W1/6571

Samuel Whitbread II, Basle, to Elizabeth Grey. Marked no 25.

16 August 1787

From: 1787 To: 1787

As I know, my very, very dear Bess, that it does give You very singular satisfaction to hear that I am in any degree happy, I am sure you will be rejoiced to hear how light a heart I carry into the Post Chaise In quitting this place tomorrow Morning, so pleasant so total a contrast does it afford to the heart that I took with me from Bordeaux, that if the strong assurances of it's dearest affections being both then and now placed on the same object did not vouch for it's Identity, I should be almost induced to think that it had been changed. But it is still your Kingdom; & what was then overcast by a little cloud of self formed, unnecessary disappointment, is now illuminated by the Sun shine of hope & happiness. Tomorrow I turn my face homewards in good earnest; & that consideration is fully sufficient to account for the Tide of Spirits with which the beginning of this letter is overflowed. Participate of the Joy I feel in approaching nearer to you. Love me, as I Love You, & & We shall be both most perfectly happy.- Soon after I sealed up the little incoherent note I wrote to You from Berne we got into our Open German Carriage & that night returned to Soleure. Soleure is distant thirty five miles, at the utmost, from Basle; to accomplish a Journey of such tremendous length We arose at past three & were in our Carriage by a little after four, & with perseverance we arrived here by seven in the Evening,- If you have not adopted a more favourable opinion of my Patience & Perseverance than You used to entertain, You will attribute the account of Yesterday's Journey to my fertile Imagination & will never believe that I could have existed thro' such a trial: I who am always in a hurry, always on full gallop, & always my Hat & Stick in my hand. but I will stop, least it should be said that I am fishing. & I have made a sincere recantation of that - so sincere; that If ever You see anything like a bait in my letters, you may safely swear that I do not mean what I say, & have only discommended myself in search of a little praise from that quarter, whence it is the dearest & most delightful to me.- I am not without foibles; & the most venial of them, is my ardent Wish to know certainly & under your hand that what I write & what I do is acceptable to You.- A pleasing truth cannot be too often repeated.- I was about to proceed on my Journey to Strasbourg with You at the bottom of the last page, & find myself in the middle of this strangely out of my road, but in one much more pleasant. You will at least allow that my head must be strangely full of the love I bear to this Eliza Grey, that the ennui of a Swiss Volturier should furnish the occasion to tell her of it.- You say in one of your letters that 'perhaps you write with too little prudence'. Altho' I do not clearly comprehend the meaning of that Sentence, I will tell you this; that if You did not write precisely as You do & precisely what You do, that your letters would not be near so valuable to me as they now are; & that being as they are, & what they are, they are inestimable. if it was a bait, You have caught. If you really meant what you said (which I hope you did not) a little reflection would prove to You that there is no Imprudence in telling the truth, especially so grateful as one, to a person whom that truth makes so happy; & who robs you of nothing. for I have given you my whole heart, & as I have no fear of your throwing the gift away it is your's for ever. We shall start very early tomorrow morning in order to arrive at Strasbourg time eno' to get our letters from M. Franck's the same Evening. Two at least I expect from you, already there; & one that will arrive dated Newcastle, before we quit the town. We have heard that Blanchard is now at Strasbourg completing a Balloon in which he is to ascend on the 25 Inst. should that be the case, my curiosity to be witness to what I never yet saw, will induce me to beg Monson to prolong our stay for some days. We shall neither of Us be tempted to engage in an Aerial Expedition; at least I I know only the certainty of being landed at the bottom of the Avenue at Fallodon that would induce me to commit myself to such a Vehicle. My servant informs me that S. [torn] nyman is not at Strasbourg, or the Balloon [torn] be esteemed only a Cloak of curiosity to see a sight of a different Nature; & which I promise You I would not fail of doing during a Week's residence; let the peril be what it would. I am bold eno' to think that the fortress has so good & gallant a Governess, as to be absolutely impregnable. surrender, is the only possible means by which she could be deprived of it, & in that deplorable situation it would be little worthy the attention of any Enemy. they would find but a heap of ruins. I am not however in any immediate apprehension of such a catastrophe. I need not fear it need I.- The English Gentlemen whom we left at Geneva have as I apprehended played a little the Fool, & some of them have cooled their Courage for a Week in the Town goal. The story is very harmless & boyish in itself but it travels over Switzerland increasing in every mouth & to what it will arise at last, I know not.- As I am to write to You, two days hence, I will conclude this letter. I will not say as you did, that my Stock of Nonsense is exhausted, that is not the Case; my fear is, least you should say, his stock of nonsense is inexhaustable. My best remembrances to all about you. Adieu my dear, dear Bessy, & believe that you may depend upon one who is & will ever remain with the utmost & most unfeigned Sincerely & Affection, Your's & Your's only S. Whitbread only six Weeks next Saturday. I have begun Young for you but I think him too trist for my present Ideas. You must promise never to read him but when I give you leave. Adieu. Adieu Heaven bless You.

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Whitbread, Samuel II,
Grey, Elizabeth,
Monson, Thomas,
Blanchard,
Young, Edward

Switzerland, Basle, Strasbourg, Berne, Solothurn [Canton], Geneva, travel, civil balloons, poetry