this post as you seem Desirous of hearing from Mr [Losh?] & as I know not of what Consequence the price of paper & my Name may be,

   I [am] much pleas’d to hear my Dear Mama has been to visit Mrs Holmes & Mrs Butlin pray Madm when was you in Abinton Street I hope you have returnd Mrs Isted & Mrs Sturges kind visit, permit me my Dear Mama to be an advocate for my Friends tho at a Distance & to entreat of you Madm to indulge them with your Company as often as the bother of your other engagments will possibly permit

  I have still one Favour to beg which is that as soon as my Dear Pappa’s Hymns1 are printed you will be so good as to send me 2 Coppies one for my self the other for Mr Wood, Mr Mrs & Miss Wood Joyn with me in the most Friendly salutations & the expression of every good wish to you my Dear Mama & to my Sisters Mr Wood intended to have wrote an answer to you[r] kind Letter but his time will not now permit, he Desires me to thank you for it & to assure you that he thinks himself greatly oblig’d but bids me say still more for me,

             as I am writing to my Mamma I am endulg’d by the Good people who have been in bed some time to sit up a little to night, but I must think of Concluding as I dare not transgress too much when my Dear Mama may I expect to hear from you again if I know the time I should count the Day’s

             I beg my most affectionate Compliments to Dear Mrs Stonhouse to whom I think myself greatly oblig’d by her kind intention of writing to me when ever she does me that Favour it will be most graitfuly receivd.

            The more I see of Norwich the people & the place the Better I like them, not that I can forget my Dear Northampton Shire Friends or ever Esteem it otherwise than one of the greatest Blessings of my Life to hear often of their Health & Felicity

             Adieu my Dearest & ever Dear Mamma by every engagement of Duty & Gratitude I am & ever will be your ever

                         Dutiful & Obedent

Polly Doddridge

Norwich Decr ye 20 1754

Friday Night past 11 o’Clock

  Mr Wood Madm sends you one Frank, & I that Directed to him which I assure you is a very good one it came to Norwich last week & I have taken out the post Mark I think son nicely that I am sure it will do very well again

            I beg the Favour of you Madm to send my Letter to Mrs [Lang] to London for me as soon as you can & Mrs Field Miss Cro[wder] that <  > will send it to her if she should not be in town.

  I should be oblig’d to you to send the parcel as soon as you [poss]ably can as I may want the things very much I beg the Lace may not be forgot as I don’t at present see any probality of getting any here. I will be thankful for the bed [bedding?] you will please to send me let it be what it will,

                                             Adieu once more my Dear Mamma

Compts to all my Friends particularly Dr Stonhouse

Address: To | Mrs Doddridge

Postmark: none

Note on first page: Polly Dec ye 20 |1754 [in Mercy Doddridge's hand]

Text: Crew MS 50, fol. 15, Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge. Reference is to Philip Doddridge's posthumous volume, Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (Salop: Printed by J. Eddowes and J. Cotton; and sold by J. Waugh and W. Fenner, at the Turk's Head in Lombard Street; and J. Buckland, at the Buck in Pater-Noster Row, London, 1755).