Maria Grace Andrews, Portsmouth, to Philip Whitaker, Bratton, [Monday], 3 December 1798.

   Independent of the pleasures afforded me by communications of ys nature, circumstances seem to enforce an early acknowledgement of my dear Brothers kind attention.  Yesterday Morng I experienced yt lively satisfaction wh ye arrival of some anticipated good is calculated to convey; when your Letter was put into my hand, the agreeable sensations of my Mind on ye first survey received however some check from ye acct of yr beloved Anne’s Indisposition.  I am I trust thankful yt you left me nothing to excite alarm but a conviction yt she suffers much, perhaps more than you describe renders my return not only desirable but highly necessary to my repose.  I esteem it no small mercy yt nothing in ye Providence of God prevents my having ym in prospect at ye close of ye present week.  On Friday morng I intend leaving Portsea & on Saturday hope to enjoy ye fireside at Bratton Farm. I feel myself in danger of indulging an enthusiastic fancy while looking forward to ye Interview for wh I have secretly sigh’d ever since my departure from B– but I recollect ye multiplied mercies I have been ye subject of owing my residence here & am ready to blush over my confession.  I remember some favor’d Moments in wh ye language of ye Poet has been I think expressive of those sentiments wh have penetrated my heart, while rejoicing in ye Omnipresent God, & still adopt it amidst all yt human Excellence can promise me, as contemplating ye grace & glory of Jehovah –

   What empty things are all ye Skies

   And ye inferior Clod

   “There’s nothing like my God.”

You will have no longer to complain of my disregard of Self I think I have been talking very sufficiently on ye miserable subject.  Tho’ I believe I have said nothing yet about my health & indeed I rose ys morng so unusually indisposed yt I was inclined to leave it altogether.  I wd not have you at all suspicious of my being seriously ill as I find myself greatly improved with a glass of Wine & am going out to dinner wh I hope will prove beneficial also as want of Rest has left me rather pensive & render’d me too susceptible of melancholy impressions –

   Dr Mrs H is getting better rapidly. She begs me to assure you of her affection & Mr H. preach’d last Night for ye first time ys month past & is no worse to day for ye exertion.  Last week I was employ’d in nursing Mrs Jas Horsey who was severely indisposed with a cold & fever[3] Esther who begs much love is I really think uncommonly well so that I shall leave ym I hope now in pretty good health.  I must not proceed much farther as I expect to be call’d away [at any] moment.  It is almost impossible to give you a [full] dose of ye confusion in wh I write. Persuaded of your friendship I prevail on myself to commit ys scrawl to your candid inspection & hastily close it with assurances of ye greatest respect & affection from her who is pleased to consider herself.

                     Yr obliged Friend & Sister

                                 Maria Grace Andrews

Decr 3d 1798

Ye whole family unite in strongest expressions of regard pray remember me with respectful affection to all ye Circle –

My dr Anne will write a few lines immediately it seems impracticable for me to say anything expressive of ye love I feel for her

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 166-67 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.A.14.(b.), Angus Library.  Address: Mr Philip Whitaker | Bratton Farm | near Westbury | Wilts | 3d Decr 1798.  Postmark: Portsmouth. Lines above from "God my only Happiness," in Isaac Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, hymn XCIV, p. 247.