Maria Grace Saffery, Nunton, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [Wednesday], 25 June 1800.

   I am persuaded yt ye date of my letter will prove satisfactory to my dearest Anne intending to convince her of my continued health & capacity of enjoyment.  I have indeed very abundant cause for thankfulness on ye Accnt this you will readily admit – when I give you some little idea of my exercises since I left B–  it is indeed an occasion of uneasiness to one yt you are still ignorant of my affairs since yt period especially as ye goodness & mercy of God afford me ample means of communicating pleasure – Tho’ I had again bidden adieu to my beloved Sister, & given a parting kiss to her pretty smiling boy, my feelings had nothing of ye poignancy wh ye preceding farewell had excited. Ye tedious days of absence were so unexpectedly shorten’d yt I had not any inclination to repine even amidst ye momentary gloom wh ye loss of yr society, of necessity produces.  We reach’d Shrewton in time to enjoy an early tea & found Mrs Long at home my fatigue was by this agreeable resource something alleviated & as ye Eveng was so fine my dr Mr S–  conducted us home by way of Stone Henge – without letting our companions into ye event.  Their surprise was of course an addition to their gratification of Curiosity when they perceived these huge masses of Antiquity before their Eyes.  After a sufficient examination had taken place we pursued our Journey & reach’d home @ 9 oclock – I felt inconvenience fm ye cold of wh I had taken ye day before & wh has been rather obstinate but principally confined to my head otherwise it was all more agreeably terminated than my Expectations Mr & Mrs T–  took leave of us at Stratford on Monday Afternoon at wh place we had dined – indeed during their stay my time was exceedingly engross’d in ye visiting way &c &c & since their departure it has not been much reversed  Mr Steadman was with us on Wednesday – an Event wh I do not enumerate among ye interruptions of leisure to wh we are perpetually exposed – alas it is very seldom Society subserves our interest like yt wh is enjoy’d in ye company of ys valuable Man! for my own part I am devour’d with Ennui at most of our female parties – & I am sometimes ready to reproach you as ye course of my vexation while I look round in vain for ye intelligence, ye spirit, ye sympathy, with wh I have been indulged.  But here gratitude for ye mercies now enjoy’d & a prudent concern for ye peace of my own Mind forbid enlargement, let me recollect yt you are not out of ye reach of a letter & yt in less than two Months I have ye prospect of now unreserved intercourse – I had written on Wednesday Eveng to ye bottom of ye last page when ye darkness hinder’d my proceeding further – & a succession of hindrances protracted ye pause in my letter during ye remainder of my visit.  I left yr good relatives or rather their abode yesterday aftn ye young Ladies accompanied me in order to make some little purchases previous to an intended expedition to Lymington – It is now Saturday noon yt I am continuing this same Epistle after a fatiguing survey of ye market in yt you must expect nothing but a heap of incongruities.  The charmg weather of this Week was very favorable to my Country rambles & I have been thro’ ye divine mercy enabled to enjoy ye beauties of nature in some pretty long walks – on Tuesday Morng I walk’d to Bodenham & from thence to Nunton after ye prayer Meeting –  ye next day I ascended Closebury Hill before dinner.  Thursday went to dine with yr Cousin William & took a long ramble afterward with yr Cousin Jane & Maria return’d to N–  at Night Friday we made another party at yr Aunts dinner Table & soon after walk’d home I find myself much better amidst all these exercises 3 miles from S—m as ye heat begins to be exceedingly oppressive in our little Box, as it will of course soon answer ye description of ye Poet

“Tight boxes neatly sash’d & in a blaze

With M & July’s suns concenter’d says”

however I heartily desire to encounter all ye inconvenience to wh a warm summer may expose me seeing ye end yt will accomplish is of vastly greater importance than my individual ease & this indeed is likely to be promoted more by a good harvest than a cool Chamber.

   My dear S– is a good deal dispirited with ye times & was quite poorly ye beginning of ye week. I think he derived advantage from a Emetic – taken on Monday Eveng –  I scarcely know what method to adopt for ye relief of ye mental system – I believe he thinks as Mr Gilbert does of Mr Newton yt I have not a capacity for feeling his kind of distresses.  Perhaps this may be in some degree true & I conceive yt it is wisely order’d – you will I suppose be somewhat surprised at sight of ye party to morrow.  I can scarcely keep yr Bror from fretting @ ye plan wh Mr Moody has adopted lest you shd be uncomfortable from ye intrusion  – as to Nurse I am not at all concern’d @ her visit & I dare say you will find little trouble in any way – ye good old woman seems highly pleased with her Jaunt & I wd not for ye world say anything wh shd damp her pleasure – I have only one Gown to send as Mrs S– has been too busy with Mourng to take ye other – send word by Nurse if I am to procure you anything as a kind of Summer Cloak yr Cousins are going to have color’d Muslin in ye shape of my black wd yt meet ye approbation of yr taste? or do you prefer black Gauze?  I will see if I can send yr Sisters bonnet in yr Cart but I am afraid it will not be in my power, as Mrs Green had no straw when it arrived & is besides this, very slow in her operations –  I forgot to say yt Mrs Hackett was staying at B—n this you may suppose  

[remainder of letter is missing]

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 182-83 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.1.(14.), Angus Library. No address page.

Reference above is to Mary Drewitt Attwater of Nunton and her two youngest daughters, Maria (1783-1840), and  Anna Jane (1784-1825), both of whom remained married; poetry taken from William Cowper’s poem, ‘Retirement’, in Poems, by William Cowper, 2 vols (London: J. Johnson, 1800), vol. 1, p. 281.