Maria Grace Andrews, Portsmouth, to Philip Whitaker, Bratton, Saturday, 3 November 1798.

Saturday  Novr 3d 1798

My dear Brother,

   The difficulties which have so frequently presented to my attention insurmountable obstacles to my correspondence with you begins to vanish & I am ready to conclude yt I shd soon converse with you on paper, with ye same ease, or if you please assurance, as when our intercourse is personal.  I indeed greatly prefer ye latter mode of communication not merely because ye language of ye lip is far less exposed than ye labors of ye hand to critical inspections, but because yr Farm House has charms unspeakably more interesting & delightful to me, than anything wh ye busy World I now inhabit, can pretend to.  Every part of your welcome letter was calculated to afford me ye truest satisfaction except yt it so heighten’d my relish for the beauties of retirement yt I felt my absence for some moments almost intolerable. I however thank you or all yt it contains – ye language ye sentiments ye intelligence were in perfect unison & were too strong indications of your happiness not to produce corresponding feelings in a heart wh tho’ little accustom’d to ye pleasures of sympathy (at least of ys description) is by no means insensible to its refined enjoyments since ye accts of yr visit to ye Cot of Content my Imagination has introduced me into ye smiling circle I seem to see ye tutelary Power of ye rural mansion residing in ye midst of her amiable votaries & shedding a thousand graces on ye innocent festivity – but I forget to whom I am addressing my self; while indulging ye romantic strain you will easily perceive ye influence of a Female Mind on my Pen but indeed you are in some sort accessary to ye Error into wh I have fallen as you have so successfully endeavor’d to convince me yt you & my dearest Anna are but One yt I find it scarcely possible to separate you in Idea  so yt you must pardon me if it beguile a woman’s letter.

   I recollected with considerable regret when I had sent away my last yt I had neglected to say anything about Jas Newman. He left Portsea last Monday for Winchester but I had several Interviews with him & mention’d particularly your wishes respecting ye Boy, but he cd not think of any place eligible for him the poor man seem’d so deeply affected at thought of his sons misconduct, yt I cd hardly bear to converse with him on ye Subject we were all of us much pleased with ye Simplicity of his Manners & Spirituality of his conversation.  When he came to Havant St. I cannot express ye gratification it was to me to observe ye workings of simple nature in ye military swain his enquiries for ye cucumber & asparagus Beds ye Gravel Walk & especially an Acct he gave us of some letters to his wife were affecting & riveting in ye highest degree.

   I am sorry ye gloom & dejection of Mind wh I confess I have experienced in some seasons since I left you were so discoverable in my letter, but I may now venture to ascribe it to ye proper cause without exciting ye least alarm as ye occasion no longer exists for some days previous to my writing I had experienced Indisposition rather more unusual in its nature yn severe in its degree & I really expected from ye extreme lassitude & oppression I experienced yt it intimated ye approach of a low fever, but ye Symptoms altogether subsided & I am thro divine mercy in ye comfort & enjoyment of health. As ye Family were by no means generally aware of my apprehensions I do not wish much said in my dr Anne’s letter to E– ye good Girl is much better & very solicitous for a few lines fm Mama next week I very much wish her to be indulged but do not like ye thot of waiting any longer for an Epistle myself.

   The affectionate concern you profess for my welfare & happiness very sensibly affects my Mind, but I feel ye insufficiency of language to convey ye sensation wh I trust glows in my breast & of wh I desire my conduct shd be expressive.  Let me still have your counsels & yr prayers & be assured yt every wish your heart can form for each other; or ye most zealous friendship can inspire in Mine is breathed for you continually, in ye feeble supplications of dr Sir

         Yrs with sincerest respect & affection

                     Maria Grace Andrews

   Ask dr Anne if I am not to execute some commissions for her  heard 2 days since fm Mrs Scott she has been lame in her left arm owing to a light wound in her finger wh produced an inflammation of ye absorbent vessels – but is better – Mrs Jos Horsey is expected to night & Mr S  on Tuesday ye latter was quite ill on ye day he reach’d S–

   If I am to return to you ys year some authority must be used for I am positively forbidden to expect it by ye folks downstairs  I however take ye Whip to both to desire & hope it – young Morgan is not arrived but ye letter was sent me Thursday Eveng after ye receipt of ye other if he had refused ye provision made for him he must certainly have given up all pretentions to ye acquirements – suitable remembrances fm all & to all dr Friends is ye utmost my Paper will contain  do make a proper distribution.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 161-62 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.A.14.(a.), Angus Library. Address: Mr P. Whitaker | Bratton Farm | near Westbury | Wilts.| 3rd Novr 1798. Postmark: Portsmouth. Mrs. Joseph Horsey (mentioned above) was a daughter from Joseph Horsey’s third marriage, who herself married Joseph Horsey of Portsea, most likely her cousin, sometime in the mid-1790s.