Baquaqua : Afro-Diasporic Text Corpus

Ignatius Sancho Sept. 20, 1768

OH! my M——, what a feast ! to a
mind fashioned as thine is to gen-
tle deeds! —could’st thou have beheld
the woe-worn object of thy charitable
care—receive the noble donation of thy
blest house!—the lip quivering, and the
tongue refusing its office, thro’ joyful
surprize —the heart gratefully throbbing
—overswelled with thankful sensations

— I could behold a field of battle, and
survey the devastations of the Devil,
without a tear— but a heart o’ercharged
with gratitude, or a deed begotten by
sacred pity—as thine of this day— would
melt me, altho’ unused to the melting
mood. As to thy noble, truly noble,
Miss ——, I fay nothing—-she serves a
master—Who can and will reward her as
ample —as her worth exceeds the com-
mon nonsensical dolls of the age;— but
for thy compeers, may they never taste
any thing less in this world—than the
satisfaction resulting from heaven-born
Charity ! and in the next may they and
you receive that blest greeting —”Well
done, thou good and faithful,” &c. &c.
Tell your girls that I will kiss them
twice in the fame place—troth, a poor
reward; —but more than that —I will
respect them in my heart, amidst the
casual foibles of worldly prejudice and
common usage,—I shall look to their
charitable hearts, and that shall spread
a crown of glory over every transient
defect.—The poor woman brings this

in her hand ;—she means to thank you
—your noble L—— , your good girls—
her benefactors —her saviours. I too
would thank —but that I know the op-
portunity I have afforded you of doing
what you best love, makes you the
obliged party — the obliger,

Your faithful friend,

I. Sancho

Sancho, Ignatius (1782) Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. to which are prefixed, Memoirs of His Life. London : J. Nichols. pp. 14-16

Copy of original can be found at at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=bc.ark%3A%2F13960%2Fs2k7fnrzrwp&seq=82
Genre: Epistolary
Language : English