Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [Monday], 20 April [1807].

Sarum Monday Eveng

My dear Anna,

   I sit down this eveng somewhat in disrepair to comply with the wishes of my dr S–  with whom I am nevertheless disposed to break the old fashioned treaty made on a certain occasion, of obedience &c &c but you shall hear & then judge for yourself on my right to be a little enraged in this affair – he has just projected an itinerancy in the glue line @ your neighborhood, concerng wh he has some difficulties arising from home engagements, & the immediate prospect of longer journies besides one recently taken to Portsmouth & the Isle of Wight.  It seems however that he could have decided on next week for the purpose but for the expectation of Dr Ryland who will be here & preach his lecture on Wednesday Eveng before or after wh day he cd not accomplish his business – Now all these quandaries are to terminate in the following very modest proposal viz – that he shd exchange the next Sab: with Bror Claypole who might pace it gently hither on Friday with a Rosinante from yr Stables on wh my black Cloth Knight might gallop back on Saturday – obtain again on Monday & Tuesday to scour the legions of commercial Achievement @ you he would then of course choose to be indulged with the said steed to Sarum on Wednesday leaving his revnd friend to conduct him home on Thursday with all the quietness of which locomotion is capable. Now in apology for this I am to observe that past kindness has encouraged, & that present necessities are urgent, that there is much glue & little money in hand & that by this means it is hoped some of the former will be exchanged for the latter more convenient comodity – If however the Horse is a difficulty not to be surmounted a negative will give no offence or if it be more expedient for Mr C.– to leave home on Saturday Mr S. will meet him with a horse, or if he wd preach at Shrewton on Friday Eveng he would meet him by Wednesday Noon in the same way – he begs love to his Bror C & wishes at all events on answer soon as possible – Now, do you not perceive why this plan has put me out of condition & why I am determined to find fault with it succeed or not – you will certainly be at no loss when you reflect that no Rosinante will take me & my son Samuel to Bratton and that to adopt a favorite nonconformist phrase I am more than glued to the living attractions there.  I could have contrived better without question if I had only the agreeable to consult – I can scarcely tolerate this interference with my pleasures but it remains with you to reconcile me & I charge you therefore if you value conjugal peace to come off immediately for S– on the reception of this, or in any wise to be here on the return of this man of Skins who has fleeced me out of my excursion. Remember we expect Dr R– & Fernandez– but why do I mention these when I consult my own heart  know that most of all you wish the Society [of]

                     yr tenderly devoted,

                                 Maria Grace Saffery

Poor Mason has a bad face ache has not left her bed to day but she wd be most kindly & respectfully remembered  We are otherwise all well except sneezing & coughing in wh the Season has made almost every one a proficient I look back on my letter & wish it had something more of seriousness, & sentiment, but indeed I think of you in the most sublime & solemn exercises of Mind & trust I feel in connexion with our friendship

“The sober certainty of waking bliss”

Text: Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.4.c.(4.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford.  Address: Mrs Philip Whitaker | Bratton Farm | nr Westbury | Wilts. Postmark: Salisbury, 20 April 18? [1807]. For an annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 223-24. Two literary allusions are present in the above letter. "Rosinante" is the name of the horse used by Don Quixote in Cervantes’s novel, Don Quixote. The closin line is from Milton's Comus.

This letter highlights the collaborative nature of preaching by the Baptist ministers in the West Country, in this instance, John Saffery of Salisbury, John Ryland, Jr., of Bristol, and William Claypole of Bratton, especially Saffery, who was diligent in maintaining a preaching presence among the Baptists in Shrewton. John Ryland was bringing with him to Salisbury Ignatius Fernandez (1757-1830), one of the earliest converts of the BMS mission in India and one of its staunchest supporters. Fernandez was born in Portuguese Macao, and was trained for the priesthood by an Augustinian monk. He grew skeptical of Catholic theology, however, and declined the priesthood. He traveled to Bengal in 1774, where he eventually built a large wax-candle factory and an indigo plantation. He was converted through the work of the BMS missionaries in 1796, baptized in 1801 and ordained in 1804. Thereafter he became a true friend of the mission, ministering to the church at Dinagepore for many years and organizing several schools, all the while maintaining his indigo plantation, which provided substantial support for himself, his family, and the mission. Carey sent him to England in 1806, primarily to purchase books for him. Before his return to India, Fernandez travelled throughout Great Britain for most of 1806 and 1807, much of it with Ryland.