Philip Doddridge, Northampton, to Mercy Doddridge,  21-22 December 1742.

Northampton Dec. 21. 1742.

My Dearest Creature

         I think I spy Land & you cannot imagine how much younger, better I am grown upon sight of it. Mr Marshall who brings you this brings wh it plenary Powers wh ye Consent of Miss Rappit & your two Doctors to settle preliminaries for your Return. My Scheme is this that you set out from Bath [?] you the beginning of the week after either ye 3r or 4th Lords Day of January ie after ye 22d or 23d Day as you & they shall agree. If you hear nothing from me within a fortnight of ye Time you fix you may conclude on taking ye London Stage but if beyond my Hopes any bye Coach should go to Bath from hence of wch I hear before that I will write to you & Mr Marshall proper Instructions. If you come by London I hope you will make no long stay there as he purposes to conduct you to Northampton I shall refer it intirely to you whether I shall wait on you there or not. If you desire it I will, if you disapprove it I will continue where I am impatient of your Arrival no doubt, & hard it will be for me to consent to deprive my self one day of your Company yet I shall be so strangely as poor Miss Hannah says that to say ye Truth I had rather meet you at Home. Your letter my dearest in ansr to this will be a Matter of great Importance as it will make my Calculations more determinate. This is a point on wch my Heart is so full that I can talk & write & think of nothing else. Besides wn Incapacity Business wch calls me another way obliges me to conclude wh subscribing my Self

                                 dear lovely Girl

                                             most impatiently yours

                                                         P. Doddridge

Services as due please to take Charge of the Letters you receive wh Care

What if just at this good Time you should send a piece of twine to Dr Stevenson wh our humble Services united If Dr Stevenson desires it I believe Mr Marshall wd give him a Sermon yt Day before you are to set out if as I suppose it be of a Monday.  If it be not till ye 23d of January you will scarce reach Northampton before Candlemas our Sacramt Day will God willing be Feb. ye 6th before wch Time I hope I may reckon seeing you in by the 4th of that Month wch is ye Day our Coach comes in & as much sooner as you can safely & conveniently contrive. The Hours to that are about 9 ½.

Pray send one of my Pamphlets to Mr Allen, if he be at Bath. He is a Man of whose Friendship I should be peculiarly glad. Present one of them also to Mr Henry & order more if you have not enough. Be sure my Dearness that you lay up a Stock of Dr [?] advice before you come away.

Pray buy me a platt of shoe & knee Buckles such as you like & remember ye Children who are very good & join wh me in Duty to you & Services to Miss Rappit &c

I bless God I continue perfectly well & am as happy as your Absence will permit me to be but much do I grieve that ye Period I so earnestly long for is at so great a Distance. Dear Girl be chearful & get well as soon as possible & stay but a little while at London & ansr this directly. I suppose that wch I seal away this morning in answ to your last of ye 14th Inst will be out of Date before it comes. You see how seldom & how short I write. I have wrote to both your Drs & to Mr R[?] to thank them for their Civilities to you hoping that may conduce farther to your Comfort in so many Days yet to be added to your Exile.

Dec. 22. Wedding Day. I am this Morning also purewell, & tho I have been writing to you & for you two Days I intend to celebrate ye Honours of ye Day in sending you another Letter before I go to Bed. God grant we may have many of these Days to come each spent together & each happier than ye first or ye last.

Address: To Mrs Doddridge | at Mrs Axfords | in Orange Square | Bath

Postmark: none

Text: MA 22761, The Morgan Library, New York.  The above letter is not mentioned in Geoffrey Nuttall's Calendar of the Correspondence of Philip Doddridge (1977) or Nuttall's Philip Doddridge: Additional Letters (2001).