19 October
My dear Miss Waterman,
I have only just arrived home after my trip to visit you and the Hegwoods to the North. As the weather had gotten cooler, I returned to find my house here quite cold and still. T'was no match for the warmth and affection that filled the Hegwood household, I'm afraid I have been quite spoil'd by your reception of me upon my arrival as well as the hospitality I found whilst in Albany.
I took great pleasure in meeting your friends and associates, and you were all very kind to carry me about and show me the best that Albany has to offer. I still can not forget how lovely the Congress of Vienna Ball was, and how magnificent it was to attend with you. It has been quite some time since I attended an event of such a caliber, and never with so well-bred a companion. Your skill and grace upon the floor was enough to make even my poor footwork seem adequate. My only regret is that the ball did not last longer! One would think that a grand ball held to commemorate the downfall of the world's most notorious and ruthless tyrant would carry on until the wee early hours of the morn.
But I must confess, there is another reason I write you.
At the end of this very week, I shall travel to Charlestown, South Carolina to the shipyard along the Cooper River where I will board a ship bound for England. There are some important business matters to which I must attend, and I have been invited to London by the Royal Company of Surgeons by the current Master of the college, Mr. Thompson Foster, to give a talk before an assemblage of surgeons and other interested parties. Mr. Foster is desirous that I talk to the Royal College on the 16th of January of the coming year.
The journey itself will take the better part of a month and a half and will cover 3,550 nautical miles from port to port.
I will be plain when I say that with the beginning of this new war between the United States and England and rumours of the illegal impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, I find myself somewhat concerned. But take heart my dear, I believe that my previous injury and documentation of my service in His Majesty's Navy will keep me from any sort of press gang.
If you should wish to write me whilst I am in London, please be certain to address your letters to me at the Jos. Gamble House at number 9 in Upper Grosvenor Street, where I will be staying with an old Navy friend and his family. His home is located directly next to Hyde Park.
Know that I shall think on you in my absence and it is my most sincere hope that I will hear from you. Until then my dear, I wish you all health and joy; and am, with the greatest respect,
Your affectionate and obedient servant,
Dr. A. Roberts
