4 February 1750

6. Mary (Polly) Doddridge, Million Bank, London [staying with Nathaniel Neal], to her mother, Mercy Doddridge, Northampton, 4 February 1750. [f. 27] ¹

Million Bank Febury y^e 4: 1750

Your Polly My Dear Mamma is quite at a loss to find words to thank you for your Charming Letter but indeed it is impossible for any words to express the raial joy Delight & pleasure which the rec[ei]pt of your perfectly agreeable Epistle gave me & I wish for nothing so much as to have it in my power to lay open my Heart to my Dear my most indulgant Mamma as she should see that fillial Duty Gratuetade of Affection which no language nor any expressions of Esteem & Reguard can possibly convay a full Id[e]a of but tis in vain to indulge a frutless wish but permit me to say that I think my[self] happy that I can with great pleasure rely on the long exper[i]anc’d Goodness of my Dear Mamma to accept this little Tribute of thanks which your Polly does most Humbley present you with as a greatfull thou[gh] too insignifigant acknowledgement of the obligations she thinks herself under & of the great Esteem & undesembled Reguard I have for my Dear Mamma I am very much consernd to hear that my Dear Pappa is so indisposd & it will give me the gratest Joy imaginable to hear of his speedy & Perfect Recovry & must add that it is my most ernest wish & Daly Prair that his usefull & Valueable Life may be prolonged for many Happy years yet to come.

I am sorry my Dear Mamma I have not time to send you word what I have seen in town as you was so obliging as to desire it but will indevour it when I am at St Albans I am so much ingagd at present that I can scarce find time to write a line which is a great mortification to me, I dont imagin that I should [desire] a Town Life in the least as I begin to be almost tird of the hurry alrady & shall think my self mighty Happy when I am got back into the Cuntry again I have not yet been at any publick Devertions M^r Tozier [Tozer] cald on me on Saterday & gave me an invitation to a consort for Wednsday Night with another Lady but as I imagin my stay in Town will be but very little longer & as I have many ingagements & for some other Reasons I imagin shall not be able to comply with his obliging invitation but to say the Truth this will be no great mortification to me,

I [spent] last Tusday with M^rs Crutinton [Cruttenden] I dined with her & staid as long as I thought would be convenient to her it will I imagin be almost needless to add that it was one of the most agreeable Days I have spent sense I came to Town tho I own I was greatly consernd to see that Good Lady so lame as not to be able to goe across her room without healt [help] she inquird most obligingly after both you my Dear Mamma & Pappa & indeed the whole Famaly even to Mary desird her best Compliments to you Mad^m and Pappa to sisters &c M^rs Ashhurst & Miss M^r & M^rs Pott both of whome I waited on yesterday desire thair Compliments & all express great consern to hear Pappa is not well M^rs Snell was so obliging as to send to me yesterday & I am to wait on her this afternoon & on D^r Genenges [Gunnidge's?] Lady tomorrow if I dont goe to the Consort

I am much obligd to you my Dear Mamma for the caps you was so good as to send me but I had like to have forgot to tell Mad^m, that I wrote to Endfield on Saterday & executed your comition in the best maner I was able to M^rs Clayton to whose goodness I owe numberless obligations I imagin you will think what I gave ^to y^e servents^ which was half a Crown a pece to little but I thought an erro[r] of this sort might be most easly ramadied you will be so good as to let me know what adition you would be pleas’d to have made & I shall with pleasure obay your commands. I beg to know my Dear Mamma wheather you would not please to have ^me^ make Miss Neal some little presents & should be very glad to know what you think would be agreable for I am much at a loss if you would be so good as fix the price if you please to give me leave Mad^m I should be glad to oblige my Sisters [&] Brother with what they should chuse & you approve I have another favour to beg Mad^m which is that if thair is any thing that I could procure that you My Dear Mamma would chuse I should think it a great favour to be permited to send it you.

Tho I have wrote so long a letter I canot conclude without adding that it gives me great pleasure to hear that our Miss Ekins is out of Danger I most sensirely wish a perfect recovery of happiness thair is great inquiries made for her by almost evry body that I have seen wheather she is < > &c to which I can give no satisfactory answer, Yet my Dear Mamma I am afraid will think this a most odious letter for which reason I think it is more then time to beg leave to subscribe,

My Dear Mamma

Most Obligd & Most Dutiful

& obedient Daughter

Polly Doddridge

P.S. I am sensible I have left many obliging paragraphs in my Dear Mammas most Charming letter unanswerd but as I dare not flatter my self with the hopes of another I thought it would be better to leave that till I had the pleasure of writing again I have many more things to say to my Dear Mamma but am obligd to bid her an unwilling Adue

Wednesday Morning 11 oClock I must before I quite leave you beg you Dear Mad^m to be so good as to excuse the many faults of this, I have jest received a very obliging line from Dear Miss Clayton who with M^rs Cla[y]ton Desire best Compliments to Pappa & Mamma.

Address: none

Note: ‘Dear polly Feb 4 | 1750. [Mercy Doddridge’s hand]

¹ Letter 1578 in Nuttall's Calendar, from John Barker at Walthamstow to Philip Doddridge at Northampton, mentions that Mary Doddridge had taken communion that week at the Walthomstow congregation where Hugh Farmer was now serving as minister.