Jane Attwater Blatch, Bratton, to Mary Attwater, Nunton, [Monday], 15 April 1833.

My Beloved Niece,

   Could I express the feelings of my heart on receiving your & dear Maria’s, – It should be in the most tender effusions of sympathy & gratitude –

   Suffice it to say I took it as you meant it, – & am truly thankful you had it [in] your power to grant me such a high gratification. –

   I must beg you my dear Niece to say for me how much I feel obliged to dear Mrs Saffery for her kind attention to our beloved Relative in her time of need, dr Maria has a grateful heart – she evidently in her letter to me feels the kindness of her Friends now, & should future Life be spared I doubt not will manifest her affection in acts of kindness & gratitude. –

   I hope you are in the injoyment of Health & calm Tranquility of Mind, having your mind kept in perfect peace staid on Omnipotence. –

   My wishes for you & your dear family are that you may be the peculiar care of a kind providence And all made the recipients of divine grace – that every Event of providence & grace may be sanctified for your permanent advantage – may divine direction support & consolation be yours. – If we acknowledge God in all our ways we have the assurence that He will direct our paths.[ii] – May you my dear Niece be the constant care of a kind providence, & experience the peace of God your constant guest. –

   My dear partner unites with me in Love & every good wish for you & yours.

   Our good Cousin Joshua will tell you ye particulars of our situation – dear cousin Jane has suffered much of late from debility & affliction. –

   I intended writing much more but oweing to several Friends calling in I was prevented from puting my Intention into practice. – Forgive this hasty scrible & believe me with affecte sympathy & tender regard

                     yours truely

                                 J. Blatch

Suppose you know Miss Head is returnd home  She will be glad to be fav[or]’d with ye latest account of dear Maria – may it be increasingly propitious.

Bratton April 15. 1833.

If you see Maria please to present to her my kind Love & thanks for her welcome Letter. – I would have answered it but my mind is too timid to write for any one to see who has not the veil of affection to cover my numerous faults, & you know Mrs Finch is a perfect stranger to me.

Text: Timothy Whelan, ed. Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 8, pp. 197-98; Attwater Papers, acc. 76, II.A.10.(c.), Angus Library.  Address:  Mrs Attwaters | Nunton | oblig’d by | Miss Eliza Attwater. No postmark.  Mary Attwater was the daughter of Philemon and Eliza Attwater of Nunton; her father had died the previous year, which explains the reference in the letter to Maria Grace Saffery. Maria Attwater was Philemon’s sister. Also mentioned in the letter is Joshua Whitaker of Bratton and Marianna Jane Head of Bradford. Ten letters by Marianna Jane Head to Eliza Attwater, 1827-35, can be found in the Reeves Collection, Box 22/5, Bodleian Library, Oxford.