Thomas Scott, Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, to Philip Whitaker, Bratton, [Tuesday], 21 July 1829.

Gawcott   July 21, 1829

My dear Sir

   I have just received, & beg leave to acknowledge with thanks, your kind letter & the inclosed draft for £35.3.0 in discharging of your Son’s account.  If your Son (to whom I beg to be kindly remembered) apply with ever moderate diligence, he may not only maintain his ground, but make progress which will amply repay his exertion.  Some young men labour very hard & make no progress, but this will not be the case with him; & he may by steady & moderate reading do enough to secure his success in the university, without pressing forward with such eagerness as to sacrifice his health.  Many dangers & temptations must of course attend a young man in College.  True religion is the only safeguard that can be relied on; next to that stands diligent study, & where the two combine their influence, and the young academic is diligent in business & also fervent in spirit serving the Lord, he will find delight & profit in that very place which is ruinous to hundreds. Such I hope & pray may be the case with your Son.

   I am truly sorry to find that Mrs Whitaker’s health is in so poor a state, & shall be happy to hear that Bristol has proved as beneficial to her as Cheltenham has to my Sister.  The Effect was surprising on her first going thither, but some agitation < >, which she has since undergone from different causes, has, I fear, thrown her rather back.  Still however she is much improved.

   The state of the agricultural Interest is I fear throughout the country very deplorable, & of consequence the labouring classes are suffering much; & if to other causes of distress the continuance of rainy weather should be added, we can scarcely conjecture the interest & suffering which will follow. Present appearances are however with us more favourable. The glass is gradually rising & with the exception of a few showers we have had little rain since Saturday. He who hath promised that “seed time & harvest shall not fail” will I trust interpose for us & send us weather suited to ripen & gather in the fruits of the Earth; & in due season also remove our other causes of anxiety; which are not few nor small as relates to the state of the country in general.  Both my Brothers are with me, & would, did they know of my writing, join me & Mrs Scott in affectionate remembrances to yourself Mrs W. & your family

                     I am, My dear Sir,

                                 Your faithful & obliged Servt

                                             Thomas Scott

Give our love to Edward – His father & two Brothers & Sister Sarah Anne, who are all here, are quite well; but we have many anxieties about the infant, who appears in some respects too much like the other two unfortunate children

Text: Reeves Collection, Box 21.4.g, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Address: Philip Whitaker Esqr | Bratton | Westbury | Wilts.  Postmark: no legible location, but date is 22 July 1829. Also on the address page is written, ‘Rev.d T. Scott acknowledging the receipt of Draft July 21 1829’. Thomas Scott (son of the Bible commentator Thomas Scott) was operating a boarding school at Gawcott, where the Whitaker’s youngest son, Edwin Eugene (b. 1814), was attending.