Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm: Melmoth') to 'my very dear Sophia [Walters]', exhibiting a warmth unusual in one writing 'at the advanced Age of eighty five'.

1 p, landscape 12mo (18.5 x 11.5 cm). Eleven long lines in a small neat hand. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Tipped in onto a piece of paper, 21 x 13 cm. The reference to Melmoth's 'advanced Age' is at the foot of the page. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand: 'From Mr. Melmoth to Mrs. Walters'. Begins: 'Believe me, my very dear Sophia, I am so truely [sic] your obedient servant in every affectionate & friendly sense of those terms, that there is no office in which you can employ me I shd. not execute with that complacency, were it only to procure for you a Pin to fasten your hat. My life has lasted so much longer than it is in my power to employ it to any significant purpose, that you see I do not scruple to present myself to you in the trifling character of a Will Whimble [sic, for 'Will Wimble', a character in Addison's essays].' Concludes in the same vein, stating that he is proud of handing her 'two Epistles to the Post-office', and rejoicing in the 'good account' she gives of herself and 'all that belong to you'.