John Lawson, London, to John Sutcliff, Olney, 20 January 1810.

London Jany 20. 1810.

My dear Sir

         When last I saw you I promised to write soon, and give you information respecting the unpleasant concern we were then talking of. I believe you saw brother Johns after I left you in Cloth Fair, who I suppose informed you of the success of that day. His sister is now with him in the Kent Road, this is all I know, because it would perhaps be improper for me to make inquiry in such a circumstance.  I could wish to see her not quite so cheerful after such an affair. I had the pleasure of being in the company of Dr Ryland a few evenings ago, who honour’d me by requesting a copy of a Poem which I have lately finished called the Maniac. I hope to send it to you soon. It has been inspected & approved by Rev.d T. Beck, and is now I believe in the hands of Mr Parkin the editor of the Ecclectic [sic] Review.—It consists of fiction and fact blended together, and is divided into three parts.

         Sometime ago I received a letter from Northampton, in which my brother informed me that Mr Fuller wish’d to forward the business of his settlement there. He has open’d his mind freely to me & appears to like Mr Berridge very well, & wishes matters to be concluded. —-In about a quarter of a year my 12 months at Mr Colwell’s  will be expired. I should like to know whether or not I shall then be expected at Olney.— MrJohns when I was last with him projected a plan which is as follows—he thinks that (as Dr Ryland wishes very much that I should be a good miniature painter) it would be advantageous if I were to live at his house & continue my studies under Mr Medley. He likewise proposes for our mutual improvement, that we should together apply to the Greek & Latin languages. We both submit this to your consideration.

         Perhaps you have heard that I consented to preach for Mr Stevens. I was more comfortable a great deal than I expected to be, excepting one part only, where I was obliged intirely to leave out one subdivision. On the 14th of Jan.y I spent the Sabbath at Crouchend. In the morning I preach’d to sixteen & in the evening to twenty-two.

         I feel, & have felt for a long time past, quite in an unsettle’d state, nor do I think I shall be happy or settled till I am doing something in India. I struggle with much corruption & sometimes am bowed down under the weight of my sins, yet it is my desire even if I should be finally disapprov’d by the Master, to work according to my ability in his vineyard.—Present my love to Mrs S. Miss Jo. and all the family.

                                                               I am Yours 

                                                                Most affectionately

                                                                                 John Lawson

P.S. Mr & Mrs Johns send their love.

Text: Timothy Whelan, Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1741-1845 (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2009), pp. 143-45 (annotated version); also Eng. MS. 353, fol. 132, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. On the back Sutcliff has written: “Rec.d Feb. 6. 1810. Ans.d — 12.” This letter was placed by Raffles in the collection labeled “Original Letters: Poets,” most likely due to the reference by Lawson to his poem Maniac. Others mentioned in this letter include William Johns; Thomas Beck (1755?-1844), Independent minister at Bury Street, St. Mary Axe, London 1788-1825; Samuel Medley, Jr. (1769-1857), artist and portrait painter in London and the son of Samuel Medley, Baptist minister at Liverpool; and John Stevens, formerly of St. Neot’s, was at that time ministering among the Strict Baptists at Meard’s Court, Wardour Street, London. Daniel Parken, along with Samuel Greatheed and Thomas Williams, were the initial editors of the first series of the Eclectic Review (vols. 1-10, 1805-13). The Eclectic Review would continue until 1868, with later editors including Josiah Conder and J. E. Ryland. Lawson's The Maniac (1810) was reviewed in the Eclectic Review in December 1810, but not favorably. Parken was a Baptist and most likely worshiped at Eagle Street under Ivimey. He was also a good friend of Henry Crabb Robinson and appears frequently in the early volumes of Robinson’s diary. For an account of Christopher Anderson’s meeting with Parken at Eagle Street in July 1806, see Anderson, Letters of Christopher Anderson, 58.