Monday Decr. 16th. 1754 Madam,1

Imagining from the few appearances you make abroad in the World & yr. natural serious disposition that you are disposed for the retiremt. of a Monastick life, I take this oppertunity (now My thoughts are rendred Serious by afflictive Confinement) to propose to yr. Consideration, a Scheme that has long laboured in my Mind, & I hope is now approaching towards Maturity. The thing I propose is to found, Constitute, a religious Monastry of Nuns, which being regulated & disciplin'd according to the Establish'd Rules in those religious Orders provided, I doubt not will prove productive of more Sincere happiness & immaculate Joys, than perhaps any other State of Life whatsomever. I doubt not Madam but youll Start at the first proposal, beleiving all that Fame says of those fair devotees to be sure, but you should remember that the Religious are always expos'd. However if youll favour me with an opportunity of explaining this Constitution to you (which my present cripled circumstances will decently excuse) I hope to set the matter in such a true light before you as to cause yr. present approving sentiments to end in the genrous Act. As soon as the Society is Constituted, I shall propose myself to be Ordaind Father Confessor. Imagining I shall meet with no great Difficulty in obtaining that post considering my great fitness & the Zeal I shew in founding the Society. And now that a flood of Joy breaks in upon my230Soul wn. I point out to myself the pleasures & happiness of this Life, how Serene my Retirements & how Agreable my Amusements in the Gardens & other Apartments of the Monastry. There we shall have frequent oppertunity of conversing & tho' it be through Grates, yet that will rather add to than decrease the Joy. Yr. Moments, many of wch. are necessarily now spent in tedious cerimonies will then without any waste be employ'd in the most Agreable improvements of the Mind. Yr. Life which in the common way of living may possibly be burthensome to you will then glide away imperceptibly, & ignorant of the many vexations, which the concern of this life involve yr. sex in, you will enjoy most of its pleasures, & finally without saying Adieu wing Away on some Sunbeam. There are many Arguments in favr. of this Order, the chief of wch. I must reserve 'till I am favoured with more intimate conversation, and only observe that the present distress'd state of the Country with regard to our Neighbouring Enemies Should perswade a gen'rous Mind like yrs. to forward the matter, for 'tis certain that Antient Rome was never conquered while the Vestal Virgins were preserv'd in their order but as soon as they were distroyd the Empire fell. Accept these from an admirer of Every female Accomplishmt, & yr. very hble, Servt.

P:S. My Ancle Confines me close, & renders me the Object of a charitable visit from you wch. I can not think inconsistent either wth. decency or your Christian duty, especially if you visit me as Father Confessor.

Dft ; addressed: "To Miss T D: on a Nunnery" To Theodora Dyer."

1.

Theodora Dyer (1738/9–1813) was the only daughter of Joseph and Jerusha (Gulliver) Dyer (sometimes spelled Dyar), of Weymouth, Mass. She was a friend of Eunice Paine who refers to her in letters as "Dora." In 1758 she married Edmund Billings of Braintree (NEHGR 23[1869]: 448; History of Weymouth, 4 vols. [Weymouth, 1923], 3:212).