Robert Hall, Leicester, to Samuel Saunders, Frome, Somerset, 16 December 1825.

Rev & dear Sir

         Having come to a decision to leave Leicester, it is natural for my friends to turn their attention to the means of procuring a successor, and having been informed that you have entertained thoughts of leaving Frome, have requested me to apply to you to know whether you will be so good as to pay a visit to Leicester. My family will probably not leave this place till the spring, previously to which, perhaps the congregation at Broadmead will expect me to spend some time with them; if they should you will greatly oblige my friends & myself by consenting to visit them during my absence. In case they should not, as I must remove by about Lady day,[3] may we beg the favor of your not engaging yourself to any other people, till you have seen Leicester.

            If I should be under the necessity of visiting Bristol, I will take the liberty, as soon as the time of my visit is ascertained to acquaint you with it, hoping you may be able to supply for me during my absence.

          From all I know or have heard, I cannot but believe your services will be highly acceptable, & I must be permitted to add that I should feel myself honoured by such a successor.

         In speaking of a people to whom I have been affectionately attached for nearly twenty years, I may be expected to be partial, but justice compels me to say that their sentiments in religion are sober & correct, their disposition pious, & their behaviour to their minister kind and affectionate. Uneasinesses have arisen at different times, but I have never personally had occasion to complain of their treatment, & they are at present in a state of perfect peace. Imperfections, you my dear Sir, will know, will be found in every society, and trials in every place, but I flatter myself that a person of your talents & character will meet with as much esteem & affection from them, as you could reasonably wish. The congregation is large, & respectable, & the church numerous, though consisting for the most part of persons in the middle & inferior stations. On the whole should the great Disposer of events incline you to comply with our request, I indulge a pleasing hope that it will terminate in a union not unhappy to yourself, & eminently conducive to the spiritual advantage of a people, whose best interests will ever lie near the heart of Rev & dear Sir    Your affectionate Brother

                                                               Robert Hall

Text: Timothy Whelan, Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1741-1845 (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2009), p. 205 (annotated version); also Eng. MS. 343, fol. 27, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Samuel Saunders  (1780-1835), Baptist minister at Frome (1806-26) and Liverpool (1826-35). He would not take the position at Leicester.