William Steele, [Broughton], to Mary Steele, Yeovil, [Friday] 28 June 1771.

28 June morning

   My Dear Polly’s tender Spirits will I fear be too much affected with the news of her Aunts continued illness but when the afflictive hand of providence visits us we ought not to murmur but be resign’d to the wise disposal of our Heavenly Father, & keep our Passions within the bounds of Reason and Religion.  Your Aunts Disorder is very severe & she is reduc’d very low, but we hope God will restore her health & spare her longer to us, tho’ I cannot pretend to say there is no danger of losing her, but our Loss will be her gain, & it should be our consolation that she will exchange a weak afflicted body for a crown of glory that fadeth not away & for the enjoyment of her dear Redeemer’s presence whom she has lov’d & serv’d.

   Your Aunts Disorder seems to have taken a new turn this afternoon, one side of her face is much swollen attended with a great deal of pain, & the pain at her Heart is abated which gives no hope that the Change is for the better.

   Evening 10 of ye Clock – We all join in thinking that your Aunt is much better than Yesterday & if it please God to favor her with some repose to night I hope shall be able to give you a more pleasing Acct in the morning.

   Saturday Morn. – The Night has not pass’d quite so well as we expected Yr Aunt has had some sleep but not so refreshing as we hoped, she complains much in her head this morning but I hope her other Complaints are rather better. – And now my Dear what can we do in regard to Miss Frowds coming with you, if she comes I am afraid she will find but little pleasure here, as my Sisters illness attracts all our attention, but if she can bear with a House of Confusion we will endeavour to make it as agreeable to her as we can, on the whole I think you must read this Scrawl to Mrs Russ &c, and leave it to them to judge whether it will be best for Miss Frowd to come with you or stay a little Longer till your Aunt is better which I hope by the Divine Blessing will be in a little time.  Our Journey into Worcestershire must be postponed as we cannot possibly leave Sister till she is recover’d. – Shall be glad if you make as short a stay at Knoyle as possible, if Miss Frowd comes with you I hope she will be willing to come Wednesday instead of Thursday.

   I beg my Dear that you will not be distress’d on your Aunts Acct but endeavour to trust in a gracious God (as I hope we all do) for her restoration.  I am with due Compts to all

                     My Dr Polly’s affectionate Father

                                 Wm Steele

Don’t stay late Monday before you set out

Text: Steele Collection, STE 4/5/xiii, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. No postmark. Address: To / Miss Steele / at Mr George Bullocks / Yeovil. The date is written on the address page.  For an annotated text of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, vol. 3, pp. 218-19.

Though many popular accounts in the early nineteenth century portrayed Anne Steele as a melancholy invalid, suffering from the effects of a fall from her horse when she was a teenager and the death of her betrothed the day before her marriage (both legends patently untrue), Anne Steele led a fairly active life until the 1760s.  As Mary Steele notes in her spiritual autobiography (see above, p. 00), Anne Steele did not become primarily bedridden until 1771-72, but she did experience frequent bouts of poor health for much of her life. Much of what we know about her health comes from statements in Anne Cator Steele’s diary and the letters of William Steele to Mary Steele. According to Michael Dixon and Hugh Steele-Smith, from the age of fourteen until her death in 1778 she suffered from malaria (the ‘ague’ or ‘marsh fever’) and its effects, which over time included ‘anaemia, weakness, lassitude, and susceptibility to other infections’. References also exist to Steele suffering from frequent pains in the stomach, the toothache, and abscesses that led to a swelling of the face, the former, Dixon and Steele-Smith argue, the consequence of ‘peptic ulcer disease’ or irritable bowel syndrome. Shortness of breath and chest pains resulted from her constant bleeding and respiratory infections, especially bronchitis and pleurisy. See Michael F. Dixon and Hugh F. Steele-Smith, ‘Anne Steele’s Health: A Modern Diagnosis’, Baptist Quarterly 32 (1988), 354; also John Broome, A Bruised Reed: The Life and Times of Anne Steele (Harpenden: Gospel Standard Trust Publications, 2007),  78-79. The Miss Frowd is either Mary, Sarah, or Susan Froude [Frowd], daughters of James Froude of Sweetwell Farm, Sedgehill.