Robert Hall, [Leicester], to William Wilberforce, Marden Park, 3 September 1821.

My dear Sir

          Your letter did not reach me till to day, or I should have replied to it sooner, or rather immediately.  Your kind letter informing me of the success of your application in behalf of my friend Stuart duly arrived, the contents which gave inexpressible pleasure to the good man, on whose behalf you have so kindly and so effectually interfered. Now I must to my shame confess my unacquaintedness with the forms of society is such that I was not aware that propriety dictated a reply to your kind communication, though I am sure no one could be more deeply impressed than myself with a grateful sense of your condescension, the impression will remain in indelible characters on my mind. [f.251v] The only reason of my silence [was] my reluctance to intrude for a moment on time which I am aware is so precious & so fully occupied.

          It was impossible for me to conceal from Mr Stuart the hand to which he was indebted, because when he first applied to me for assistance, I told him I knew of no other quarter where I could turn with the smallest hope of success, besides yourself.  This would of course, enable him to penetrate the secret, but he is under the strictest injunctions not to divulge it to any one, to which I believe he has fiercely adhered.

          Permit me, my dear Sir, to express through you as a medium my deep obligation as well as that of Mr Stuart to the gentleman, who you inform me, was so kind as to interfere in his favor & who has done it with so much [spirit?] [f.252r] and at the same time, to repeat how much I feel myself obliged & honoured by the kind interest you have taken in this affair.  I beg to be most respectfully remembered to Mrs Wilberforce & to subscribe myself with the highest esteem, dear Sir

                                 Your affectionate & obliged & humble

                                             Servant

                                                         Robert Hall

3 Sepr

1821

Text: MSS. Wilberforce, d. 13, fols. 251-52, Bodleian Library, Oxford.