Jane Attwater Blatch, Bratton, to Anna Jane Whitaker, Bradford, [Monday], 31 January 1825.

Jany 31st 1825

My Beloved Friend & Niece

   Accept my dear Niece my sincere thanks for your kind Note I wishd it longer as I wanted particular Intelligence of your Health as be assured that is always an Interesting subject to me. – I hope I don’t deceive myself wn I conclude from your purposing to stay ’till next week, that it is not least as good as wn you left Bratton, & as much better as is necessary for your comfort.—Excuse my beginning to answer you so soon after I received yours – I love to converse with my beloved Niece & wn personal Interviews are desired I must avail myself of Epistolary conversation.—You rightly judge my dear yt ye late melancholly scene w’d have been too much for your poor timid Aunt.—I cannot help it.—Therefore I am much obliged to my dear Friends for securing me from such trials. I much admire ye Hymn – & I hope to be sav’d with a sight of ye sermon.—I anticipated many things yt was realized particularly ye children’s singing by themselves, & Mr Ds superintending them – as to regulating ye musick &c It must be truly affecting.—may the whole be succeeded with a blessing to many.—I was very unwell ye day you left us & have still those rheumatic pains wch makes me very unwilling to leave Home whilst I feel it so cold &c  Mr B & myself was rejoiced to hear you propose staying & wish you to extend your visit as long as you comfortably can – remember I now speaking disinterestedly as was I to consult my own gratification I should not thus speak – but I write as preferring my dear sisters & Nieces pleasure to my own I think you cannot misconstrue my meaning as I trust you are fully convinced your kind Lookins & loved Society is one of my best blessings.—But my dear permit me to find fault with you & dear Maria for your Extravagantly fluttering appelations of my poor notes.—I am too conscious of my own Imperfections to think I merit the shadow of praise much less its substance what I strive to obtain is ye affection not ye admiration of those I love & in order to do this I must solicit you to put on ye veil of partiality without wch you will be at a loss how to love any one so imperfect. –

   Your servant faithful Betty (whom Mr B visits with ye premises every day) is very well & seems anxiously concernd in all things to fulfill her mistresses will as much as tho’ you were present. I hope you will make your mind quite easy about every thing at home – & I shall gladly perform any thing in my power to contribute to your satisfaction therefore be free to favor me with your commands.—I hope to go up or send tomorrow & deliver your message about ye gown &c I am glad to hear our beloved Maria is gone to Turley I think ye change of scene & Air was absolutely necessary I hope you & dear cousin Jane will make a point of frequently walking out when it is fine mild weather. How is dear cousin Sallys side? I have thought many times of it with anxiety beg her to be careful of herself – It is a great mercy for wch I desire to be thankful that my dear sister is so wonderfully supported.—may she still experience strength equal to her day.—my fears rose high for her previous too & during the day of Interment I am very thankful the dear woman was so mercifully preserved – I want to know her mind is still kept in peace – Oh how great is my weakness & unbelief – notwithstanding we have had so many proofs yt “With God all things are possible.” –  I felt my mind so anxious about my dear Sister & Nieces that it quickened my pulse so yt I could not sleep – I long to hear frequently how you all are & wish you all to enjoy a peaceful & tranquil calm after so much bustle &c &c.

   You must be easy about your little Box wch is deposited in ye middle of my cedar chest wch contains my Valuables.—dear cousin Thos was very unwell for several days his good wife was anxious & most attentive nurse to him I could enter into her feelings, she has been very kind in giving me repeated calls since you have been absent but her visits were very short wch I could easily excuse as I knew her Heart was with her nearest Friend – thro’ mercy Cousin Thos seems now recovered from his Indisposition – & able to go out in his business but such bowel complaints even wn ye cause is removed leaves a degree of soreness & languor –  ’Till Time has restored the usual Tone –

   We have had our pity & compassion greatly excited for poor Wilm Churcher & Betty in ye Affliction & Death of their son.  It is indeed a very distressing trial for them – the people in general seems much impressd with it – It opens a large field for caution & exhortation fm ye pulpit I hope Mr Edminson will not fail to embrace this opportunity (wn ye Hearts of ye villagers seem roused & softend) by this awful providence ye poor boy suppressed great penitence for his sins & with ardent Enquiry said can God forgive such a great Sinner? He desired a sermon might be preached from ye 8th of John pt of ye 24th verse “If ye believe not yt I am He ye shall die in your Sins.” – in these words there is an ample field for a very solemn address from a dying fellow mortal – He confessd many sins He had been guilty of but persisted in his innocence of ye crime for wch he was imprisoned to ye Last.—he said Frederic had taken a false oath but he forgave Him.—His companion James was at his funeral & appeard greatly dejected & solemn with down cast look viewing ye graves &c  I hear he appears sensible of his wickedness & very much cast down may he view things in a true Scriptural light & sincerely repent of his past conduct Almighty power can change even his Heart & cause a true Reformation to take place then his convictions will not go off with his present affliction but his future conduct Evidence his repentance to be genuine – may he be made a monument of divine mercy! As poor Lewis’s Father hopes his son was – I hope Lewis Snelgrove is getting better.

   Thus I relate ye incidents wch occupy our attention in our sequesterd Situation – every thing seems interesting amongst our little group of Inhabitants especialy as we do not fail to be made acquainted with their distresses generally so.

   Forgive me my dear niece if I tell you my mind about your staying at Bradford, I do not presume to dictate, only perswade you if you find this change agree with your Health & spirits to prolong your visit as we think it very likely to be useful to you, & remember you are in so doing acting agreeable to ye will of your departed as well as living friends & relatives.—blest with ye society of your dear Aunt & 3 Cousins who are all happy to contribute to your comfort by tender acts of kindness & sympathy, you cannot need any inducement nor will ye gratification be selfish because I am well aware you will not be backward to do all in your power to confer the same obligation on them in returning It in kind to your bereaved Friends.—

   I thank you for your kind hint concerning frequent visiting – I don’t think while my dear sister continues well as I hope she is at present & she enjoys ye superior society of my young Friends yt a visit to stay is not so necessary as it will be wn ye Spring is farther advanced then (if our lives are spared) it will be more agreeable & useful to both, as my winter habits &c does not suit going any where unless dire necessity obliges me – dont you intend to visit Mrs Attwood a few days?—could not cousin Jane & you go up there for a little time. It wd be near her dear mama & now her dear cousins are at Bradford, could she not avail herself of this opportunity to leave ye Spot where her tender mind has been so much agonized?  I think it may have a good tendency but I must leave it to your better judgment I speak from sincere affection & anxiety for both your future welfare was Bratton nearer I should press the favor to be bestowd on me but this wd be too far from her beloved parent – to keep her mind easy.—I hope in your next you will give me a particular account of each dear individual as ye welfare & comfort is very dear to your useless tho’ Affectionate Aunt.—J. B.

Read this long scribble to yourself & yn commit it to ye flames –  I think to have a little more chat with you before Friday I sent up Mary to deliver your message to Betty as it was so wet I could not go out. I must talk to you therefore I take Time by ye forelock will my dear Niece do likewise – as I greatly enjoy their Letters, it seems I must submit to this substitute for their tenderly beloved & valued Society.—May I be prepared to enjoy a blissful Eternity with you all.

My dear Mr B is much as usual Mr Mitchel & his little Boy dind with us

Yesterday was very agreeable in Conversation

My dear partner writes with Love & good wishes to all farewell my dear niece for ye present.—forgive my prolixity

Read this & commit it to ye flames

Text: Attwater Papers, acc. 76, II.A.10.(b.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Address: To | Miss Whitaker. No postmark. For a complete annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 8, pp. 194-97. The occasion of the letter is a visit to Bradford by Anna Jane Whitaker (1784-1838), daughter of Caroline Attwater Whitaker (1746-1824), just afer the death of Elizabeth Theodosia Head, the unmarried daughter of Marianna Attwater Head (c. 1742-1832), on 15 January 1825. As Blatch notes, she was not able to attend the funeral. Two other deaths of close relations of Blatch would also occur near this time, that of her sister, Caroline Whitaker of Bratton (Anna Jane's mother), and Anna Attwater, the widow of Jane’s nephew, William Attwater of Nunton. Also mentioned above are Thomas Whitaker of Bratton and his new wife, the former Sophia Williams; and the Revd Robert Edminson, pastor of the Baptist church at Bratton, 1810-25 (click here for his 1840 letter to Jane Attwater Blatch). It is possible that Anna Jane Whitaker was the niece who composed the following poem in honor of Jane Attwater Blatch: 

     To Jane Attwater Blatch [from her niece]

I value the words holding some in review

That came first to my mind like the early dew,

With freshness and sweetness those words yet distil

Tho’ they lighted alas – on an Indolent will.

Thus the counsel you gave of beginning each day                                  5

I remember, admire, and wish to obey,

Yet slothfully waste many hours in Bed.

When call’d to consider – the way God has led,

Ah! here let me ponder on what you now say.

Ere a Drone or gay Butterfly crosses my way,                                       10

May I gather the strength I shall need thro’ the day,

For should the bright morning be fritter’d away

We’re exposed to the Follies anyhow of the day.

And if many come to us, our minds go astray,

Then where is the savor putresence to stay,                                           15

For salt must be useless when gone to decay.

But yet, my dear Aunt, you are fully aware

That Life, dull or active, presents many a snare,

We may fall in a pleasure, or sink in a care,

Be lost in false hopes – or plunge into despair.                                     20

If drowned let the water be muddy or clear,

We are dead and no longer the living appear.

To meet our Deliverer, may we prepare

’Till we lose in his love every danger and fear.

Yet still let your voice gently sound in my Ear,                                     25

Awake from my slumbers in radiance of Gold,

Let Heaven’s own light this vain world unfold,

For at best its Gold into silver must turn,              )               

While Time with its Vapors drives on to the Urn   )

And the dawn of to day will never return.             )                              30

Ah! what is our Life? – the wisest must say

It flies like a vapor, a shadow away,

Yet still we are taught to reflect and review              )

The years we have pass’d, altho’ mournful and few; )

Then may I the outline sketch over with you.           )                        35

Sweet were the prospects of life’s opening Morn,

But a storm fell on them, & it left them all torn.

When the sky became tranquil, but never so bright,

Yet I ventured once more, to step forth in delight.

Then dear were the prospects of life’s chasten’d noon,                        40

But a mist came on them – and it went not soon.

Thus the path which my fancy imagin’d so bright

Was lost in […] long before it was night

And an “East wind followed” – We mourned its wast

But the rough wind was staid in the day of the East                             45

Then the rough wind arose, and in a Tempest blew

And it lessened again ye beloved few.

   Yet I would not recount with a murmuring pain

But thankfully look at the friends who remain.

For tho’ many a dark and dreary hour                                                    50

Was broke on the Ruins of jessamine Bower,

And I wander all pensive to Barnstable Cot,

As an owl would range thro’ her desolate lot,

Still Mercies have follow’d my devious way

When I lean’d upon God, in the heaviest day,                                       55

And many a glowing Ray has been lent

Which came in a line from the cot of content.

But in vain have we look’d for that form to appear

Who directed such beams of Brightness here.

And when by that much loved Friend I have sat                                    60

In what season, of sorrow, we often have met,

For again, and again, have we sigh’d to the Rod

That becken’d our Friends to the presence of God.

   But why should we sigh because they are gone?

When we watch’d the True light on their paths as it shone,                65

They have finished their labors, have enter’d their rest

Being happy as Lazarus on Abraham’s Breast.

Then by Faith may my Hope still be raised on high,

Where Love is at Home, where joy cannot die,

Where the streets are all paved with the purest of Gold,                       70

And God Himself will Heaven unfold.

We still in the Wilderness hear not their Song,

We see not the hand that would guide us along,

We struggle with sorrow, Temptation and fear,

’Tis a vast howling Wilderness, where dangers appear.                          75

Yet a sovereign may weaken, and mercy restore           )

E’en Afflictions leave Blessings we knew not before.  )

Great are mercies continued, renewed they are more  )

When Death left a Trophy so near to our Door.

How we trembled to witness the sceptre he bore,                                    80

When He enter’d a chamber there fixing his dart,

But where can Death visit, not touching the Heart?

The Widows and Orphan, those names he will give,

Call pity to mark them, while Friendship can live.

You tell me our Father will stoop to us now                                           85

And give us fresh courage the moment we bow,

He tells us if two shall appeal in his name,

He hears their requests and will give them the same.

Now – now is the time his salvation to prove,

Now He calls all to ask and to taste of his Love.                                     90

Then let me be urged by the mouldering Urn

And the dawn of the day that will never return,

To go forward if call’d thro’ the waves of the sea       )

At the bidding of Him who can part them for me        )

And stretch my views on to Eternity.                           )                         95

Text: Reeves Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford, copied by Jane Attwater. The writer of this poem is not identified by Attwater, but the poem appears to have been written after 1810 and resides amidst a collections of documents involving various nieces and nephews of Jane Attwater Blatch. Possible authors include Marianna Jane Head, daughter of Marianna Attwater Head (a gifted poet in her youth), and Anna Jane Whitaker (the recipient of the above letter). Anne Steele composed at least one poem to Jane Attwater, “To Mirtilla.”  Another poem by Anne Steele, “To –--------, on the death of her father,” was published in Miscellaneous Pieces, pp. 127-28, and may also be written to Jane, commemorating the death of Jane’s father, Thomas Attwater, in 1767. For these poems by Anne Steele, see Whelan, Nonconformist Women Writers, vol. 2; for Mary Steele's poems to Jane Attwater, see Whelan, Nonconformist Women Writers, vol. 3.