20 December 1754

47. Mary “Polly” Doddridge, Norwich, to her mother, Mercy Doddridge, Northampton, 20 December 1754. [f. 15]

More than ever my Dearest mamma have you oblig’d your Polly by your last very kind Letter, you are very Good Mad^m to forgive my having made you wait longer than you expected for my Letter, & then to pardon all my impertinance & to accept the Wish to please, I am sure it is owing to the endulgence of my Friends that my Letter meet with so Favourable a reception an endulgance for which I am sure I ought & think I am very graitful, I am oblig’d to you my Dear Mamma for giving me the pleasure to know that my Letter to M^rs Stonhouse was agreeable to yourself & that Lady who I am very Glad to hear is so Happy, & that she begins so well you say nothing of the D^r but I take it for granted he is in High Spirits for Long may their Felicity Continue & they make the wisest & best improvement of it

I think myself happy that M^r C.'s [Clayton’s] letter met with your approbation. I confess it pleases me very much, but I am realy angry with him for writing so Silly a letter to my Sister, I wonder what is the matter with him that he can’t write as well to any body else as to me, as you guess Mad^m so it is I don’t at all thank you for keeping M^r C for her so long, as I suppose, he now begins to be impatient to hear from me & will think it a great while before I can write & send it bound by Northampton, if my Dear Mama thought proper to give her Consent I could now & then send a Frank from Norwich. M^r Wood could Direct it & it would soon be with him as their is a post that goes Directly from this place in to Scotland, in this Case I should be extreamly Careful no[t] to say any thing you ^Mad^m^ would disapprove, I am afraid my Dear Mamma should for this call me an incroching Girl but ^yet^ I hope I am not an encroching Girl neither

I am extreamly Glad to hear my Brother goes on so well at St. Albans I hope both you[r] Son & ^we your^ Daughters will be Growing more & more evry Day like what you Dear Madm would wish to see us & then I am sure we shall be both Good & Happy, useful & ornamental in this world & Happy Etearnaly Happy when these Transitory scenes shall be known no more

I hope my Dear Celia is well & Happy tho I look’d in vain for the pleasure of seeing her name in my last pacquet I beg my kind Love to her, I wish I could give my self the pleasure of writing to her now but my time will not permit, as I am unwiling to omit sending by this post as you seem Desirous of hearing from Mr [Losh?] & as I know not of what Consequence the price of paper & my Name may be,

I [am] much pleas’d to hear my Dear Mama has been to visit M^rs Holmes & M^rs Butlin pray Mad^m when was you in Abinton Street I hope you have returnd M^rs Isted & M^rs Sturges kind visit, permit me my Dear Mama to be an advocate for my Friends tho at a Distance & to entreat of you Mad^m to indulge them with your Company as often as the bother of your other engagments will possibly permit

I have still one Favour to beg which is that as soon as my Dear Pappa’s Hymns¹ are printed you will be so good as to send me 2 Coppies one for my self the other for M^r Wood, M^r M^rs & Miss Wood Joyn with me in the most Friendly salutations & the expression of every good wish to you my Dear Mama & to my Sisters M^r Wood intended to have wrote an answer to you[r] kind Letter but his time will not now permit, he Desires me to thank you for it & to assure you that he thinks himself greatly oblig’d but bids me say still more for me,

as I am writing to my Mamma I am endulg’d by the Good people who have been in bed some time to sit up a little to night, but I must think of Concluding as I dare not transgress too much when my Dear Mama may I expect to hear from you again if I know the time I should count the Day’s

I beg my most affectionate Compliments to Dear M^rs Stonhouse to whom I think myself greatly oblig’d by her kind intention of writing to me when ever she does me that Favour it will be most graitfuly receivd.

The more I see of Norwich the people & the place the Better I like them, not that I can forget my Dear Northampton Shire Friends or ever Esteem it otherwise than one of the greatest Blessings of my Life to hear often of their Health & Felicity

Adieu my Dearest & ever Dear Mamma by every engagement of Duty & Gratitude I am & ever will be your ever

Dutiful & Obedent

Polly Doddridge

Norwich Dec^r y^e 20 1754

Friday Night past 11 o’Clock

M^r Wood Mad^m sends you one Frank, & I that Directed to him which I assure you is a very good one it came to Norwich last week & I have taken out the post Mark I think son nicely that I am sure it will do very well again

I beg the Favour of you Mad^m to send my Letter to M^rs [Lang] to London for me as soon as you can & M^rs Field Miss Cro[wder] that < > will send it to her if she should not be in town.

I should be oblig’d to you to send the parcel as soon as you [poss]ably can as I may want the things very much I beg the Lace may not be forgot as I don’t at present see any probality of getting any here. I will be thankful for the bed [bedding?] you will please to send me let it be what it will,

Adieu once more my Dear Mamma

Comp^ts to all my Friends particularly D^r Stonhouse

Address: To | M^rs Doddridge

Postmark: none

Note on first page: Polly Dec y^e 20 |1754 [in Mercy Doddridge's hand]

¹ Reference is to Philip Doddridge's posthumous volume, Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (Salop: Printed by J. Eddowes and J. Cotton; and sold by J. Waugh and W. Fenner, at the Turk's Head in Lombard Street; and J. Buckland, at the Buck in Pater-Noster Row, London, 1755). See below, Letter 50.