Address:
The Rev. M^r Tyler
Partney near Spilsby
          Lincolnshire
For M^rs Flinders

Annotated: June 1803

                          Investigator at Port Jackson
                                        July 20. 1802

My dearest love
      On May 31^st last I wrote to thee from
this place, not having then heard from thee, but since that
time thy letters of Jan. 7 1802 and of Oct. 1801 have arrived;
but there is still another to come dated previously to either,
which it seems was sent to M^r Standert; and also that
directed to Spithead is still behind. That of October tells
me of the fate of my once anxious hopes, and that of Jan.
of thy very ill state of health, of and of an operation thou
hast been obliged to undergo to save thy poor eye. How
melancholy, how severe are these pieces of information to
a fondly affectionate husband. Oh my love, my love, how
much do I sympathize in thy sufferings. That I could but
transport myself to thee, and soothe thee, whilst thou shouldst
rest upon my fond bosom; then wouldst thou know that
my heart beats with as much rapidity as it ever could have
done, for thee. Indeed, my beloved, when anxious care leaves
me to reflection and myself, then am I altogether thine;
my frequent last words, on laying my head down to sleep
are, Oh my poor wife! and often do I visit thee in my dreams,
sometimes with delight, but oftener with that confused and
uncertain feeling which partakes too much of my troubled
thoughts concerning thee.
    My dearest friend, thou adducest my leaving thee to
follow the call of my profeƒsion, as a poor proof of my affec-
-tion for thee. Dost thou not know, my beloved, that we could
have barely existed in England? That both thou and me must
have been debarred of even neceƒsaries; unleƒs we had given
up our independence to have procured them from perhaps
unwilling friends. It was only upon the certainty of ob-
-taining an employment, the produce of which would be