580.
The Hon. Maria Holroyd to Edward Gibbon.
Sheffield Place, Nov. 13th, 1791.
It is with a mixture of satisfaction & regret, that I complete my part of our engagement in writing this Letter. I find great pleasure in being returned to dear, precious Sheffield, & in telling you so, because I am sure you will be glad to hear we are safe and well; but writing to you the last letter is like a second taking leave, & tho' I have been near six weeks upon the journey from Lausanne, that moment is still as fresh in my memory as it was the next day, & the recollection of it as unpleasing. If I dared I would ask to be allowed to tell you we were alive, now & then when Papa & Mama were in an idle mood, & to be allowed to hope for an answer once in two or three years, in your own hand or not, as you thought proper or found convenient.
DISTRESSES UPON THE SEA.
I was very glad Papa wrote a long letter from Calais, as his information about things in general would be more interesting to you than mine, as I suppose he gave you a full account of our route from Brussells to Calais. I will only tell you that I was very much amused at Antwerp, & that I catch myself, now & then, making believe to know a good Picture from a bad one—having seen so many excellent ones lately. We left Calais last Sunday at 9 in the morning, having waited three days for a favorable wind, & at last in despair, set off in a perfect Calm, which prolonged our passage 24 hours—which was uncommonly tedious, & very bad luck, as our Passage from Brighton was as tiresome in coming over. However to pass the time, or to diversify the amusements of the Passage, which from the sickness of the Company would have preserved some degree of sameness, Mrs. Maynard with Mama's assistance, half way between Calais & Dover, presented the cabbin boy with a Sea Nymph; which with its Mother are now as well as can be expected, at Capn Sampson's house at Dover. I have heard that Sailors, when they come from a voyage, find great pleasure in talking of & recollecting Toils & Dangers past—such is our case; for we have laughed very heartily here, at our Distresses upon the Sea—which certainly at the time was no laughing matter.
We found the inhabitants of S. P. in excellent preservation & quite rejoyced to see us returned—most of them, when we left England, being convinced we should be all massacred by the National Assembly in a very short time. I hope the quiet life of this place will soon restore Mama's health & spirits, who desires her kindest remembrances to you & those we love at Lausanne. Do not let anybody forget us, for we forget nobody.
Ever much yrs,
M. T. Holroyd.