Robert Hall, Cambridge, to Thomas Langdon, Leeds, c. late 1804.

[Hall had recently preached at a meeting in Rochdale, Yorkshire, in connection with the proposed opening of a Baptist college at Rawdon.]

My dear Friend,

  I thank you for your very kind letter.  I was exceedingly fatigued with my journey, and caught considerable cold, but sustained no lasting inconvenience.  I look back upon my visit to Yorkshire with much pleasure, though my satisfaction was much impaired by the tooth-ache, from which I find no relief but in having the tooth extracted, which was done a day or two before I left Manchester. I was extremely delighted with the Peak: it gave me an impression of the power and majesty of the Creator, apparent in his works, which I never wish to forget.  You have probably seen it, and therefore I need say no more.  At Manchester I met with much kindness, was most hospitably entertained, and much pleased.  With respect to the sermon preached at Rochdale, I have no intention of printing it.  I am very certain its merit is much overrated, and that the public would form a very different opinion of it from that which the partiality of friendship has dictated.  Be this as it may, I must beg leave decidedly to decline the publication of it in its present form. I am extremely happy to hear from Mr. Littlewood, in a letter just received, that the subscriptions came on so well.  It is a great pity Mr. Kinghorn cannot be prevailed upon to accept the office of tutor, as it is a situation he is so well qualified to fill.  I will thank you to inform Mr. Fawcett that I have received his letter, and will answer it as soon as I can with propriety: at the same time, remember me most affectionately to him. His friendship I esteem as great an honour as can befal me.  Excuse haste, and believe me to remain, with my best regards to Mrs. Langdon and all my Leeds friends, as if named,

Dear sir,

Yours most sincerely and affectionately,

Robert Hall

Text:  Brief Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Langdon, Baptist Minister, of Leeds . . .  By his Daughter  (London: Baines & Newsome, 1837), 46-47.