Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [c. February-March 1801].

   My uneasiness previous to ye receipt of my dr Anna’s letter shd < > me a lesson of diligence, but my want of dispatch may I fear have excited a solicitude similar to that from whh I was relieved on Tuesday morng  by the arrival of your affectionate letter  blessed be God for this Messenger of welcome tidings – your news from Bratton is esteemed at S–m one of ye choicest temporal favors we enjoy – I am exceedingly happy in yr prosperity as a Nurse but do not I entreat you do not be lavish of yr strength remember yt if healthy you are always at some remove from ye robust & shd therefore be content with nursing skilfully leaving it to ye Ladies who are more especially en bon point to sport with a little of their redundant flesh & sinew –  We have my love a great deal to be thankful for in ye measure of health we are indulged with compared with ye greater proportion of our sex in our circumstances.  I have been forced to make considerable retrenchment, in ye suckling way, since my last that is I have tho’t it expedient  I am but just recovering from a pretty severe cold wh has been ye immediate cause of ye reform as I was instructed by it as to ye impropriety of those excesses wh I had been induced to venture with my little P–  a conviction yt nervous irritability such as I began to see with an otherwise common indisposition wd be vastly distressing in this situation – I am called to occupy conquer it my reluctance to < > ye pretty fellow his nocturnal enjoyments at ye breast – Anne has taken him from me at night & he is but sparingly teated by day I suppose he has been allow’d not more than 3 or 4 sips or other draughts in ye 24 hours  for ye past fortnight sometimes indeed he smiles & screams irresistibly when he sees me near him for former indulgence appears attached to my nursing independent of ye breast.  I grow anxious for your coming hither with ye boys.  You ought my love to join your dr Mother & Sister Jane if possible next Month without any selfish considerations – we think it will be likely to do them good shd ye weather be favourable  Nurse tells me yt I am to keep Alfred on ye Farm now & then while you ramble about with ye Senior Gentlemen.  The Children are playing in ye Room while I write – with a vivacity I have inclination to check.  Mr S–  Theodosia & yr Cousin Maria left me @ 9 oclock ys Morng to attend at ye Assize it is now past 7 in ye Eveng & I have seen nothing of ym  I conjecture ye poor things are hungry & weary enough  I was some hours myself yesterday at ye harbor but did not venture to take another holiday on ye occasion.

   Mr Peace of Warminster drank tea with me just now he was here on ye Jury it was cruelly (perhaps you will think) wished yt our dr Bror might be call’d ys way – however we hope to see you both soon –  do pray my dr Anne for a pleasing interview  I think with pain on ye disappointment you have once or twice sustain’d in yr visits to Sarum.  Tho I shall be a good deal confined in ye School I hope for some hours agreeable intercourse after ye business of ye day – besides I think ye Children will divert you. Little Mary improves rapidly  [tho] inexpressibly droll  I expect 2 or 3 more day Scholars next Quarter & 1 or 2 boarders then, or in ye next half year  ye times are indeed against us but I trust ye Lord will make it appear eventually yt his blessing attends on our engagements –  Joshua’s Cap is done & is in my opinion too pretty for him till his head is somewhat larger.  I am sorry yt I have < > ye velvet bonnets, but they are extremely fashionable for larger boys.  There is cambric left for another Cap I will send it with ye other if you please – you ask for more particulars of ye little woman  she is native I believe of some place in ye neighborhood of Tunbridge was seized at 2 years old with a nervous fever wh prevented all further growth – at 17 she began to walk & was seriously impress’d & by means of going to Church taught herself to [read] & afterwards to write she kept a large day School many years during wh period she obtain’d considerable knowledge of ye Gospel & appears to have been savingly wrought upon but her eyesight has faild so as to render her incapable of needle work &c so yt she is now constrain’d to travel as a little wonder  she has 2 nieces who attend on her & I believe she continues to live comfortably  she uses a post Chaise in her Journeys & takes pretty respectable Lodgings.  Her name is Danmer.  She has naturally ye Spirit of an amazon & is a prodigious talker.

   But adieu I have with such very bad Ink yt I fear < > find my scrawl unusually difficult I have alas no divers interruptions  I hope to forward this by Mr Joyce to morrow I have however ye vanity to think yt by means of any vehicle you will gladly receive a few lines subscribed with ye name of

                     Your very affectionate & faithful

                                 Friend & Sister

                                             Maria Grace Saffery

Sarum Tuesday Night

Mrs Young was safely put to bed @ a week since with another Boy – yr Aunt Attwater & Cousin Jane are both indisposed with colds

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 185-86 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.4.c.(13.), Angus Library. Address: Mrs Philip Whitaker | Bratton Farm | Westbury | Wilts.  Postmark: Salisbury. The letter can be roughly dated from references to both Anne Whitaker and Maria Grace Saffery nursing their recently born sons, Joshua Whitaker (January 1801) and Philip Saffery (August 1800); the ‘children’ referenced in the first paragraph is to the children attending Saffery's newly formed school in Salisbury; also mentioned above are Elizabeth Theodosia Head of Bradford and her cousin Maria Attwater of Bodenham.