From Thomas Waters Sr. to his wife Elizabeth Waters (April 20, 1834)

[Thomas Waters. R.M., to his wife. Elizabeth]

Addressed to Mrs Waters, 21 Mulgrave Place, Woolwich, Kent

22 H.M.S.Barham Spithead 20 April 1834

My Dear Wife,

Your letter of the 1st of Nov^r. I received the 14th of Jan^y.-  I perfectly agree with your brother that it is better to let the House in its present state than to be at much expense in altering it for the trifling difference in rent- Your brother did right to alter the stable-loft for a good tenant when the expense was so light and the accommodation great- I am sorry you have had a bilious attack, I have long thought that you are of a bilious habit, and that the disease might in a great measure be remedied by attention to diet; avoiding butter, as much as possible, much slops, and anything that tends to weaken the digestion; the reins should be well protected from chill, by means of a flannel bandage round the waist, which John also requires for the same reason; I think you have by nature a good constitution, but it wants regulating for some time, until it is thoroughly established. I have no doubt it was a bilious complaint that you laboured under last summer, shortly after you left off your flannel waistcoat- I think, by this time, you must be pretty sensible of the value of a good Neighbour, Miss Beiley must have been invaluable to you during the time that I have been from home; in truth, I think a good Neighbour with an indifferent house, is by far to be preferred to a good house with a bad Neighbour; it would have been well for your Parents if they had been better off in that respect than they were- I am glad my sweet little Innocents Benjamin and Betsey are in a fair way of recovery from their indisposition, and that the other children have but little to complain of with regard to their health; fresh air is of the utmost consequence to vitality, nothing so conducive to health, next to proper food, warmth, and good water–  We sailed on a cruise the day after my last letter’s date, the first place we touched at was Port Mahon, in the Island of Manorca [Menorca], the Harbour is fine, the town is one of the cleanest we ever saw, the streets are wide and well paved, the houses neatly white washed inside and out and floors nicely bricked, but it is said the inhabitants are very poor; from thence we went to Carthagena [Cartagena], in Spain, a place once of great note when Spain was in its high day of glory, but now, sad change, in a half state of ruin and decay, it has a safe harbour but it is without ships, a fine dockyard with/out stores and good fortifications without the proper means of defence; we next sailed to Alicant [Alicante] a well fortified town, best known for its considerable exportation of Barilla; Alicant has a royal Manufactory of Segars [cigars], imploying about two thousand four hundred females all of them in one very extensive apartment with Windows closed, to prevent the tobacco from drying to fast in the course of its manufacture; the sale of Tobacco in Spain is a government monopoly, and nothing the better for that- We thence proceeded to Valencia, where our Captain on landing received a letter from our Commander in Chief Sir Pulteney Malcolm, directing us to repair to Malta, immediately, where, when we arrived we hoisted his flag and sailed with him on the 23rd of March for England, we touched at Gibraltar the 3rd of April and arrived yesterday at Spithead whence we proceed, I believe to-day, for Chatham to be paid off- I remain my Dear Wife

your affectionate Husband
      Tho^s. Waters-