Anne Steele, Broughton, to William Steele, at George Bullock’s, Yeovil, Somerset, 5 January 1763.

Dear Brother

         Your Lett.r of the 1st inst. came in due time, & brought us great pleasure in the account of your health, shou’d be glad to hear from you oftener, & hope your next will tell us when we may expect you.

         I am yet in a very poor state of health, & see no probability at present of being better, but hope I desire a patient submission to that gracious Hand which sends no affliction in vain, & whose Dispensations are all right. Father (thro’ Mercy) enjoys a good share of Health for which inestimable Blessing I desire a thankful heart.—I heard yesterday that our friends at And.r were pretty well – I hope you will take care that Polly is as little as possible in the Kitchen, I fear the cold will hurt her feet –

         Father sent to you last Saturday – I join with him in Love & Service as due and am Dear Bro.r  Your ever affectionate Sister 

                                                         A. Steele

My dear Polly

         It is a common Compliment at this season to wish a happy new Year, but my wishes for you reach farther than a year, beyond the short revolutions of Time which will soon pass away.  I wish for you my dear, a happy Eternity! The only way to it is by the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, as you read in your Bible.  “Whom to know is Life Eternal.” – O that your Mind may be early impress’d by divine Grace with a sense of our need of this Almighty Saviour, and that you may be enabled to believe in him & obey him, and devote your blooming Days to his Service!—does not your Mind, my dear, join in this wish while you are reading it? endeavour then to think often of it, for it is of infinite importance:  and don’t go to bed one night, or come down one Morning without praying to God for his Grace.  This advice I have given you before, but I fear you do not think of it constantly, and wish that this Letter may help you to remember it.  I am   My Dear Polly

                                                         Your truly affectionate Aunt

                                                                     A. Steele

Broughton Jan. 5th 1763.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 2 (ed. Julia B. Griffin), pp. 322-23 (edited version); STE 3/8/ix, Steele Collection, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Address: To | M.r Will.m Steele | at M.r Geo: Bullock’s | in Yeovil | Sommersett.