Mrs. Harriet Croft Ryland, London, to Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, [Friday], 9 December 1808.

London 9th Decr 1808

Madam

   Mrs Reeves’s first letter came directly to my hand – a letter, avowedly written for the sole purpose of demanding of Miss Ryland Restitution of certain nameless things which she had of Mrs Reeves (certainly not since May 1806) It was impossible but that I shd feel shocked, & disgraced, and humiliated that such a demand could be made on anyone bearing my name – yet was I not surprized – for alas! it was not the first instance, by many, in which disgrace had been attached to it, both by the young Lady in question & by her Sisters. It cost me much anxiety, some deliberation & an almost sleepless night – in the end, I determined, to keep the affair, if possible, from the knowledge of Mr Ryland, who has in truth, already suffered but too much of Anxiety, of Trouble, of disgrace & of Expence, on account of these 2 girls, or I had hoped (vainly as it seems) that in this Instance, at least, he might have been spared! that I did, or that Croft did so hope was well known at Salisbury, & because it was known, because it was clearly understood that Mr C Ryland took part in this Business – solely from Consideration for his Fathers peace,  because in disturbing that peace would these young ladies alone render miserable their Mother – their Brothers – therefore, they determined, that Miss L R– shd write to her Father – Mr Croft Ryland’s Conduct was not interference, it was altogether right, and wise, & kind & becoming, & its End has been defeated, only by the Folly, the Impertinence, & the Wickedness of Others! His letter to Mr Saffery had not only my knowledge but my Approval, & he had a right to expect a satisfactory Ending; your letter to Mr C R– was altogether uncalled for, & was moreover written in a tone of Hauteur, of self-Importance, of assumed Authority which as it < > it was with my full approbation that disregarding  [the letter is too faded to transcribe completely. Harriet Ryland senior is very upset over MGS’s letter to her son, Croft; at this point she begins to lambast her two daughters, Lucy and Harriet. Eventually Mrs Ryland changes her pen, and the letter becomes more legible]  These young ladies wd do perhaps, wisely, to consider that a day may yet come when they may want their Brother – his present Sentiments toward them, his now settled opinion of them, is altogether such as their past & present Conduct, not only justifies but compels, they have been to him, as to us, a perpetual disgrace, < > for years past, & I feel persuaded, that so long as they live, they will continue to be such, to their whole family. We do not (assuredly we cannot) believe in the sincerity of their religious Profession – for do we not know them?  If Miss R’s state of health is altogether such, so bad, as it is said to be – It is her own work, & she knows it to be such –

   I cannot even conjecture of what ‘Perfidy” Mrs Reeves has been, or can have been possibly towards her – and as to “Ingratitude” in as much as I am certain Miss Ryland did never confer any Obligation or any kindness on her either as Miss A—n or Mrs Reeves – I am not able to comprehend – that she have can have made an “Exhibition of Ingratitude.”  Miss R’s Religion ought to have taught her to make Restitution & it cd have done so had it been real – I do not believe that she did ever return these things to Mrs Reeves, or why shd she not have received them – Her parcel to Mr Scraggs was more carefully conveyed – as well as some others – It is necessary then that Mrs R should have an Account & if possible a precise account of what these things were &c Croft “Invidious Correspondent” says she Miss R well knows – Mrs Reeves has it appears fortunately since changed her place of Abode since these things were borrowed (May 1806) & you shall assuredly not know where she now resides, so long as I can – as we can prevent it – & this on Mrs Reeves Account – & because respecting as I do her relative situations as a Wife & a Mother I c’d not in any way lend my aid to her being made more worthless – which I knew wd be the result of any renewed Connexion (even they cd I presume term it Friendship) with Miss Ryland – she is a weak, silly – & as it appears vain Woman – Miss R–  is artful – by self-invented flattery has acquired  her good Will & Complacency – & I now know has received from her pecuniary favor to a considerable Amount;  to  her Shame it is that she could so act – coud so disgrace her Family – With regard to her state of Health – it wd be well as Mr R cannot amend it, as he cannot cure her, that neither her sister, nor yourself Madam, should harrass & disturb him by writing long & dutiful Accounts of Illness, which as I have before observed, he at least, cannot remove, of Sufferings which he cannot even alleviate – We all lament that she suffer – & can only hope it will be to a good End –

   As to Miss L R– she had better amend herself & not again instantly trouble her Head with Croft, who desires not to have any thing to say to her  she had been far better employed mending her Stockings than in writing her last, or in truth any letter that she did ever write – or ever can write & after all letter writing is to her head ach – but perhaps, & not impossible, she only writes them from a duty – let them both learn to amend their own Hearts, & their own Lives; – let their dress & their manners be more decent, more modest, more feminine – more like what they may have in early life, & carefree – at any rate, they will do well henceforth, not to endeavour to make mischief  & accumulate sensure here!

                                             Harriet Ryland

Text: Saffery/Attwater Papers, acc. 142, II.D.5.d.(1.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. No address page. For an annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 277-79.

The above letter is Mrs. Ryland's reaction to the recent revelations and correspondence pertaining to some indiscretions her daughter, Harriet Frances Ryland (b. 1786), had allegedly committed while living with a Mrs. Reeves in Somerset (mentioned above) prior to her residing with the Safferys. The incident proved terribly embarrassing to the Rylands, and in this letter her mother, Mrs. Harriet Croft Ryland (b. 1760), no stranger to public controversies regarding her children, defended herself and daughter as best she could, though she had to admit that both daughters had issues in their characters that needed improvement.  For more on Mrs. Ryland's controversies with her children, see Timothy Whelan, Politics, Religion, and Romance: The Letters of Benjamin Flower and Eliza Gould Flower, 1794-1808 (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2008), Appendix 4: The Richard Ryland/John Clayton Pamphlet War, 1804-1805, pp. 352-56. The Appendix includes analysis of the entire pamphlet war, especially Harriet Ryland’s An Address to the Rev. John Clayton, in Answer to those Parts of the “Counter-Statement,” which relate to Mrs. Ryland. To whch is subjoined the Whole of the Suppressed Correspondence to Mr. Clayton, from Mrs. Ryland. Harriet Ryland was not a woman to take lightly or without rebuttal accusations against her or her children, whether in private letters or in print, not by a Mrs. Reeves or, even worse, by the pen of a noted Independent minister like John Clayton of the Weigh-House in London. Though he was Benjamin Flower’s brother-in-law, Flower was not surprised at the controversy between Clayton and the Rylands, former members of his congregation. Flower believed Clayton to be a poor example of Christian character, for he had largely excluded Flower from members of his family since the 1780s over Flower's early financial indiscretions. Matters came to a head in 1808 when Flower took Clayton and two of his sons to court for libel concerning his earlier conduct, all of which was recounted by Flower in his pamphlet, A Statement of Facts, Relative to the Conduct of the Reverend John Clayton, Senior . . . (Harlow: B. Flower, 1808).