1792 February (Maria)

Maria Grace Andrews, Salisbury, to Anne Andrews, Isleworth, [c. February 1792].

Sarum Wed:y Noon –

   I feel reproved for the criminal weakness I have indulged since the receipt of yr last preceding in this I scarcely know how long, but you have roused me this Morng, to something like defence.  Ah! my dr Sister, I will not altogether, plead guilty of procrastination; in its ugly sense, a speculative enquirer, will perhaps enlarge, on what I shall briefly express, by an indisposition, to comfort. This posture, of kind, I own highly unbecoming, in a “poor pensioner” for the divine bounty: but if “hope delay’d maketh ye heart sick,” hope denied hath a very chilling influence.  I had cherish’d however vainly a hope of seeing you this Month; as the season of sad commemoration approach’d, I wanted sympathy, suitable as yours, to the latent triumph of my Soul; to sing a requiem to my Sorrows, but I trust yt the healing hand, of sovreign Mercy, hath applied a Calm more lenient, even than yt, which flows from the voice of yr Affection.  Have we not my love, in ye words of ye Prophet, found, “a Man, to be an hiding place, from ye Wind, a Covert from the Tempest: as rivers of Water, in a dry place; and the Shadow of a great Rock, in a weary Land.” Alas! alas! I was in a sense deserting this; to seek a refuge in your arms, no wonder then my bosom has been desolate – I would hope yrs has not: and yt the Lord will sanctify to both of us, by the influences of His grace; the dispensations of His Providence:

“Come blest Religion, with thine Angel face;

Dispel the gloom, & brighten all the place;

Shew us the path, the sainted Virgins trod

Wean us from Earth, and raise our souls to God!”

I have hitherto confest an indisposition of Mind, & you will not be surprised to find the body, participated, my nervous Complaint, has indeed been heightened by a rather unusual degree of fever; which has now I think subsided.  It is indeed my love a shadow, which hath startled me.  And Oh! what a blessed reality to sooth! this is indeed ye serious triumph of my thoughts, if you will allow a quotation from ye Soul,

Woe’s black pavillion, on the Grave outspread;

Catches sweet light, around the sacred dead.

I had this Morn:g a very comfortable Letter, from Mrs Scott.  I have also had a letter, from Miss H. which causes me to complain of your not sending the desired parcel. –  Do my dear Anna hasten it to W– it grows so late yt I must not defer thanking my Father, for his affectionate epistle  & its contents.  If it would not trouble Him, I will answer it now I am recovering from ye melancholy which has really occasioned my silence let him know that when it is possible, our dr Friends, would be < > to see you and Oh! how shd I rejoice! in the < > I pray, that these day’s of solemn remembrance; may be sanctified, to all, & that in every time of spiritual, or temporal, affliction, “The Eternal God may be our refuge; and underneath the everlasting Arms.”

                     Yrs unalterably, Maria Grace Andrews

I think in the present critical position, of affairs, it wd be wrong to remove our dr Friends, nearer the seat of confusion  do not think I am alarm’d greatly, at ye symptoms of a revolution.  It is awful! And ye Lord reigneth!

The most essential of my wants is a pair of stays, which are deform’d with age; & dangerous as to size.  In the present fashion, the coldness of my fingers, reminds me yt I want a Muff, and the clouds over my head, an Umbrella.

My Grandfhr unites in respect to the Ladies.  I would be thankful to all enquirers; Miss O– especially. –

Adieu! my sweet Love, do not cruelly resent my silence.  let me understand in yr next, the progress of Affairs. –

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 18-19; Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.4.a.(6.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. 

This letter suggests the death of Mrs Andrews, sometimes in 1791. The letter also hints at growing unease in London between political reformers and supporters of the French Revolution and those who thought it best to express loyalty to the King and the Church, especially in the aftermath of the publication of Part 1 of Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man as well as various celebrations hosted by the reform societies in London on 5 November 1791.