Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [Wednesday], 29 July 1812.

Salisbury July 29th 1812

Dearest Anna

   I came home but yesterday and have a thousand things to hear and see and transact; one melancholy task is however assigned me this Eveng which < > restraint on every other claim.  Your good Aunt has more than lapsed since the more favourable symptoms appear & of wh you have been informed and Doctor Fowler speaks no longer of recovery. My dear S.– saw her this afternoon but this was all.  Breathing seems to be the sole indication of life and the mourning circle expect this feeble testimony will soon cease.  S–  promised that I should write and spare relative feeling the anguish of communication our dear Brother is to inform the Bradford family soon as possible.  We are all much affected more so perhaps than in the contemplation of such an event we should have anticipated  there was in this venerable friend a certain strength of character not every day to be found in an old woman  she always looked and spoke and I imagine acted like the head of a house, but natural dignity must be laid in the dust blessed be God her “highest honour” is not “here it lies” –

   I could moralize a little but my spirits are unduely exercised and my babe is crying – Adieu I had yr long letter one of my best things!  At Portsea in a few days I shall hope to answer it by word of mouth – Mrs James Horsey is here every body about me wd insist on sending love

                     Your’s you know how sincerely

                                 Maria Grace Saffery

Text: Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 336 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.2.(18.), Angus Library. Address: Mrs Philip Whitaker | Bratton Farm | Westbury | Wilts. Postmark: Salisbury, 29 July 1812. Individuals mentioned above include Mary Drewitt Attwater of Bodenham  (who would die the following day, on 30 July 1812, in her 76th year) and Marianna Attwater Head and her children.