John Saffery, Portsmouth and Salisbury, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [Thursday], 28 June 1798.

Portsea  Thursday June 28 1798

My Dear Child

   As I shall have time to write but a line to two after my return to morrow I begin my Letter here not because I have much to say, but that I may say something – I tho’t you fully understood me & promised to write last Friday, we were all sadly disapointed at not having a Letter; before we left Sarum you was to inform me what you wd have sent besides the things proposed.  Then engaged Bacon to be there to morrow to pack & help load the things, had you written he cd have done more than he will be now able to do before my return.  Hope to find a Letter fm you on my return, & will do the best I can in the little time I shall have –

   Came safe to Shrewton the evening I left you, my spirits exceedingly depressed; before bed time the company & serious converse of the Fds there delivered me a little  The Carrier did not go to S– the next morning & I was under the necessity of footing it  got home to breakfast –

   We left S– ¼ before six Monday & came here at ½ past one  Sarah bore the Journey pretty well & her foot continues slowly to mend  Found our dear Fds in comfortable circumstances as to health  Dear Mother Horsey has not been quite so well since her return & having time to reflect her spirits are low –  You’ll easily conceive how it is with me.  The Shop, Parlors, Chambers, Meeting Streets, Houses, & faces of Fds, all recall to painful reflection a 1000d things wh remind me of wt I have lost, & pierce me to the [heart] Sometimes I am weary of my groaning, & sleep &c seems to have  forsaken me  But I wd not, I think I can say, I do not murmer. It is the Lord, it is right.  But I mourn that my situation is so forlorn  It will be particularly so on my return, & I long for Tuesday to fly fm those abodes where I have enjoy’d so much endearing Society, & where as to both Houses all is as death.  If I had you or dear Maria with me it wd cheer the gloom, the former is never to be expected nor desired, more than as a visit, &c with these I hope to be often blessed –

   I hope you are well, beginning to realize B as your home with increasing pleasure, & with your dear Philip & Fds enjoying much of the best company, I think much of you, & we converse frequently about you; may the Lord bless you much & give you to live so long together that the period may be very distant ere either of you find yourselves in the painful situation I am. I suppose every day brings you acquainted with new faces, & your afternoons are particularly busy  It will not be long before you’ll be ready to say I am tired of visits modes, & forms &c  I shall be exceedingly rejoiced to hear fm you  How you are, how Maria is, how she with yourself like Bratton?  When you write do be particular, at least as much so as you ought, or as can be interesting to me –

   I think you had better let what goods are not sent to morrow remain till I return & you come up in September  Mrs Horsey wishes me to have the yellow bottomed Chairs for my Chamber as I have some coverings the same as the best wh don’t I do on those Chairs I have on acct of the bottoms being sunk if so I must put some of my Chairs into your sale to make room for them  There are 2 or 3 other small things in the pot way wh perhaps I may barter, or buy if we can agree & they are not wanted by yourselves – I desired Mr Bevens to send in my Bill & he had sent yours also, I informed him of your flight but that I supposed he wd see you in Sepr  You will find it among the Papers, together with the Certificate of your Marriage wh Clerk bro’t the day after my return  The Table & Tea Tray are mended, & I have paid Mary Wingrove –

   Our Fds Biddlecombe intend going back to S– & do as well as they can, as he can’t have constant work here.  Mary returns with me to morrow.  I wish the Lord may provide for them among us –  Our dear Fds as interested in your happyness all send their love & good wishes – Esther expects to hear fm you soon  Should nothing prevent you may expect a Letter fm me in about a Fortnight – Remember me most affectly to your beloved, with your dear Sister  Sutable respects to all the dear Fds at B– I am happy in realizing an interest in your friendship & prayers, & in subscribing myself  Your Affectt however

                                                         unworthy Papa

                                                                     J Saffery

NB  Thro’ mercy came home safe this afternoon 3 oclock before I had finished Dinner   Burgess came, as most of the things were packed we soon loaded him  hope they will arrive safe  I know not if you mean the large glass in the Parlor? if so it is not gone, & it must have a packing case made for it & go some other time – I don’t know how the pictures look as I have not seen them, tho’t it best for Earlsman to have a case made & pack them himself –

   Thank you for your Letter to hear of your welfare is peculiarly grateful to me  But can’t forbear saying the first sight of it’s address hurt me  Revd & dear Sir,  What said I, is ys my Daughter Anne?  Why so stiff & formal?  It didn’t use to be so – But you know best, perhaps it ought to be so – However, I thank you for all the expressions of affectt Friendship it contains & hope ever to deserve a continuance of it  I bro’t a parcel & Letter  fm Portsea – The Letter I send with this ye Parcel shall be sent with some things Mary Moss[iv] is doing for you Tuesday week – I am sorry Maria is poorly  Hope she will not indulge in anything wh may depress her spirits – As I shall be glad to know how you all do, if the < > come safe &c  Will you let me have a Letter at the Revd Isaiah Birt’s[v] Plyth Dock to-morrow week?  If you send it off Wednesday it will do – Should you be so busied with domestick concerns or visiters Beg Maria to employ some of her solitary moments for the purpose.

   Poor Mrs [Yatman?] left this miserable world last evening six oclock  I hope for a better  Her distress has not been so great the 2 or 3 last weeks, but there was no discovery of real comfort.

   May the Lord fit us for the like important change & give us living comforts in dieing moments, So prays Your

                                             Unworthy Father

                                                         J Saffery

Friday Night

Hanna’s love

Text: Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 180, A.4, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford.  Address: Mrs Whitaker | Bratton Farm | near Westbury. No postmark. For a complete annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 153-55. 

Anne and Philip were married on 19 June, a little over a week prior to the date of this letter. John Saffery lost his wife, Elizabeth, on 27 May 1798. Isaiah Birt (1758-1837) served as a Baptist minister to two congregations in Portsmouth, 1781-1813, before removing to the congregation in Cannon Street, Birmingham, where he served until 1827.