Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, [Sunday],  4 October 1812.

Salisbury  Octr 4th 1812

   Your last Letter my beloved Anna, was a seasonable relief to the anxieties which the indisposition of your dear boy had occasioned me before its arrival indeed, I gathered comfort from the delay of information but I was thankful to have this suspensive state of mind exchanged for a pleasing certainty – I would have written immediately not to inform you of my Sympathy but to express it had not a crowd of intervening obstacles rendered it almost as impossible as it was unnecessary to assure you that as I had borne the burthen of your sorrows so I participated the joy of deliverance from its pressure –  I was desirous too of writing Philip a birthday epistle. Marianne and Carey were provided with small presents for the occasion but congratulations within all its appendages was out of the question while your sweet babe was sick. I mention this now that you may tell P– our silence did not originate in forgetfulness – his dear Brothers & Sisters are importunate to have their little loves expressed – My dear S. returned last night from the ordination of Mr Shoveller which contrary to expectation, proved a very agreeable Service.  He saw Alfred and Joshua yesterday looking well & happy, and was assured by Mr Bullar that they were giving every correspondent testimony to the same effect –

   As to Ardleigh you know as much as we do.  I suppose however the promised visit will occur shortly & on this I have something to say – Lucy proposes to accompany my S– & perhaps me to Bratton on Wednesday fortnight – now we cannot hasten the journey and if the youth should arrive before it would be very unfortunate for our fair friend who could not be of the party in such a case cannot you write and mention a friend a little subsequent?  for the sake of her delicacy.  We are sadly in the dark for about Pershore it is possible that Lucy may have a call into that region shortly, tho’ I scarcely expect it before Christmas. Sarah Drewett remains in great anxiety also about her destination however without hesitation respecting her appointed successor whose time cannot yet be up.  As to the other Girls I am without choice between them I have referred almost purposely that something might decide you. Anne’s marriage is not an event in immediate prospect by any means we have had Mrs Finniman setting us to eights hitherto she leaves to morrow – I shall gladly dismiss her little Daughter to make room for a more eligible supply, tho’ I have no ground whatever of complaint.  I have been thinking I can see our damsels when I visit you and give one of them at least a place in the car when I return I am shocked to fill the paper with such details which I write to you I am sick even to utter loathing of these burthensome trifles – but they are appointed cares of which mean as they are the sublimest uses may be made  I have been occupied without respite since you left the department under poor Martha’s care  was totally deranged and I feel what yr Mr Edminson calls over-wrought –

   Sometimes I say with Portia “The little body’s sick of ye great world” and sometimes with David “O that I had wings like a Dove”! The smiles of infant beauty and the sympathies of conjugal tenderness now and then soothe and encourage me, but I feel alas a preponderating melancholy which must be experienced where the perception of evil as exquisite an its only antidote is scantily if at all enjoyed –

   It is time to close yet I am discontented with all I have yet said – We are in tolerable health.  I think myself looking quite well – but I hope you will judge soon for yourself – dear S–  begs love – Lucy Salter & Mason have varied remembrances – and I am yrs ever,

                     Maria Grace Saffery

Will you forward Mr Overbury’s parcel on Saturday Eveng or Sab: Morng at the farthest –  our dear love to Philip

S. has made all these emphatic strokes he is afraid too that you will not understand Wednesday fortnight unless I say next and the 23d Instant!

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed.,  Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 337-38 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.B.2.(19.), Angus Library. Address: Mrs Whitaker. No postmark. Quoted phrase above is from Portia in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Act I.ii; Psalm 55:6.

John Shoveller had previously left Plymouth Dock for the Baptist congregation at Newport, Isle of Wight. He led the congregation into building a new chapel, but soon grew discouraged with a growing antinomian element within the congregation. He left after one year, eventually settling at Poole, Dorset, in 1814.

John Bullar operated an academy for boys in Southampton. Besides boarding and teaching some of the Saffery and Whitaker boys, he corresponded often with Maria Saffery, of which 27 letters, composed between 1814 and 1833, can be found in the Saffery/Attwater Papers, acc. 142, II.D.4., Angus Library.

Now that her sister was about to be married, Lucy Ryland, along with another young lady living and working with Saffery in her school, has decided to seek her own employment through another living situation, apparently in Pershore. Subsequent letters make clear, however, that Lucy did not acquire a new situation at this time; it may be that Joseph Stapleton finally proposed marriage to Lucy shortly after the date of this letter, or the situation she thought she had procured fell through.