Maria Grace Saffery, Holcombe, to Jane Saffery, Salisbury, [Tuesday], 28 October [1834].

Holcombe Tuesday Morng Octr 28th.

         I do not forget thee my sweet Child – no, nor the combinations of thy busy life, in the quiet of these absent hours. I watch thee in thy social and in thy solitary cares – I listen in fancy to the sounds that so often disturb our dwelling place – Yet while my heart sickens at the thought of weary days spent in the home of my widowhood and of thy youth, I remember who hath said, “none of them that trust in Him, shall be desolate.” I read, and meditate, and pray when I feel the promise precious, I find the meditation sweet, and the prayer, like the outstretched hand, that has reached, and rested in, the grasp of Omnipotence – Yes, it is even the Soul that melteth for heaviness, that can trust in Jehovah’s word.

         I suppose dear Philip and Anne are with you again – does little Ellen lisp out some & collections of baby fondness for Grandmamma? Tell our Marianne that I am often comforted by the thought of her peaceful village residence in which she may exercise her devout and tender sympathies beyond the immediate centre of feverish excitement. O my Jane how I long after repose for thee!

Wednesday Afternoon

I left my letter yesterday, to make a call at the Brewery with Anne – the poor old Lady being alarmingly ill. On my way hither, I met Robert, who presented me with the deeply interesting tidings from Salisbury and St Helena. Do not ask for a narrative of my feelings, as with the recitals your packet contained – I watched with dear Samuel the receding shores of his British home; listened with him to the roar of the Atlantic billow; – gazed with him on the soft blue canopy of night, glittering with the grandeur of her Southern skies; stood with him on Afric’s mountain solitude; or mingled with him in the Societie’s of strange, and far far distant climes. – His groups of human character, and some of the individual sketches, are highly impressive and give the colouring of his own quick, and tender, and sublime perception. The daughters of Lindsey – and poor Passingham – awaken a melancholy interest, the latter indeed – is a mournful contemplation attended with a delightful hope  O that Souls, may become more and more precious in the sight of dear Samuel! and that he may soon be conscious of a commission from the Lord Jesus, – to labour in the vineyards of Immortality! – St Helena’s scenery of grove and garden; of hill and valley; is now a fair retreat, in which our weary fancy may repose without danger of mistake and when we have looked upon the fruits and flowers around, a couch of pleasantness and peace is spread within the dwelling of domestic gentleness – to gladden our contemplations for the loved one there.

         Thursday morng I am interrrupted by Anne who begs me to hasten my dispatch – Mrs Green Senior is yet very ill.  Alfred has been here the last day or two – will making &c &c.  Robert is very urgent for my stay with Anne. I suppose I must not leave on Saturday, though I am now feeling quite unhappy on your account.  I shall endeavour to arrange my return with Joshua – little Rosalie is poorly to day, and her dear Mother is not quite well. The tenderest truest regards would be entrusted to me from her. Alfred is very kind, and wishing to hear form Everett.  Can the books be sent on Saturday?

         And now dear One, I must close. I cannot enter on any fresh Subject of interest now but my heart is full – poor yet happy happy William Long! and dear John Scott![2] O my Jane how is it people live in a world like this, without a resting place on the bosom of a Saviour?

         Adieu Adieu. Anne is come again  I have no peace – write directly if you can and comfort with good tidings from yourself and the dear Ones round you the the anxious spirit of

                     your friend and Mother

                                             M. G. S.

Mary and Philip sweet Ellen and her gentle Mother all live in my heart and are made mention of in many many prayers – need I add other names? no.

Text: Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.5.a.(11.), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Address: Mrs Saffery | Salisbury. | Miss Jane Saffery. Postmark: Bath, 30 October 1834. For an annotated version of this letter, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 431-32. 

John Scott (1777-1834) was the eldest son of Thomas Scott, the biblical commentator and early spiritual advisor to MGS and her sister, Anne. The younger Scott, like his father, served as a minister in the Church of England and a schoolmaster in Hull, 1799-1834; he also published The Life of Thomas Scott in 1822. For identifications of the various members of Saffery's extended family mentioned above, see the Saffery Family Genealogy.