Maria Grace Saffery [and John Saffery], Salisbury, to Anne Andrews Whitaker, Bratton, [Tuesday], 19 November 1799.

Sarum  Novr 19th 1799

   Tho’ I am inclined to think that I ought to have written before ye receipt of my dear Sisters Letter I can feel no regret at ye delay since ye very welcome intelligence contain’d in yours will furnish more agreeable materials for mine than I was previously in possession of – Indeed ye acct of your amended health afforded a satisfaction better conceived of than express’d as it was proportioned to ye sundry & lively interest we take in all yt concerns you.  I am glad to find your precious Nursery continues to thrive but confess myself solicitous yt he should soon derive strength from a source less inimical to ye constitution of his Mother.  Be assured however yt I do not censure your Maternal indulgence for putting off ye period wh must necessarily prove distressing to ye dear little Creature who will then for ye first time suffer from deprivation – were it not for Mr Seagram my solicitude would be much greater but I consider him not only judicious but impartial in this affair as I cannot suppose him influenced by a tenderness to ye Infant of wh I ought to be suspicious.

   You conjecture rightly, my Love of ye views I entertain relative to public calamities. My sensations have been severe I was going to say in ye extreme  but perhaps ys is speaking too largely – while I profess an utter aversion to ye common declamatory strain usually indulged over national adversity I trust my heart is alive to those impressions which human Misery in all ye diversified distresses of ye present melancholy Era is calculated to make – I have indeed much greater reason to be jealous of ye nature than ye degree of Sensibility wh I experience from a review of these abounding Evils since I am persuaded much of ye anguish of my Spirit arises from ye proud rebellion of my heart –

“yes while I look thro’ Natures poor drown’d Eyes,

“O’er ye wide Ruin of a World undone

“Impetuous passions force ye rebel Sighs &c”

It is not I believe either very graceful or modest to quote from oneself but if you sh.d recollect ye Original you will not be able to reproach me with ye lamentation.

   Prophet’s Servt “Alas for it was borrowed” – now I am on ye subject – let me entreat you to keep all my fugitives in close confinement till I have an opportunity of passing an act of grace for their delivery.  I intend looking ym over with you when I visit Bratton – Till wh time & hope you will scrupulously regard my request –

   If you have seen the Sarum paper wh announces Buonaparte Dictator of France  I am satisfied your feelings are akin to my own. Surely no Anthony will be able to vindicate this aspiring Victor from the charge which ye Brutus’s of ye Jury are already disposed to make against him – you recollect what I refer to.

Was [he] ambitious?

But Brutus says he was ambitious &c

   I spent two or three days of ye past Week at Bodenham. Yr relatives are pretty well Miss Roach & Miss Oakley were expected at Nunton yesterday & I believe will continue there some little time – We are very much in debted to yr kind attention in sending ye Potatoes, Apples, &c they appear to be exceedingly good & are in very great request among us.  You thank me for my care in ye performance of yr commissions but ye Sight of yr pills & eye water have reproved me tho’ ye former was not viable till afterwards. Fanny’s scissors are also come to hand  I am tolerably free from ye pain in face & am generally speakg in good health – tho’ my walk from Bodenham last Friday was rather too wearisome  ye pain in my right side is a great hindrance to my needle work now & then. I wish I’d form some Idea of its nature – my dr Mr S– is much better than when you were with us & is now indeed quite well he has had a second attack of ye tooth ache but recourse to Whitehead’s Essence of Mustard wh produced immediate relief.  I had forgotten [to tell] you yt Mr Thos Attwater has been & still is afflicted with ye Lumbago. – What a charming reverie on ye appearance of our Atmosphere!  how excellent is ye loving kindness of our God!  Alas yt we shd be so regardless of his mercies till ye want of ym excites our sensibilities so as to render our enjoyment on their return something more like ye gratitude of thinking Creatures – I know not what to determine @ a Servant – decision however will soon be necessary nothing offers at present to my satisfaction but adieu, I shall leave no room for your Bror & if there be any parity in our teachings on ye Subject exhaust all yr patience  I am not indeed weary of conversing with you, but ashamed of ye insignificant Scribbling.  Adieu & believe me  yrs wth tenderest Esteem

                                 M. G. Saffery

Attached is this note from John Saffery to Anne and Philip Whitaker:

My Dr Br & Sisr

   While I unite wth my dr M in congratulating you on better health, thanking you for yr late attention, & expressing the warmest affection, I have little more to add.  One thing however I recd a Letter yesterday from our Bror Rowe[xi] in which he informs me it’s his intention to come home for a few days at Xmas – yt his plan is to spend a Sab. at Bratton come to ye Hut Monday & be at S– ye followg Sab.  I suppose these things he has intimated to you.  But he then enquires what I think of his being at Bratton ye Sab. after on his return to Bl?  And wishes my sentiments – For several reasons it’s his desire to do it, & I suppose among others it wd be a desireable assistance to him in a pecuniary way – I know not what to say @ it, & both as to yourselves, & him feel very delicately  I supposed in truth he feels it difficult to propose it to you, & would be glad for me to do it.  I know you wd as soon some other Fd would supply you, & yet on some accts I cd wish you to ask him – However I beg you will not be influenced by me in opposition to yr own judgt – I shall write him in a day or two, & must say something @ it, & think to obse that as there can be no inpropriety in his preaching at B– if agreeable to ye people, I must leave it with him to propose it, or wait your invitation as acquainted with his circumstances – But I shall weary you with this business – Hope this fine weather will continue – I have only time to add

                     I am yrs

                                 very affectly

                                             J S

Text: Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 180, A.1.(a.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Address: Mrs P. Whitaker | Bratton Farm | near Westbury | Wilts.  Postmark: Salisbury, no date. 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. 170-72. 

Whitehead’s ‘Essence of Mustard’ was widely advertised at this time in the London and provincial newspapers, with the pills usually sold by a local printer or bookseller. Prepared by R. Johnston, an apothecary in the Soho, London, the potion and pills were used to cure rheumatism, palsy, gout, chillblains, stomach complaints, and in this case, the toothache. Thomas Attwater (1767-1818) of Nunton was the son of Gay Thomas Attwater and cousin of Philip Whitaker. William Rowe, formerly of Salisbury, was now engaged in ministerial studies at Bristol Baptist Academy. He had enquired of Saffery if he could supply at Bratton, which was a common means whereby ministerial students were able to procure some desperately needed monetary assistance.