on of the miserys that attend so
advanced an age will help time to wear it off. I
am very much obliged to you for the present you
were so good to send me of the fifty pound bill of
Exchange w^{ch} I duely received. Mama tenders you
her affections and polly joyns in duty with

My dear Papa
Your ob^t and ever Devoted Daughter,
_E. Lucas_.

In the following letters we find her showing a lively interest in all
that concerns her father, her brothers, her "cousens" and neighbours,
and also a normally healthy liking for amusement, linked with her
passionate love of nature and a milder interest in pretty clothes--and a
still milder form of interest in love affairs!

Hard indeed it is in this day of quick delivery to realize the
inconveniences of daily life in Eliza's time, and it evokes a smile to
hear that if she or one of the family had neuralgia, it was necessary to
write an account of the symptoms to Mrs. Boddicott in November, followed
by a letter of thanks to her for her promptness, because of which "the
meddicines will arrive by May, and tis allways worse in hott weather!"
Think of waiting six months for a dose of medicine!

Eliza has already mentioned two neighbours of whom she had become very
fond, and between her and Miss Pinckney's niece, a Miss Bartlett, who
lived with Mrs. Pinckney either in her home in Charles Town, or at their
country seat five miles out of town, a flourishing correspondence sprang
up, and the following are some of Eliza's letters to her friend:

Jan^r 14th, 1741/2.

_Dear Miss Bartlett:_:--

'Tis with pleasure I commence a Correspondence
w^{ch} you promise to continue tho' I fear I shall
often want matter to soport an Epistolary
Intercourse in this solotary retirement--;
however, you shall see my inclination, for rather
than not scribble, you shall know both my waking
and sleeping dreams, as well as how the spring
comes on, when the trees bud, and inanimate nature
grows gay to chear the rational mind with delight;
and devout gratitude to the great Author of all;
when my little darling that sweet harmonist the
mocking bird, begins to sing.

Our best respects wait on Col^l. Pinckney