Richard Ryland, London, to Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, [Friday], 20 November 1807.

London 20 Nov 1807

Dear Madam

   I find on consulting different Law Friends here that I cannot compel either the Innkeeper or the Coachmaster to make good the Loss of the Trunk after it was so fairly & compleatly given into their Charge, because I have no Evidence that it was ever put into the Coach, but merely delivered into the Warehouse – and as this is the Case I have now to request that you will be so good to get about supplying the Place of it, at least the Contents of it to my Daughter so far as it consisted of wearing Apparel & necessaries – the Trinkets are not immediately requisite – at the same time I do not wish her finally to be the Loser even of them, because I can look back upon her Behaviour during the last twelvemonth that she spent with us, and recollect in how many Instances she made herself very useful & as well as agreeable in the family and I see with very great Regret that even among these little things she has lost some that it will give her pain to lose – I do not so much blame her in the matter, considering that her Brother was with her, but it should be a warning to her in all future Occasions always to see with her own Eyes that whatever Baggage she has, is put into or upon the Carriage she travels in – of Course she can in great measure make up herself the Clothes, if we are kind enough to provide & pay for the materials – and Harriet will doubtless help her – so many Silkstockings cannot be necessary, even if more Cotton ones are bought in their Room, but I shall leave the List to your goodness & kindness – as to what must be had – the missing Articles are stated to me to have been 3 Shifts

2 printed com. Gowns 4 yds each

1 @ 6 yards

5 pr Cotton Stockings

1 muslin Gown 5 yds

1 pr new Shoes

2 com. muslin Gown 4 yds each

1 pr stays

a cloth felice

3 Cambric muslin petticoats

   the above seem necessaries

   there was more –

7 yards blacklace cost 12s pr yard

6 pr Silkstockings

Jacob’s Hymn Tunes

a Silver Knife

A Silver Knife & fork

A pair gold Earrings with Drops

A Gold Locket

Several Necklaces of small Value

A very good Trunk but without a Key

if Mr Saffery can at all interest the Owners of the Coach to make any further Enquiry about it, perhaps that might do good – there is a Carelessness & Insolence about the people in Lad Lane extremely provoking, they scarcely give a civil Answer on the Occasion, or even attend to what is said, which is in the highest degree unjust, as it is certain that either the Carelessness or the Villany of their own people occasioned the Loss – but they know they are Safe & they care for nothing even if they do not connive at the Robbery – if the owners of the Coach were to apply to the Innkeeper here, that might possibly be of some use, but they treat all my Applications with a Rudeness almost brutal.    

   Mrs R. is I thank God very tolerably well considering her Situation, and the rest of us quite so – I heard from the young Midshipman, all well, off Vigo in Spain, a few days ago

         I am dr Madam Your obliged Friend & Servt

                                 R Ryland

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 250 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, II.D.5.a.(15.), Angus Library. Address: Mrs Saffery | Salisbury | Wiltshire | Nov 20 / 7. Postmark: 20 November 1807. Benjamin Jacob published an edition of Watts’s Divine and Moral Songs in London in 1806. Lad Lane was a  part of Wood Street, in the City of London. Richard Ryland’s son, Richard Henry Ryland, was serving in the navy at that time.