Eliza Jacquelin Ambler to Mildred Smith Dudley(1780)
Transcript
Betsey Ambler to Mildred Smith
Dearest Mildred
“What is life without a friend at sight of thee, (or rather at thy well know hand) my gloomy soul cheers up and gladness [illegible] within me,” [1] so much for the romantic—and so you really wish that the name of Betsy could be softenized or romanticized into Bessie or Jacquilene or Sophia or a more modern termination of any sort— who would have thought that my Millia or rather my charming Mildred who is just as sweet and lovely as any Heroine of times past, present, or to come should try her powers at the heroic— what is the world coming to if we plain Y-k [2] girls should become heroines— truly, my sprightly, or rather giddy rattle might give me some pretensions, but how your plain home spun cautious habits can ever be converted into [those] of a heroine is the difficulty— however by way of trying my hand & hoping to induce you to do the same, I will give you a specimen of my powers at the descriptive. Since you have requested an account of our journey to R.d. [3] and are anxious to hear its beauties described, there can no better subject than it affords
On a fine summer morning early in June, e’er the rose tints of m[orn] were lessened by the sunbeams of summer—we took our departure from the village of ____ and pursued our way to R.d proposing to proceed no f[arther the] first day on our journey than Wsbg [4] once the Seat of elegance and sp[len]dor; here we were received by our highly respected friends Mr. and Mrs. N. [with] that courtious hospitality which so highly distinguishes them, nor would t[hey] hear of our leaving them for several days— nothing on their part was neg[lected] to make this delay pleasant and indeed delightful. On the Second evening after our arrival, we received invitations to a Ball given at the P—c [5] by certain gentlemen, in compliment it was said to the Miss A [6] You who know me well can readily judge how my heart fluttered at this mark of attention—and tho I cannot for my life treat the poor fellow who was the prime mover in this civility with common good manners yet was I delighted with an opportunity of shewing my consequence by accep[ting] his invitation and playing off a thousand airs that would have provoked a le[cture] from you, an hour long—his more successful friend M ll [7] was devoted to [my] sister—the entertainment in itself was like most of the entertainments of the present time simple and frugal as to its viands; but for the brilliancy of the company too much cannot be said. it consisted of more Beauty and elegance then I had ever witnessed before, and I was transported with delight [at] being considered a distinguished personage, (the Lady to whom a party is given must always be held ) you know as making the principal character in the drama—in serious truth however it was a most charming entertainment, and so much attention did your giddy friend receive as almost turned her poor distracted brain—however it is time to proceed with our journey which we accordingly did the following morning at a very early hour, nothing material happened on our way and we arrived on the evening of the second day at this famous Metropolis [8] —for so we may now call it, as all heads of departments have like [us] arrived here in safety; but where, we are to lay our weary heads heaven knows. so recently has it become a place of any consequence that accomodations cannot be found for one half the people who are necessarily brought here—It is indeed a lovely situation and may at some future period be a great City but a present it will afford scarce one comfort [in] life—with the exception of two or three families this little town [is] made up of Scotch factors, who inhabit small tenements scattered here and there from the River to the hill, some of which looking, [as Colo.] M observes, as if the poor Caledonians had brought them over on th[eir backs] the weaker [of w]hom were glad to stop at the bottom, of the hill, others a little stronger proceeded higher, while a few of the stoutest and the boldest reached the summit—which once accomplished affords a situation more beautiful and picturesque than you who have only one grand view of the Subl[lime su]ch as our dear Y k presents can have an idea of— One of these hardy Scots has thought proper to vacate his little dwelling of [the] hill and tho’ our whole family can scarcely stand up altogether [in] it, my Father has determined to rent it as the only decent tenement on the hill. When I have seen more of this delectable spot you may expect another epistle. it would seem as if I should have abundance of leisure for writing so little have we to amuse us in this new world, for it is absolutely a new world to me—Oh that your Uncle may find it to his advantage to come here nothing short of this can make our continuance bearable—Farewell—What you say of my dear friend ___ astonishes me, Would you beleive that I thought she could never do wrong—how I hate the French, entre nous
Notes
- The Distrest Mother; a tragedy (1712) by Ambrose Philips (1674–1749). An adaption of Racine’s Andromaque. Act 1, Scene 1, Orestes: “O, Pylades! what’s life without a friend! At sight of thee my gloomy soul cheers up, My hopes revive and gladness dawns within me.”
- “Y k”: Yorktown.
- “R—d”: Richmond.
- “Wsbg”: Williamsburg.
- “P___c”: Governor’s Palace, Williamsburg.
- “Miss A”: Miss Ambler, the writer of the letter.
- “M ll”: John Marshall (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1801–1835) married Elizabeth’s sister Mary in 1783.
- “Metropolis”: The capital of Virginia was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond in April 1780 and Elizabeth’s father, as a government official, moved to Richmond.