Philip Whitaker, Bratton, to Maria Grace Saffery, Salisbury, Wednesday, 30 August 1820.

Bratton Wednesday Augst 30. 1820.

My dear Sister

   I sit down for a few minutes this morning to tell you a little of what is happening and going on here  my dear wife has been quite an invalid since you left us I imagine it may be produced by her old stomach complaint but it has manifested itself differently in a want of external circulation and unnatural action of the heart which two or three times was quite alarming  she has been under Dr Seagram’s direction since Sabbath week and I am thankful I can say she is much better  Sarah Waylen has been here all the while which was very providential, she (my Anne) has taken air in the gig twice and I hope will take a longer ride today –

   Our dear mother is quite as well as I have seen her for a long time takes her afternoon walk regularly and not a very short one  I saw her out last evening and she requested me to write this week, she had no particular message but her very best love and good wishes and by whatever means you may find benefit wishes you not to hurry home on her account.  Brother is pretty well except now and then a little complaining of his head Uncle & Aunt B are pretty well both, I suppose this will find you near the sea, we shall be glad to see you home but it is a pity to hurry if you find benefit should you need to draw on me let me know.

   But now I must tell you what is going on in our church  the sabbath after you left Edward Scammell, our dear Joshua and Betsy Brint were proposed to the church and will I suppose come before them next sabbath, Sally Walter has been to Mr E to express her wish of joining. Saml Brint Jas Orchard & David Snelgrove are talked of but whether they will come this time is not certain, several others have been talked of. This is cheering after such a long dull state of things. As for our sensations as parents I must leave you to judge I can’t describe, “Bless the Lord Oh our souls.”

   I am sorry my time will not allow me to fill this sheet it is a fine harvesting day and I must see my mountain swains before dinner. My dear wife joins with us all in kind Love to you and our Bodenham friends tell them we hope to see them with you and I don’t know but I will take a trip to Cheltenham with Cousin Sarah if she is in the mind for it adieu  yours affectionately

                                 Philip Whitaker

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, pp. 384-85 (annotated version); Reeves Collection, Box 15.1.(b.), Bodleian Library. No address page. Sarah Waylen was the future wife of Alfred Whitaker. Others mentioned above include Anna Attwater, Philip’s mother; Joseph and Jane Blatch; John Saffery, staying at Bratton during his wife’s absence to the seaside; Joshua Whitaker, future husband of Jane Saffery, who was nineteen at the time; and Sarah Attwater of Bodenham.