Joseph Blatch, Bratton, to an unidentified recipient, [c. June 1809].

   Tis now ten weeks since we returnd to B with our dear afflicted daughter, I have waited hoping I should be able to send out a favourable account, but alas, we cannot say she is any better, our physician tells us medicine will do her no good, & he thinks her disorder is going on, tis indeed a very distressing scene to dear Mrs B & myself to see her gradually sinking, such an amiable, dutiful, affectionate & above all other good qualities, decidely pious child, you may guess at our feelings, but I cannot describe them, it appears evident that the Almighty design’d to prepare her for an early dissolution, in awakening her to a deep concern about her soul at the age of ten years, since which time she have uniformly & constantly set apart two hours every day for reading the scriptures and prayer, fully convincd of the depravity of human nature she have committed her soul into the hands of him that is able to save to the uttermost, & (blessd be God) she enjoys great peace & serenity of mind under this long affliction, we have never heard a murm’ring word drop from her lips the seven months in which she has been thus tried –

   I am particularly gratified in receiving a letter from you, your kind simpathy for us in this time of our affliction and distress demand our gratitude accept of our united thanks for all your kindnesses.  I was however sorry that John Sweetapple had made himself so uneasy about the note of hand, and I cannot say but I am somewhat surpriz’d at his ignorance – I thought he had known better.  I hope soon to convince him that he is wrong, but I cannot invite you to Bratton, in our present circumstances.  Mrs B is almost worn out with grief and fatigue, as the whole of her time by day and night for the last eight months have been taken up by her attentions to our dear Anna, who is now reducd to a mere skeleton so that ev’ry little bustle is too much for her – her pulse generally in the evenings beats so high as 130 in a minute, I should be very sorry to disturb her, and our physician particularly wishes us to keep her as quiet as possible, but says ev’ry thing is perfectly right that God does.  May the Lord continue thus to support her and dear Mrs B.  &  myself

Text: Reeves Collection, Box 19/2/j, Bodleian Library, Oxford. For a complete annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 8, pp. 185-86. Annajane Blatch was in the final stages of consumption at the time of this letter, and died on 28 July 1809, at the age of 16. Mary Steele composed a touching poetic tribute to Annajane which can be found in Whelan, Nonconformist Women Writers, vol. 3, pp. 164-65.