William Steele, Broughton, to Mary Steele, Yeovil, [Friday] 22 June 1770.

Broughton June 22d 1770

   My Dear Polly’s Letter of the 13th Inst: being sent to Andover did not come to hand till yesterday tho’ Miss Waters who is here & Lucy rec’d each one from you the Post before from Yeovil.  I find you did not receive my last at Exon as you do not mention it, but I hope it was sent back to you to Yeovil otherwise I fear you have been uneasy at not hearing from home.

   I am very glad to hear of your safe return & doubt not but you have a grateful sense of the Goodness of Providence in the Blessings you have rec’d for which & for the Health & preservat.n we are favor’d with at home I wish I could be more thankful than I am.

   I begin to long for your Company at home as does every one else (I am sure I can say) who is dear to you & to whom you are dear, and I shall be glad if you will inform me in your next how long you intend to stay.  I dont wish to limit you but only to know, that I may prepare accordingly.

   Your Aunt is in her usual State of Health, Momma as well as can be expected in her Situation & dear little Nancy all alive & merry & as wild as you’d wish.  We all join in our tenderest Wishes for your happiness & in due Services to your Uncle & am My Dear Polly’s ever affectionate Far.  

                                             Wm Steele

Let me hear from you next Post

You done as I wou’d wish in the Present to Miss Blight

Text: Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols.  (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 3, p. 210 (annotated version); STE 4/5/vii, Steele Collection, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Postmark: Salisbury. Address: To / Miss Steele / at Mr Geo: Bullocks / Yeovil / Somerset. Mary Steele was at her uncle’s in Yeovil; she was still in touch with Marianna Attwater, who had been visiting the Wakefords at Andover. Marianna had traveled with Mary Wakeford (and apparently her oldest son, William) to the Attwater home at Bodenham and then to Broughton, where she would stay with the Steeles for several weeks. Other references above include Lucy Kent and Mrs. Martha Steele, who was pregnant with her second child, also named Martha, born on 26 August 1770.