Mary Steele [Dunscombe], Yeovil, to her half-sister, Anne Steele Tomkins, Abingdon, [Monday] 20 February [1797].

My Dear Sister

   I thank you sincerely for your kind Letter, however distant & however different my situation. My heart will ever be interested in your Health & Happiness.  I think of you all very often – it would have been a pleasing Surprize to have seen you at this time but it is a Gratification in reserve, & I hope Nature will now put on her most beautiful Livery to receive you that my Dear Mary may be able to run about the Hill but Alas we have no Room (which I often wish for) there – In some of my solitary musings lately – a little Tale occurred which I thought with Mammas assistance might amuse her, & I have taken this large Sheet of Paper that I might send it, you will excuse for once my stealing it for her – indeed if I did not I have little else to say at present –

                     A Fairy Tale

Once upon a Time my Dear Mary a little Girl set out on a very long Journey.  She went on awhile without taking the least notice of any she saw but by degrees her attention was awaken’d by the beautiful Scenes around her.  The first part of her road lay thro a narrow valley which almost excluded any view of the distant Country but it was an enchanting Spot.

         And novelty adorn’d the opening Scene

         The little bounded Prospect all serene

Innumerable Flowers sprang up on each Side of the Path & the Birds warbled in every Bush, tho’ the leaves were only unfolding & the Roses but beginning to Bud, for ye freshness of Spring bloom’d around. – She had travell’d but a very little way before she was overtaken by a lovely Fairy whose name was Hope.  She was the most beautiful Being you can imagine, a perpetual Smile play’d on her features & her voice was more enlivening than music; she presented our little Traveller with a Magic Glass which represented every Object in the most glowing Colours & made the distant Prospect appear much nearer than it really was.  Such a Companion was delightful, & as they went on the distant view became much more extensive & a greater variety of Objects appear’d to attract Attention. But they had not proceeded far when our little Girl perceived she was followed by another Fairy of a very different description, her aspect was stern & gloomy & she continually frown’d.  She carried in her Hand a Black Wand & whenever she wav’d it a mist arose which obscur’d the distant Prospect, the blossoms on the trees were blasted, the Flowers wither’d & lost their fragrance, & the sweet Warblers ceasd to sing.  Cannot you guess her name? – To tell you a secret it was Disappointment, & she frequently wav’d her Wand soon after our young Traveller had been looking thro her Glass.

   I do not know how far she went but it was over many a Hill & Dale, sometimes beneath the Shades of Majestic Woods or thro meadows cover’d with a thousand beautiful Flowers & tho now & then the road was rough & the Scene dreary yet the distant Landscape mingling with the Clouds which she frequently contemplated thro her Magic Glass invited her still to proceed. – She saw a variety of Paths & turn’d into several of them in order to escape from the Fairy with the Black Wand, but in vain, both her companions continued with her – Till at length quite wearied out she determined to relinquish the Society of her Friend Hope, that she might get Rid of Disappointment, as she found them to be inseparable.

   So she sat down on a Branch to give them an Opportunity of passing by her when another form approached her of a more dignified appearance, she was superior to the Race of Fairies, tho her Looks were not so lively as those of Hope. A sedate sweetness mingled with the Intelligence that animated her benignant Countenance.

   “Arise my Dear Child (said she) repine not that Hope & Disappointment must be the companions of your Journey, & do not Judge of them merely by their Appearance. You have lookd so often thro your Magic Glass that you have wander’d out of the right road return with me thro some of the Paths you have trodden.”  She obey’d, but what was her surprise to find that many of the Flowers which had been wither’d were expanding again more beautiful than before, & that in particular where the blossoms on the Trees had been touched by the Black Wand grew the finest Fruit some of which she gather’d & thought she had never tasted so delicious.

   My Name said her kind Conductress is Wisdom. Put yourself under my Guidance & I will lead you to my Palace of Felicity, even now you may have a distant view of it.  It stands on a lofty Eminence & is dimly discern’d at the Verge of Horizon.  There Disappointment shall never enter, & your magic Glass will be no longer of any use for the Beauty of the Scene is too perfect to admit of any Heightening.

   May My Dear Mary ever follow this friendly Guide for her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness & all her Paths are Peace.

   Dear little Emma is not forgotten – I often think of her folding her little Arms round my neck unbidden & then hiding her face in your bosom. It stole my heart & Sterne could have made a beautiful Picture of it.  I am sincerely griev’d for Mrs Palmers Situation & feel for Mrs Tomkins so soon after attending the Dying Bed of one Friend to be call’d to minister to another in so melancholy a state.   Her Motto indeed is “not for ourselves but others.”  Nothing is so painful as to mark the progress of Martha Dewy & nothing surely convinces us so much that man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity.  I have a daily Lesson of this kind before me.  May I not Contemplate it in vain.

   When my Dear Sister may we now look forward to the hope of seeing you? I am sorry that you should be obliged to travel alone thro ye smallness of our House.  Pray give my love to Martha & thank her for her affectionate & Sisterly Kindness on this Occasion – I can truly say I have only done as I would be done by – Miss D does not return to Abingdon. She goes to Bristol & her Brother fetches her from thence but I don’t know when.

   I cannot boast much of the enlivening Glow of health – my days often wear away in languor & I think I feel my Strength considerably diminish tho I have no form’d Complaint & my Appetite continues very good.  This is strange – but thro mercy my hearing is restor’d – Mrs Hooper who drank Tea here last night seem’d quite delighted when I told her I expected you & said she did not know any body she should be so glad to see.

   Mr D sends his regards.  He has been hoping to hear from Mr T from some time – He is well except a cough.  Mrs Howe begs her respects.  My kind affecte good wishes to all – Adieu ever yrs 

                                 M S D

Text: Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 3, pp. 344-46 (annotated version); STE 5/11/iv, Steele Collection, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Postmark: Yeovil, undated. Address: Mrs Tomkins / Oakley House / Abingdon / Berks. Oakley House, like Caldecott House, was a large manor house in north Abingdon, and became the home of Anne Steele after her marriage to Joseph Tomkins, Jr. The stately home was demolished in 1970. Oakley, like Caldecott House, also became a Dr. Barnardo Home for children in its final years.

References above include Mary Steele Tomkins, Mary Steele's niece; Mary Steele’s poem, ‘To Theodosia an Epistle from Yeovil 1773’; Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy; and Martha Dewy [Dewey], daughter of Joseph Dewey, a former employee of William Steele IV.