W1/6577

Samuel Whitbread II, Spa, to Elizabeth Grey. Marked no 31.

11 September 1787

From: 1787 To: 1787

My dearest Bessy I cannot sufficiently commend your punctuality in discharging your debts, nor sufficiently thank You for the great pleasure I experienced at the receipt of a letter from You last Night. No, I am not confined with so much precision to a day; & as I have told You shall, land in England on the twenty seventh if Wind & Weather allow. You know that at the time the day of return was marked in the Book, before I was allowed to set out for the North it was to bring me back precisely to that day. this time it was marked, to prevent before the fixed period. However we shall not quarrel for forty eight hours at the expiration of five Months & Thursday is acquired in instead of Saturday for the day of return. A day is of consequence, even an hour if it brings me nearer to You. Instead of condemning your inconsistency, as You are pleased to call it, I am, made more happy that you can possibly imagine by the idea that you have been for so long as consistent as myself for it must incontestably be the same train of thought, that induces you to wish to advance a day in the Almanack this Year, which You desired might be put back last. & as you accuse me of playing baits of which intention I declare myself wholly innocent, I must tell you that no fairer bait can be laid, than that of desiring you not to scold You for what You must be conscious that you deserve my sincerest Love & Commendation but I have said that it is in some measure fair at this distance to extort praise; & I will willingly forgive You for seeking what it pleases me so much to bestow & what You so well deserve. You have very little more than a fortnight now remaining to speak in an undetermined Manner & altho' this manner in itself has been highly grateful & acceptable to me, I will readily exchange it for the determined, as you made me long since a promise that your answer should always be in the Affirmative. I will not give You an opportunity of breaking that promise by asking forgiveness for not writing; I am too selfish to give up any part of a privilege, the value of which custom has not made me forget, & for the grant of which I remember to have anxiously waited twenty four hours. You see I still take pleasure in recapitulating. there is a pleasure in dwelling upon every scene where you were concerned. We shall soon be able to convert the time that has been passed at so great a distance from each other into subjects of agreable reflection. & soon I shall be able to look back with a smile upon Moments that have been karked with Sighs.- I can hardly believe myself that I am so near home, or that the 11th Sept. is really arrived, the distance appears so immense at first, & every Hour has been so long: but it is really so, & the latter end of this Month I shall be within a comparatively short distance of You.- Oh! Bess, parting is worth the pain, meeting has to much Joy!- Fot the Waistcoat I thank You, altho' You will give me credit for having persisted in the request no longer than I thought it depended upon yourself & only as long as the perhaps appeared to carry any degree of doubt with it. If I should find one I not only will but shall be proud to wear. You want another compliment & only call me a Beau, that I may tell You are a Belle. You have given sufficient speciment of your taste already not to make me afraid of promising to wear it. had I no other inducement than it's beauty; but I shall have much more powerful motives & that you know. As you are to me all but perfection every thing You do must be well done in my Eyes. From hot which it was on our arrival, the Weather here is grown extremely cold. this however does not prevent our rising every Morning between six & seven, riding to the Gironstire & drinking our glasses of Water, with all the formality of rich Men. Never however was I better, & if a voracious Appetite & sound sleeping may be taken as proofs, the Spa Waters agree with me prodigiously. The proportion of Company is smaller than even on our first arrival; & excepting some few who remain for the benefit of their Health, & here & there a broken Gambler, no one remains. We shall nevertheless weather it out till Saturday sennight & the hopes of receiving another letter or two from You, would make me bear ten times as much Ennui. Nor can we very much complain, very good lodging, very good living & English News papers, are three very great acquisitions. Adieu till this Evening My dear, good Bessy, the Post does not go out till tomorrow & I will reserve myself a little pleasure. Septr.12. I did not resume my pen as I intended to have done last night, that I might have the satisfaction of saying this Morning, One more of the few remaining days is now completely sped. & I take up my Pen with the more Joy on that account. I am not fishing remember, when I say that I sometimes think You must wonder how it is possible that I should have been able to consume so many Sheets of paper in writing to you. but you will recollect that it is my only resource, that hearing from You has been my only pleasure - till now thou seest How subtly to detain thee I've devised Inviting thee to read while I relate Fond, were it not in hope of thy reply. For when I hear from thee I seem in Heaven & thy words Bring to their sweetness no satiety. Now even that I cannot have an answer from You before I return I find an irrepressible in scribbling to You, because I know how little meritorious soever my letters may be they are sure of an indulgent Mistress, & a welcome reception. I am very happy to hear that my little friend Una is well, & hope she will be as glad to see me as I shall be to pay her a visit. As my Heart is really now very hardened, I should be sorry to incur so unmerited an Imputation; & tho' no professed lover of dogs, am very sorry for Mira's decease. but if I recollect well there was a chance of her leaving Sons & Daughters behind her when she left London. I know what brought upon me the appellation of no professed lover of dogs, it was the advice I took the liberty of giving & repeating & to which You return no Answer. I still adhere to the Opinion, that the pain of losing such a favourite outweighs the pleasure of possessing it. However if you are of a different opinion, I will readily yield. I have written a letter to Charles to go by this Post, since the sealing of which, You may tell him that We have heard for a certainty that the Turks have confined the Russian Ambassador & declared War; the news will probably have reached him before this letter, if not I believe that he may depend upon it. Nobody is arrived since Yesterday Morning but some are gone, so that in a few days we shall be left to the society of the Wolves who infest the neighbouring Hills. the Weather is cloudy & cold. The days appear longer than in the midst of Summer, but I must console myself with the reflection that they really are not so. Well, Adieu my dearest Bessy, remember me on the 27th & at all times for I am & always shall remain with the trust affection Your's & Your's only S.Whitbread My best remembrances to all at Fallodon. the letters advance in Age. Ecc 31. Addio. Addio.

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Whitbread, Samuel II,
Grey, Elizabeth,
Monson, Thomas

Spa, Fallodon, Turkey, Russia, WARS & TREATIES, waistcoats, gambling, travel, dogs