Maria Grace Andrews, Portsmouth, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, Tuesday, 20 November 1798.

Tuesday Novr 20th 98

My dearest Anna,

   The disappointment which your silence has occasion’d me some days past would almost betray me into the language of reproach, did not a thousand tender anxieties concerning you lead me rather to adopt yt of solicitude of earnest enquiry, which affection thus exercised cannot fail to dictate.  May ye God of our mercies enable you to terminate my suspence, by an answer agreeable to ye wishes of my heart!  wh I hope are frequently breathed to Him in prayer for you & yours. But while I am complaining of uncertainty & doubt I must not forget yt yr Mind is most probably affected with similar distress on acct of ye afflicted family in Havant Street.  I shd my dear creature be very happy to banish your fears by sending you a favorable acct of Mrs Horsey but ys is not allow’d me  & I am ready sometimes to conclude ye worst respecting her.  Dr Waller is altogether indecisive & thinks it a very alarming siezure.  If it were in my power to give you an Idea of ye symptoms you wd derive little satisfaction & they are so complicated yt I shd find it very difficult. On Saturday she lost eight ounces of Blood & had a large Blister applied to her back; ye latter occasion’d her extreme agonies but I hope ye effect of both were salutary in some measure, & indeed I suppose yt humanly speaking her life was preserved in consequence of these applications.  Ye Dr is apprehensive of derangement & I scarcely know what to think my self.  Poor dr Mr H is still very weak & indescribably anxious I am glad you are not here to witness ye melancholy & confusion wh prevails. My dr Sarah is I was going to say my chief comfort of an earthly kind but you will smile so sceptically at such a declaration yt I wont venture it.  She is however so tender & considerate that I feel myself more than ever indebted & affect’d to her. Mr S– leaves us on Friday if no change takes place previous to yt Period.  I can say yt his continuance has been a matter of thankfulness but I shall tell you more of my various feelings when we meet to wh event I am looking forward with all ye anticipation of enjoyment of which my mind is frequently too susceptible.  I did not close my letter last night in hope of receiving something from B. to day but ye Post is gone by & I am destitute of consolation from yt Quarter.  I feel myself deprest & perhaps it is well for you yt I can say little more.  Our dr Patient is not worse & we indulge ye tho’t of her being a very little better; ye Dr has not seen her to day.  If you are able to read ys scrawl you will certainly expect to find an apology at ye bottom let me entreat you to burn it & forgive all its errors for ye sake of those sincere & tender assurances of inviolable friendship with wh I subscribe myself,

                     yrs in great anxiety,

                                 Maria Grace Andrews

Thursday Novr 21st 1798

There is a perfect torrent of good wishes love duty respect &c &c pours in for you from all ye Folks I converse with. Love to my dr Bror &c &c

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 163 (annotated version); Reeves Collection, Box 14.4.(a.), Bodleian. Address: Mrs P. Whitaker | Bratton Farm, | near Westbury, | Wilts.  Postmark: Portsmouth.  Date at the end of the letter is in error; should be 22 November.