13 December 1811

Revd Russell Scott, Portsmouth, to Mary Ann Taylor, Broughton, [Friday] 13 December 1811.

Portsmouth, Dec. 13, 1811.

Thanks, my dear Mary Ann, for your most interesting letter received yesterday morning. It has long been my wish for you to visit the most tenderly & most deservedly beloved friend of your dear Mother, knowing it was from her & her alone you could become thoroughly acquainted with your Mother’s character, & receive just impressions of her virtues & talents. Your visit at Broughton has I hope had a tendency to soothe the mind of Mrs. Dunscombe, under the severe loss she has sustained. The retrospective view which she would naturally take with you of her early friendship with your dear Mother & my much loved sister, would awaken recollections in unison with her present feelings under the loss of Mr. D. I felt a wish on that occasion to write to Mrs. D. & to sympathize with her under her affliction, but as so little communication had of late years subsisted between us I feared it might have the appearance of obtruding myself on her attention….

Remember, my dear, that you take the Portsmouth coach & not go to Gosport. Desire to be set down at No. 124 High Street. Come when you will my dear Mary Ann, you will be most tenderly welcome to the heart of your affectionate uncle…

Text: Scott and Scott, A Family Biography, pp. 111, for an annotated text of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, vol. 4, p. 308.