W1/6576

Samuel Whitbread II, Spa, to Elizabeth Grey. Marked no 30.

7 and 9 September 1787

From: 1787 To: 1787

My very good & dearest Bess I think that upon opening this letter You will not find it's beginning calculated to make you drop; nor have You, nor shall You ever receive a letter from me which is not written with the Idea of conveying to You in every Word, & Expression the most heartfelt satisfaction. Set the Impossibility of Improbability of my ever entertaining different sentiments for You, than those which now actuate the most affectionate & sincere of Minds in the same Rank; & believe me that You will never have the slightest Foundation for Melancholy, as You have promised Me that it shall never arise untill it shall be told You by me, that a thing does exist; the existence of which is a moral impossibility.- I do love You indeed my dear Bessy, more than I can say. You are the best of Girls: I do read Your Heart with the utmost pleasure & exultation. I do not entertain the slightest suspicion that any Alteration will take place in that Heart; & if I have repeatedly told You to continue the same as when I left You; it has not not been a fear of change that has actuated me to lay that Injunction upon You; but it has proceeded from the fond pleasure I have in telling You as often as possible & in every possible Way, that You are everything I could wish You to be. & now thank You a thousand times for the letter that I received upon my arrival here Yesterday. It abounds in every thing that is pleasing to me; I have the complaint to make that I should were every letter to be a Volume, that it was not long eno'. You released me too soon. I love such bondage but at the same time think that my complaint is founded in selfishness; for I can never read eno' of what is so delightful to me as your letter are. Accept my grateful & unfeigned thanks for your attention to me during the whole of our Correspondence. & believe me when I say, that I am convinced that I receive in return for the Love I bear You, that only loan of which it will admit, Love itself. We arrived here Yesterday about two o'clock. the Journey from Dusseldorf to Aix la Chapelle [Aachen], tho only four Posts & half (instead of three as I before said) employed Us the whole day; & setting out at seven in the Morning We did not arrive till near eight at night thence we dispatched our Servants, & took Horses ourselves, which brought us here a much nearer & pleasanter way, then that of the Post road. Spa is not much emptier that it has been; indeed the season is very nearly expired & the remaining Gamblers now thinking of moving their Quarters. We know few if any People that are here: Ld & Ly Beauchamp arrived this Morning & propose staying some days. I believe they are on their way to Vienna where it is said they intend passing the Winter. Ld. B- told me this Morning he intended visiting the Troops that are at Wesel, but did not mention his subsequent route. Monson who knows every face & every stone in Spa is prodigiously fussy, & is surrounded where he goes by his old Friends & Acquaintance. I hope notwithstanding the thinness of Company, We shall pass our fortnight tolerably well. the Weather is delightful, & We must enter into the spirit of the place as far as rising early, drinking the Water, riding, going to the Rooms &c. A good place for nursing for I promise You that the living is excellent. As I should drop were I to perceive you hurt at our meeting, I was anxious to know whether I had recovered the Weight I lost in Switzerland; I have however been made perfectly easy on that Score by Monsons laconic answer to the Question I put this Morning of, Pray Tom do you think I am grown thin?- No, bearly fat lately.' So my dear Bess You may calm the anxiety You have felt on my account; an Anxiety which I will confess creates in me the liveliest pleasure; & believe that You will find me as little changed in appearance, as I shall be in Mind & Heart. Many heavy hours will come between this & our happy, happy meeting; & this remaining time will appear longer than the whole of what is already past. but I will not now complain. I have no reason. every Minute brings me nearer essentially to You. remembers as You enter the Ball room at Alnwick, on the 26th, that I shall be about the same time driving into Calais; when you are upon the Race Ground on Thursday that I am then crossing the Sea; conclude me landed in England by dinner time. & then I think You will feel a load off your too good heart. Then We shall at least have no Sea between Us. & a few more days will enable me to set off for the only Spot in the World where I can possibly wish to be. the laconic epistle which You mentioned I had supplied differently from what your meeting was. 'Go to Fallodon'. were the Words I should have more liked than 'Come home directly'? the latter is too indefinite, & does not so well suit me who can imagine no home, no place of rest or comfort where Bess is not. However the dictates of both these laconic Epistles will now soon be obeyed, I shall very soon go Home, & very soon after Fly to Fallodon & to You. Altho' it would give me great pleasure to fulfill my last Year's engagement with You at Alnwick, I think that I am better pleased that the Races will be over before I can reach the North. I think that the true Fallodon Life will be more agreable to me immediately than the hubbub & bustle of races. I should not like to have the quiet interrupted. Thank you for the account of Nesfield's fracas. I think with You it tells very much in his favour & equally to the prejudice of little Ugly. I have related it to Monson; & his situation at the time of the Affray:- we have both laughed heartily at the Idea of how much his Courage would be on Tiptoe so immediately under your Eye. & only wonder that once raised it did not exert itself upon something or somebody for I know that when in very high spirits he seldom sleeps well or concludes the Evening without some Skirmish. We have one or two little fisty Anecdotes that happened in the short time he was with Us, & of which I shall not fail to remind him in proper Season.- He is a shabby fellow for not having written from Newcastle as he promised faithfully to do. You even before hand with him, in the account of the flirtation with the Baronet to which as You rightly judged I should have given mighty little credit. Judging of your Heart from my own I know how impossible it is that any Person or event should make an impression to the prejudice of the rightful owner of either. You see that having constituted you Regina of one Kingdom; I presume to assert the title of Re (which you allowed me) over another. & I still doat upon the Exchange. the Post will not carry this letter from hence till Sunday; & as I do not think that I shall remain all tomorrow without adding something to this Packet, I will draw to a conclusion for tonight; Assuring you first My dearest Bessy, that I am perfectly well; and next that I love You better than ever. Having said this I shall sleep the sounder, & better. So may Heaven bless You. Good night. Adieu. Adieu. I forgot to say that I received Charles's letter, & will answer it by Tuesdays' Post. Adieu Adieu. September 9 I desisted from writing all Yesterday, in hopes that the Courier from England would arrive last Night, & bring me another invaluable from You. the receipt of which I might have acknowledged this Morning, but not have answered the letter. for every one of yours I think at least merits a distinct and particular answer. The Post however has not arrived in due course I must finish this; & hope that when it does come it will bring me what I want. but at all events You shall hear from me again by the Courier that sets out on Tuesday. I had begun the Young; but found a better edition at Strasbourg, which I brought & have marked that some Way; but my progress has not been rapid; the Book has very often been knocked out of my Hands by my Companion who swears at, & abuses me very much for dwelling upon a Book so calculated to defeat enjoyment of every kind. I own that he is in the right, & that reading Young is taking up sorrow at Interest; & as I have You now so immediately before my Eyes I myself think that I ought not to interrupt the enchanting prospect or cloud it with foreign & imaginery Woe. Remember then that (torn) I bring You a book with very little of it noted You (torn) not to attribute to Idleness, what You with Justice (at) tribute to more selfpleasing Ideas. For I am perpetually thinking of You, & that train of thought is too pleasing for me to give it up, to anything especially to any thing can take me from real Happiness, to Ideal Misery.- The Post goes from here twice in a week, therefore You know the number of letters I am confined to whilst here. You may depend upon hearing every opportunity. My Father will I believe be at Margate, Ramsgate, or Brighton at my return; & wherever it is I shall immediately join, he is quite well, & if I may collect from his letters in high good humour.- I find myself more well light & airy at Spa than You can possibly imagine, which I do not attribute so much to the Waters as to my vicinity to you. Monson has found two or three persons of his acquaintance with whome We dined Yesterday.- Adieu for the present my good & dearest Bessy. I quit You with regret but must finish my letter. Adieu. We shall soon meet depend firmly upon him who always will remain most sincerely & affectlty Your's & Your's only S.Whitbread Adieu. Adieu.

item

Whitbread, Samuel II,
Grey, Elizabeth,
Monson, Thomas,
Young, Edward,
Beauchamp,
Nesfield, William

Dusseldorf, Spa, Aachen, Fallodon, gambling, travel