Mary Steele [Dunscombe], Broughton, to her half-sister, Martha Steele, Abingdon, [Saturday] 30 June 1804.

   It is long since we have had any intercourse My Dear Sister – it is time to renew it – & I hope it will not be long before we shall do so by a more pleasing & expeditious mode – You know yr Visit is but half paid & when Anne was here she half promised me that you & Mary should come these holidays as your coming altogether, she thought would be impracticable on account of Visitants &c – I hope you will realize this proposal if Mamma can spare the Dear Girl for a little time – We have heard by Mr Mullett of her having the Measles &c – I am anxious to know how she is after it, as it often leaves disagreeable effects, had I known it in time I should have requested her coming hither first to avoid infection &c of which Mr M told us My Sister was apprehensive.  I could not learn by Mr M’s Letter whether you all went to Wales as first proposed or only Mr & Mrs T –  I return’d from a very pleasant excursion on Saturday Evening, one Week I spent with Miss Frowd in her peaceful pleasant Cottage at Wealston & the remainder of the time at Lyme with Mrs Daniell & Miss Hansford – Sea Scenery is almost new to me & I enjoyed it greatly. I was twice in the Water & not in the least disorder’d, when some with me where too ill to enjoy it – Could I steal for a moment the pencil of my Friend Miss C I would send you a sketch – a Scene called Penny Cliff – but I can convey no Idea of it – Imagine a Walk just wide enough for 2 in an perpendicular Eminence of an immense height above the Sea which come in so close as to leave no view of the Sands; on one side a woody Dell which reached down to the Waters Edge, on the other ye wide expanse of the Ocean in all its Grandeur stretching as far as the Eye can reach. Most of the Company were deterred from wondering along the dizzy height.  For my own part all Sensations of fear were absorbed in wonder & delight & I could not forbear exclaiming with my Friend

 “Oh Still & ever let me here abide

Securitys worst guile to bear no more

For in cold forms these sick emotions hide

But only live to enjoy & to adore

Till fainting nature, with out Precept or Sod

Finds in the whelming wave a path to God”

It seemed as if I could have gazed for hours unwearied the Walk is I think more than a quarter of a mile in length. A House is near it, inhabited by an Elderly Lady to whom the Estate belongs. Mr D was my Companion in my adventurous Walk tho I ought not to call it so for I did not think it dangerous & there were Seats placed at Intervals.  It seem’d very strange at Yeovil but Mr Daniell was so extremely kind that tho I had lost one home I seem’d almost to have found another – I forgot to tell you I bathed once & think a little use would reconcile me to it – My Journey for the time was very beneficial to me but it seems as if I could never be quite well but when traveling – Mr M’s Letter left us in doubt whether they are with you or not but I suppose Miss M Frowd is. We breakfasted at Chicklade on our Journey – Mrs Frowd was absent, Mr F had a little sore throat, the rest all well – My complts to Miss T & we hope when she leaves Oakley she will pay us a visit – The Oxford Vacation now draws near Mr Frowd promised us that his Son should come our way & I suppose he’s written to him accordingly.  We are to send to meet him at Sutton so of course he will give us a line to say what day.

   I fancy from what Mr T said his Daughter means to stay about a month with you – I have the Comfort to tell you Lucy is much better the warm weather has mitigated her Cough. I want to hear of you all how you go on &c &c  Is Oakley like to be sold &c &c

   My Love to Anne & her little Trio & kind regards to the whole Circle – I am disappointed of the pleasure of seeing Mrs Parkes this Summer – I am sorry My Dear Sister to lie so long in your debt but hope you will soon give me an Opportunity of paying you – Adieu  Our poor Post Man waits

                                             Ever Yrs  M D

June 30th

Text: Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 3, pp. 363-64 (annotated version); Steele Collection, STE 5/12/xii, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford.  Postmark: Stockbridge, 2 July 1804. Address: To / Miss Steele / Oakley House near Abingdon / Berks. For a time after her marriage to Dunscombe, Mary Steele lived at Yeovil, where apparently the Daniells lived as well, whose kindness she has not forgotten. At the time of the above letter, John Brickenden Froude, son of the Revd John Thane Froude, vicar at Chicklade (brother of the Froude sisters), was preparing to return home from Oxford University for summer vacation. He would receive his B.A. from Corpus Christi in 1807, M.A. in 1811, and D.D. in 1818, remaining at Oxford for most of the remainder of his life, while also serving at times as Chaplain to Viscount Exmouth, his uncle. John Thane Froud's sisters, Sarah and Mary, were close friends to Mary Steele since the 1770s.