From Elizabeth Ritchie at Kirkstall Forge near Leeds to [Mary] Fletcher in Madeley. Both Fletcher’s letters arrived safely and proved a ‘word in season to my spirit.’
For some time after Ritchie last wrote, her health was indifferent, but she was so ‘infused’ with resignation to the divine will that she was able to place herself into the Lord’s hands. Spiritual matters are discussed in detail.
In Fletcher’s first letter she mentioned L. M.’s [Lady Mary Fitzgerald?] £20 per year – that money was only given to Ritchie the year that she called on Fletcher while on the way to Bristol. Since then, she has been kind enough to give her five guineas and Ritchie assumes that the other £15 has been given elsewhere where it most needed. Reference is made to Fletcher’s letter to [Fitzgerald].
Speculation [in shares] was a thing that Ritchie never approved of, or had any leaning towards ‘but after having subscribed to the [Kennet and Avon] canal shares, I was told I could not be a faithful steward without I either [unreadable word] so as to increase my income, or run something into the principal if I did neither. It was letting those who came after me reap the profit of what the providence of God had thrown into my way, and then the Ipswich tontine was recommended. The friend who advised me did what she thought right, though she in giving and taking the advice might have done better…L.M. [Lady Mary Fitzgerald?] has not written yet: I suppose she thinks, I ought to suffer some time and indeed I do not wonder at her.’
Whatever financial difficulties, she is suffering at present, Ritchie must at least help her dear mother and would sell some shares, as Fletcher has advised, but the war [Anglo-French War 1793-1815] has so unsettled all public affairs, she would not get a good price for them at present. The [Kennet and Avon Canal Company] shares are further discussed in detail with particular reference to Ritchie’s fellow investors Mrs [William] Pine and Miss Rhodes.
Ritchie was very grateful for Fletcher’s kind offer of £5 and if there is no assistance forthcoming from London, it would indeed prove very useful. She will not be in particular want until towards the end of March. Financial matters are further discussed in great detail, with particular regard to Ritchie’s ‘London annuity’ and various friends including Mrs Jones and Betty [Swain].
Things continue peaceful with the Otley Methodists and in the wider circuit, but in Leeds the preachers make ‘sad work.’ At Rothwell a man who had been steady for the old way [Methodism remaining part of the Church of England] suddenly became very passionate in favour of the new path. [Separation from the Anglican Church] He declared in a wild mAnnr at the last class meeting that if he could not receive the sacrament from the preacher that was visiting to give it (Mr [Thomas] Hanby), he would be damned. The man was then seized with madness while on his way to chapel and instead of receiving the sacred elements was carried home, exclaiming that an evil spirit had possessed him ever since he changed his mind on this issue. Mr Hanby and Mr [James] North were both taken ill and yet continue ‘warm.’ The poor society is being torn to pieces. Both North and Hanby have recovered. Has Fletcher heard the news that the Lord Chancellor has decided the London case in favour of the trustees? ‘The Manchester letter from the trustees has brought decided answers from above 500 trustees in different parts of the Kingdom who most of them are decided to join the Manchester trustees to support old Methodism. [This must be a reference to agitation connected with the relationship of Methodism to the Church of England. The trustees tended to be conservative in their attitudes to this question. The ‘Manchester’ reference is probably to the 1791 Conference held in Manchester.] They are wrote in an excellent spirit and were printed before we heard how matters were decided in London.
Written several days later on January 29th
This letter was detained several days by reason of Ritchie being very sick. She has now recovered. Ritchie is pleased that Fletcher’s health has been so good.
Notes
- James North (1725-99) was born at Rothwell near Leeds, of Anglican parentage. He began to attend Methodist preaching in 1747 and was converted through the ministry of William Nelson, brother of the famous itinerant John Nelson. North succeeded in persuading his family to join the Methodists and they later founded the earliest Methodist society in Rothwell. They were instrumental in the erection of the first chapel. For many years, North served as a local preacher, class-leader and chapel trustee. He was invited by John Wesley to join the itinerancy but declined on the grounds that he could do more good in his own neighbourhood. North married in 1755 and fathered five children, three of whom survived him. He provided hospitality for visiting preachers and often preached himself to good effect in surrounding villages and as far afield as York. He died suddenly in April 1799 while at his son's house in Wakefield, where he had arranged to meet his daughter to accompany her back to Rothwell. Source: Methodist Magazine 1800, 197-202.