Address:
Miƒs Chappelle
Partney near Spilsby
    Lincolnshire

Stamped: SHEERNESS

                    H.M.S. Investigator Sheerneƒs Jan 27
                                                                      1801
From hence, immersed in busineƒs, I write thee, my dearest
friend, some answer to thy truly distreƒsful last of many
dates. Spare me, Annette, the keen misery, which to rouse
the bitter recollections of past agony and disappoint-
-ment infallibly calls forth. Thou wilt revile me, my friend,
when I say, that a part of my exertions have been to forget
thee. I will pay thee thy tribute — I will taste of the pleasure,
of memory on the first of each returning January, and
sigh forth thy name upon unknown seas and coasts; but
spare me the rest. If I think on thee I think on nothing
else. My various occupations and provisions are at a
stand; and to me, there is then no other being in the world
than Annette. Thou, my dearest friend, hast not perhaps
occupations that claim the whole of thy attention; fortu-
-nate indeed it is for me that I have; otherwise I had borne
the denomination of fool, madman or villain ere this.
Forget me, Annette, — put every thing from thee that
may call forth recollection. However dear to me thy
thoughts are, still is thy happineƒs dearer. But remember
Annette — remember that I am thy friend. Banish every
thing else from thee. On love I must not think; — it has
constituted the greatest happineƒs and the greatest misery of my