Hayley-XXI-62

[page 1]

Derby June 9^th 1792

My dear H

I went to Bowbridge the day after I received your last letter when as I had flattered myself the country air & the society of my kind Friends were of some service to my health & spirits, but on my return to Derby on Monday se’ennight I had again sleepless nights, & my nerves have been so severely agitated that I have felt unequal to every exertion.

I delayed however writing to you partly from a desire to converse with our friend M.^rs Twigge upon the subject of a northern sea bathing place, & she did not return home till tuesday last.

I cannot sufficiently divest myself of an inclination to indulge your wishes, (however unreasonable they may appear to me) without a consideration for which my conscience as well as my counsellors might give me a dispensation: but after speaking to M.^rs Twigge upon the subject, I find it impossible for me to entertain an idea of bathing upon the

[page 2]

northern coast. I must travel an hundred & twenty miles a cross country road which would put me to a heavy expence, & when I arrived there as M.^rs Twigge says I should find the society inaccessible to a stranger. She took M.^rs & Miss Keeling with her & met a party of Derbyshire people, but she knows of no party that are going thither this summer – and could I purchase the society of these little northern potentates, never having been myself like the Lord Osrick “spacious in the possession of dirt”, I would travel an hundred miles to avoid them.

Upon mature deliberation therefore I determine on Hastings, from the report of M.^rs Goodenough, Miss Gale & M.r Ascough, who all speak of it as the most desirable situation for those who go for health & pleasant retirement, & indeed I should have fixed upon this spot sooner (which but for the great battle that was fought upon it I am persuaded you would not \never have/ known was in Sussex) had it not been, as I will honestly confess from my wish to enjoy a few conversations, for a few hours at a time with you.

Tho I have during the last twenty two years

[page 3]

been harassed by a series of domestic vexation & perplexity which I conceive would have worn the patience of a greater stoic than I profess to be, yet I cannot believe that even in the most trying moments, I could ever have been so far transported by passion as to wish to renounce a country, altogether the most beautiful, the most healthy, & the most desirable to reside in that I have yet seen.

I have nevertheless long ceased to wish to spend more than a day at a time with you, feeling perfectly convinced by your conduct as well as your assurances that it is most for our comfort & credit to live separate: & your two last letters have entirely cured me of the wish of conversing with you in any other manner than by letter.

You may therefore depend upon my never surprising or distressing you by a visit in sickness or in health without your invitation – and in such an instance I trust I shall be ready to prove that, as with Serne’s Monk, Nature has done with her resentments

in your affectionate
Eliza

My love to Tom.
I direct as you desire, tho I conclude you have left town

[page 4]

William Hayley Esq.^re
at Mr Long’s Surgeon
Eartham
Chancery Lane
London
Chichester