1747


 * 13 June 1747 **

Dearest Cousin,

It has not even been two weeks since I left your parent’s home and yet I miss it very much already. While saddened by my lack of time with you, my studies in London are going quite well and my spirits have been generally kept aloft. I must say, though, that here in the city there is a strange importance cast upon morals, even among those past childhood. As I was walking down the street just the other day I saw a book entitled “Amusing and instructive fables in French and English,” evidently intended for peoples of our age yet reminiscent of the things your parents taught to us as children. I may yet pick it up, as I have begun hearing great compliments about it, but as of now I am content with only the work required for my education, and of course the spectacular magazine I mentioned to you not but last week – The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure.

The most recent issue just came out yesterday and I have already read all but the list of stocks! The histories within are brilliant, so informative and interesting to boot. As for science, this month offered commentaries on both earthquakes and the silliness of our contradictory meridian lines – it is true that science is fascinating, but at points it does become a bit absurd.

I must now take my leave, but please read the poem I have wrote down for you on the next page, it is my favorite I have seen in The Universal Magazine so far... it is about virtue though.....

With all my love,  Abigail 




 * 16 July 1747 **

Lyra Dearest,

I beseech you, Lyra, to forgive me for the long time between my correspondences with you! I have grown very fond of London, there is always a place to visit or a play to see and I have become so engrossed in the theatre here I occasionally forget to eat. Just recently I saw both Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and First Part King Henry IV. The former of the two works was not nearly my taste, but it seemed to be in line with the intrigue of many of the locals.

The most important thing I have learned from my time in London is the fascination with ships and travel. In The Universal Magazine, in the newspapers, even in the plays these merchants and their goods are worshiped, nearly glorified!

I must admit to you, I find the entire idea of this commerce to be deplorable; we in England can keep afloat without the charms and treasures of distant lands. I see this importance of travel and trade to be frivolous and a barricade between God and ourselves.

With love and deepest apologies,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Abigail

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">P.S. I purchased the book of fables that I told you about in my last letter, but I have yet to read it. I will write you as soon as I do.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">31 August 1747 **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Sweet Lyra,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">I find myself again asking for forgiveness -- //is that two letters, now?// -- but this time for the judgement I made about the book of fables. I was first of all, wrong for assuming that it was intended for my peers but it is instead intended for the use of the children in schools here. Can you imagine studying both French and English as young children? There may be more to the exchange of culture than I had given credit...

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">This book was quite interesting, the remainder of the fables tended to be new renditions of familiar stories but the opportunity to read them in French as well as English was riveting to say the least. What I have noticed from these fables along with other books I have been reading over three months here is that morality and behavior is of a concern because of the high volumes of citizens living so closely together.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">There have been people from many different nations coming into London, and the trinkets they bring with them are immensely interesting. Just the other day I was down by the water and I witnessed a massive shipment of tea being brought into port, were you aware that the tea we have comes here from Japan as well as China? I had skipped over the article entitled "The History of Tea" in this months //Universal Magazine// as I thought it to be a trivial matter, but upon seeing this new ship I went home at once and read the passage in full.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">The exchange and trade of goods has done nothing but help to rebuild our economy, I may someday fully understand the implications of the stock and exchange sheets in my //Magazine//, but until that day I will just ogle at their brilliance with glazed eyes.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Until later, your loving cousin,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Abigail


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">12 September 1747 **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Miss Lyra,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Over and over have I read this month's edition of //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Universal Magazine //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> and I simply cannot resist the delicious receipts they have for the upcoming "Compleat English Housewife". As you know it is just as important for women to be good housewives here in London as it is back at home, and the food they have for next month is superb. The benefits of being this close to the river are innumerable, so many fresh and new dishes to bring back when I come.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Writing now about the dishes and the duties of the housewife is reminding me of one particular fable, "Of a FATHER and his CHILDREN" in which the moral is to review yourself often. I begin to consider my role in the world as it stands and I find myself pleased yet concerned. I worry about the relationship between the growth of science and the importance of God. I am happy to be learning and experiencing so much of that growth through my daily experiences and life but then I wonder what will become of our fate if we explain all things through science, math, and the arts as opposed to through religion.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">For now I must go -- look forward to my response to a new play in my next letter, I intend to see one in the upcoming weeks!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Until later, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Abigail


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">30 November 1747 **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">My Aunt,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Why you did not receive my correspondence dated 18 October I do not know, as I sent it just as I always have. In that mind, though, I do understand your concern and reasoning for sending Lyra and Matthew to call on me.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">The three of us went and saw a performance of the play "The Way of the World" at The Theatre Royal in Covenant Garden and it was spectacular. While not one of my favorite plays of all time, this play did illustrate many of the situations I witnessed in my time in London, despite the fact that it is set some nearly 50 years previous. During my time here I witnessed a plethora of new tendencies: contacts from different countries, foreign artifacts, moral teachings being widely distributed. I also was able to see the growth in science, medicine, technology, experience musings over philosophy, and read accounts of England's changing history.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">This is an exciting time of growth of for our country, yet so much remains the same. In my six months studying in London I had the opportunity to see no fewer than sixteen of Shakespeare's plays and countless other plays by countless other playwrights spanning genres from tragedy to history to comedy.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">I was able to do as the book of fables directed me to, I was able to see within my self and evaluate myself and what I have done up to this point. This experience is unrivaled as the most life changing one I have ever had. Interesting, if I recall my first letter correctly, I was skeptical of travel and international exchange. --What a fool I was. -- If a small amount of travel to simply London can open my eyes like this, I cannot imagine what a larger trip could produce.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">We leave to return home in two days time. I embrace the chance see you and Uncle again and I am excited by the opportunity to recount to you all of my wonderful adventures!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">With Love, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Abigail

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Citations:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">__Amusing and instructive fables in French and English__. __Divided into sections; and the two languages answering almost verbatim, for the greater Conveniency of Learners. The whole illustrated with copper plates.__ The third edition, carefully corrected and improved. London, 1747. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. 11 Dec. 2013 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;"><http://find.galegroup.com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/ecco/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ECCO&userGroupName=umd_um&tabID=T001&docId=CW3314278541&type=multipage&contentSet=ECCOArticles&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE>.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Scouten, Arthur H., and Emmett L. Avery. The London Stage. Vol. 3. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Pr., 1968. Print

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Scouten, Arthur H., and Emmett L. Avery. The London Stage. Vol. 4. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Pr., 1968. Print <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%; line-height: 1.5;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 1 (Jun 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 2 (Jul 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 3 (Aug 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 4 (Sep 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 5 (Oct 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">Universal Magazine." Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure 6 (Nov 1747): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.