Robert Hall, Leicester, to Thomas Langdon, Leeds, shortly after the death of his daughter on 6 January 1823. 

My dear Friend,

  I am much concerned to hear of the heavy bereavement with which it has pleased God to afflict you and dear Mrs. Langdon, by the unexpected removal of your most amiable daughter.  I never saw a young female whose character impressed me with a higher degree of esteem.  I cannot wonder for a moment that your tears flow on her account: it is indeed a most severe and afflictive stroke, which none but a parent, and the paent of such a child, can duly appreciate.  I feel myself highly honoured and gratified in the recollection of having possessed any share in her esteem.  Still, my dear friend, there is much mercy mingled with the severity of this dispensation.  It is an unspeakable mercy to be able to reflect on the decided peity of the dear deceased, which so eminently prepared her for the event you so deeply deplore.  Nor is it a small alleviation of the anguish resulting from such a stroke, to reflect that the time is short, the end of all things is at hand.  Painful as is the thought to all your friends, to you, my dear friend, it must be familiar, that in all probability her separation from you will be but of short duration.  She has entered into that blessed eternity a little time before you, for which you have been so long waiting and preparing.  I feel much for Mrs. Langdon; the society of a daughter so amiable and so beloved would have afforded an inexpressible solace under all the painful vicissitudes of life.  It is my earnest prayer that she, as well as yourself, may be sustained and supported under this most heavy trial, and that it may be accompanied with a sanctifying influence on her suviving brothers and sisters.  Who knows but this may be one of the purposes of infinite wisdom? . . .

Text: Brief Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Langdon, Baptist Minister, of Leeds . . .  By his Daughter  (London: Baines & Newsome, 1837), 77-78.