Letter 4465

Nehemiah Grew writes the following to his wife: “My Dear, If I have let ship one day, there is no better excuse for a fault, than ye mending of it. Which I am resolved to do this day. For I Should not be a little troubled to meet with ill news, when I come to Waltham but would much more gladly promote ye pleasure of yr beeing there, if my writing may contribute any thing there unto.” Directly following the previous passage comes the next portion, which is crossed out in Grew’s letter: “Withall I have a mind to tell you, how often, & with how much con- tentment I think of you[.]” The next portion directly follows the previous portion of text but none of it is crossed out: “I remember my self oblig’d not only to an- swer yr Expectation, but [therin?] to to obey my Mothers Comand. Withall I have a mind to tell you how often, & with how much con- tentment, I think of you; & would also add true engagement to your self to do yr[.]” Cannot provide a complete transcription because the bottom the letter is torn off – there is also additional text written alongside the left margin of the letter but part of it is also missing because the letter is torn. Nehemiah Grew was a botanist and physician who, in 1677, was appointed joint secretary of the Royal Society along with Robert Hooke (Michael Hunter, Grew, Nehemiah (bap. 1641, d. 1712), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11521, accessed 11 May 2011].