Anne Whitaker, Bratton, to Maria Grace Saffery, Portsmouth, [Monday], 23 September 1799.

Bratton Septr 23. 1799

Attached to the letter below is a letter from Philip Whitaker to John Saffery, of the same date.

   My dear Maria will begin to think I never intend writing anything whh may deserve the name of a letter, indeed if it were not for my kind amanuensis I know not how you would fare my time is much engrossed, and the anxiety I have felt respecting my dr Boy together with my late indisposition have been very unfavorable to our correspondence.  I hope these difficulties will not continue to exist but that I shall again be able to take the pen with that agreeable flow of Ideas which is the result of a cheerful and serene state of Mind, alas! how frequently do the impertinent trifles or more serious distresses of life rob us of this invaluable blessing –

   I rejoice to discover in the stile of my dear Maria’s Epistle that ease & gaiety which I hope is truly descriptive of your feelings & am ready to conclude it is from the pleasing account of your amended health –

   I thought it best to make you acquainted with the period fix’d for our visiting S– as I know our Friends at Portsea are well versed in the art of persuasion & will do what they can to keep you with them, & I know you wd be sorry to have our Journey delay’d in consequence of yr absence especially when you are apprized of all our reasons for the choice of the time – We have heard nothing of cousin George’s fall & therefore suppose no painful effects ensued –

   The Man waits & I must close tho’ reluctantly – Adieu my dear Sister & still dearer Friend –

         Yours most affectionately

                                 Anne Whitaker

Remember us suitably to all dr Friends at P–

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 169-70 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.A.(8.), Angus Library. Address: Revd John Saffery | Exeter Street | Sarum. No postmark.  Anne Whitaker has recently given birth to a son, Alfred, and is not yet recovered. Another reference as well to the ongoing difficulties of George Head, son of Marianna Attwater Head.