Mary Doddridge, Norwich, to Mercy Doddridge, Sr., [Northampton], undated [24 April 1755]. 

        ’Tis not well done indeed my Dearest Mamma so long to have neglected acknowledging the recipt of your last kind Favour for which my Heart has thank’d you innumerable times tho my Pen has been so long Silent that I am realy quite asham’d to tell you that I am still an inhabitant of this Terrestrial Globe, & thank God in perfect Health. I have intended every Day since I receiv’d the parcel to have given myself the pleasure of writing to Northampton but have been continualy prevented by one unlucky accident or other when Mr Wood wrote last & for some time past I have been a good deal indispos’d owing in some measure to the intire Loss of my Appetite for the recovery of which I have been oblig’d to undergo some (tho’ not very severe disciplin). I would have wrote last week had I not been prevented by my kind Governor & Governess, the latter of whome was so severe that when I was scribling a line the begining of last week came & stole away my papper which I could not have redeem’d from the Flames any other way than by promising not to write one word more that Day. Since then a Relation of the Relations of this Family has been numberd with the Dead which has ocasion’d a great deal of hurry & fil’d with Business every Hand which has any connection with this affair, we have had a good deal of Company here but they are now all gone & I had no sooner seen Mr & Mrs Printise [Prentice] in to their Chariot but I instantly flew to my Pen to make some little apology to my Dearest mama for my negligence for which I beg her ten thousand pardons, & return her as many thanks for her last very kind Letter which gave much greater pleasure & for which I think myself more highly oblig’d than I can possibly express.

        I have not yet answerd Mr C’s Letter I say nothing on the subject of his stay another year at G—w [Glasgow] because I inclose his Letter. I suppose the reason he mentiond in his former Letter namely the advice of his Friends has determind him to take this resolution with which I am the better pleasd as Mr Wood gives me the pleasure to think it will be greatly to his advantage as he says Gent often make much greater Improvements in the last year of their Studies than in any Former Years off [sic] their Education. This & many other Considerations perfectly nonsuites to an absence which on some account would otherwise not be altogether so agreeable to me.

       I can’t express the great pleasure the Sight of my dear Dear Pappa’s Hymns ^gave me^ they are a spring of the most Delightful entertainment to me, & are & will be so I doubt not to many others.1

        The parcel came very safe tho it did not arive till near a fourtnight after I had the pleasure to receive my Dear Mamas Letter, Mrs Hyle was so obliging as to take the pink silk to London for me almost a month agoe but when it will return is quite uncertain. I think myself much oblig’d to my Dear mama for her permition to buy my new gownd which Mr Wood & I purchasd some time agoe, it is a good Broad Silk hat very Gay but I think Genteel. It is a ¾ Silk Width I have 12 yd which Cost 8 which I think is 8 & 4 pr Yd. The mercer asurd me he had never cutt any of it under 14s pr Yd. It is not a last years Silk but of the year before. I wish you my Dear mama could see it as if it meets with your approbation I should bear it with much the greater pleasure. Their [is] one thing which I think is necessary tho I am almost afraid to mention tis this that my old Stays are so intirly worne out, that I cannot wear them any more except it be on washing day &c. I think I have had them five years last Sept now as I shall be oblig’d to travel a good deal this summer I am afraid these stays will tho at present good not be fit some time hence to wear when I am dress’d as I am oblig’d almost constantly to wear them evry Day. I do not my Dear mama presume to aske for a new Stays, I only beg the Favour to know whether you wd Chuse I should have a new pair before I leave Norwich, & if so whether it would not be better to have them before my new Gownd is made up, but this Madm I leave intirly to your determination only beg the Favour to know what that is as soon as you conveniently can as I should be glad to have my Gownd made up before it is very long.

       I am still afraid to send my Bill lest my Dear mama should in her next chide me for an extravagent girl, but as you have desir’d it Madm it is ready & I hope exact & shall attend you, after what I have alredy said on this Subject I will only add that I beg your kind indulgence of what is past & repeat my assurences that for the Future it shall be Solicitous in every particular to do that which I think will be most perfectly agreeable to my Dear mama.

       I intend very soon to write to Mr C. & shall be sure to send my Dear mama a Copy of my Letter next pacquet which I hope I shall soon have an opportunity of writing as I flatter myself with the pleasing hope that you Dear Madm will Favour me with a line or 2 before it is long in answer to this which will give the greatest pleasure to & be acknowledged with all possible Gratitude by

                                     my Dearest Mamma

                                                 your ever Dutiful

                                                             & most Obedient

    Polly Doddridge

Address: To | Mrs Doddridge

Postmark: None

Note on address page:  none

Text: Crew MS 50, fol. 14, 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).