Maria Grace Andrews, Portsmouth, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, Monday, 29 October [1798].

Monday Aftn Octr 29th

   In order my beloved Anna to anticipate ye mortifying discovery you will probably make from observation:  I shall begin my letter with complaints relative to ye barren insipid state of my Mind, a conviction of wh render ye thought being irksome even to you. I trust however yt ye benign influence of a friendship as tender & so ardent as yt we experience for each other will serve to dissipate ye surrounding gloom & a little relieve ye almost insupportable stupidity wh oppresses me.  Yes my love, intercourse with you has been often productive of ye pleasing transition in ye way ye “fainting energies of my Soul” have been restored to fresh life & vigor & languor & dejection been exchanged for satisfaction & delight – Notwithstanding ye few lines wh accompanied ye Biscuits &c convey’d intelligence from P– subsequent to ye date of yr last. I shd not have hesitated about an immoderate reply had not a variety of circumstances proved inimical to my design the past Week was indeed extremely unfavorable to my correspondence with you as it was mark’d by cares & disquietudes wh sympathy wd have render’d injurious to yr repose. On Monday I wrote to Mr S– a task indisposition render’d it difficult to accomplish & almost improvident to attempt, fully persuaded yt you wd discover ye enfeebled state of my powers I was very reluctant to answer your welcome letter in a stile of melancholy wh wd have been too plain an indication both of ye state of my health & spirits ye letters were indeed sensibly affected by ye situation of our dr E who was very seriously ill for some days & is by no means fit for domestic employment at present however as she is certainly better & it [is] washing week I am forced into acquiescence by ye necessity of ye case I am thankful yt I can say with ye utmost sincerity yt I am tolerably well to day & hope to experience great benefit from ye air  is much more invigorating  you will be ready I dare say, to charge me with yielding to undue solicitude &c – perhaps I shd not be very well able to acquit myself were I to enter on my defence & you cannot want an explanation of my feelings tho’ I am ready to conclude sometimes yt they are too intricate & difficult even for your conjectures, but it wd be usually in consideration of yr sufferings on my acct & ye most detestable ingratitude to ye Mercy wh so sweetly alleviates all my sorrows to let you suppose me destitute of consolation & support.  I have been frequently ready to sit down & give you a particular acct of my diversified Experience – you will judge if it be possible just now when I tell you yt I am writing in ye little parlor where a multitude of people are choosing patterns &c – since I first sat down I have been talking to visitors within waiting on folks without so yt you must not expect anything but a blundering Epistle. G. Papa has been advising me to defer it but I am almost sick for a letter from Bratton & don’t care what sort of a Messenger I send in quest of it  Pray don’t despise his livery there are a great many eloquent Beggars in Rags. 

   Last Saturday we had a most alarming fire in Cross St.  I suppose ye paper will give you more particulars yn I can spare time for Uncle Shoveller is expected to night Susan has been quite ill in Town.  John’s ague continues. Accts from Crewkerne have been very distressing  I have written once to Sarah hope to see her soon as her Mother who has had ye Fever also is < > something better. John seems to recover strength but I still think [his] case very critical –  Yesterday Morng two Ladies came into Meeting towards whom E–  directed my Eyes by saying yt is Mrs Fowler when I immediately perceived by ye glance Mrs H gave me yt she had recognised yr features  I was not deceived for < > as yr Sister she replied I knew yt perfectly well from ye likeness.  I expect to see her sometime ys Eveg < > she goes tomorrow –

   Adieu Adieu I < > wild with noise & interruptions I am determined you < > ye scrawl however with kindest remembrances to yr Relatives particularly my Bror   I hasten to close ye curious < > of my heart & hands for I am sure my head has had little to do with it be assured however yt there is a perfect union of ye judgement & affections when I subscribe myself my dearest Anna

         Yours with tenderest Esteem

                     Maria Grace Andrews

Esthers duty love & so on by wholesale  G. Papa & G Mama unite in every kind expression my love to Hannah saw John last Night he said I shd know what to say & I conjecture you can interpret ye silence of a lover quite as well  he is I think visibly improved in health –

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 159-61 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.4.b.(1.), Angus Library. Address: Mrs Whitaker | Bratton Farm | near Westbury | Wilts  | Octr 29th.  Postmark: Portsmouth. More references here to members of the Shoveller and Horsey families.