1299 - Jane Johnson to Robert Johnson, 15 November 1753
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Mas-ter Ro-bert
Au-gus-tus Johnson
at
Wytham on the Hill
Lin-coln-shire
From his mother
[f.7]
Olney No-vem-ber 15.
1753
Dear Robert
It gave me great plea-sure to hear by Jacky
Ansell that you are very well, but I am sorry you
would not come home with him, for I want sadly
to see you, be-sides am fearful you neglect your
Book, & if you for-get how to read, it will give
you a vast deal of trou-ble to learn again, so pray
be so good to your self as to read twice a day to
pret-ty Miss Pruey every day till she, & Jacky, &
you come to Olney which you must do on Satur-day
the first of De-cem-ber for we shall them want
your Little Horse to be home that he may
be rea-dy to fetch your Bro-ther Johnson, who is
to come from school in a few days after the time
a-bove named. Pray give Ben-ny a kiss for me, &
tell him I Love him Dear-ly be-cause he is a good
Boy. I wish you all a very good jour-ney to Olney.
My Compliments wait in Mr & Mrs Ansell, & on
all their Sons & Daughters
Jane Johnson
[f.7v]
your Brother Wool-sey has read every word of
the other side of this Letter very well, every body
says they don’t think you can read it half so
well, but I hope they are mis-ta-ken. For I think
my Robert will never be such a Fool to let a little
Boy out do him, a little Boy al-most two years
& a half younger than your self.
Mas-ter Ro-bert
Au-gus-tus Johnson
at
Wytham on the Hill
Lin-coln-shire
From his mother
[f.7]
Olney No-vem-ber 15.
1753
Dear Robert
It gave me great plea-sure to hear by Jacky
Ansell that you are very well, but I am sorry you
would not come home with him, for I want sadly
to see you, be-sides am fearful you neglect your
Book, & if you for-get how to read, it will give
you a vast deal of trouble to learn again, so pray
be so good to your self as to read twice a day to
pretty Miss Pruey every day till she, & Jacky, &
you come to Olney which you must do on Saturday
the first of De-cem-ber for we shall them want
your Little Horse to be home that he may
be rea-dy to fetch your Brother Johnson, who is
to come from school in a few days after the time
a-bove named. Pray give Ben-ny a kiss for me, &
tell him I Love him Dearly be-cause he is a good
Boy. I wish you all a very good journey to Olney.
My Compliments wait in Mr & Mrs Ansell, & on
all their Sons & Daughters
Jane Johnson
[f.7v]
your Brother Wool-sey has read every word of
the other side of this Letter very well, every body
says they don’t think you can read it half so
well, but I hope they are mis-ta-ken. For I think
my Robert will never be such a Fool to let a little
Boy out do him, a little Boy al-most two years
& a half younger than your self.
Jane Johnson to Robert Johnson, 15 November 1753
A letter to her son Robert (Aged 8) – long words are broken into syllables, perhaps for ease of reading. She was pleased to hear that he is well, but she was sorry that he would not return home with his friend, because she very much wants to see him. She warns him not to neglect his reading, or he will forget how to. Discussion of plans for his journey home, and she asks that he kiss Benny for her. On the reverse of the note, she writes, in a teasing tone, that his younger brother can read the letter very well, and others don’t think that Robert can read as well as him – a challenge for Robert to practice.
Johnson Family
MS. Don. c. 190 f.7
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
1753
11
15
Olney, Buckinghamshire [England]
Wytham on the Hill, Lincolnshire [England]
primary author
kissing
- happy
- love
- love (parental)
- regret
parenthood
primary addressee
- kissing
- reading
- travel
- visiting
childhood
well
- disposition
- education
other
reading
childhood
To Cite this Letter
Jane Johnson to Robert Johnson, 15 November 1753, 15111753: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Johnson Family, MS. Don. c. 190 f.7
To Cite this Edition
Material Identities, Social Bodies: Embodiment in British Letters c.1680-1820. Compiled by: Karen Harvey, Helen Esfandiary, Sarah Fox, Emily Vine, University of Birmingham. Project funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2021-2025, Ref. RPG-2020-163), https://socialbodies.bham.ac.uk.