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October 17, 1809 letter from William Griffin to Thomas Haweis

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Title	October 17, 1809 letter from William Griffin to Thomas Haweis
Post Date	October 17, 1809
Author	Griffin, William
Recipient	Haweis, Thomas (1734-1820)
Date	1809-10-17
Physical Description	4 pp. total; 3 pp. text; 1 p. address
Dimensions	21.8 x 33.7 cm
Location (Box, Folder)	Box 1, File 46
Address To	Bath
Country To	England
Address From	Thrapston
Country From	England
Transcriber	Gareth Lloyd
Plain Text Transcription	From William Griffin at Thrapston in Northamptonshire, to T.H. in Bath, Somerset. He must inform T.H. that [John] Sell (Haweis's curate at Aldwincle) upon receiving T.H.’s first letter raised an outcry concerning the severity of the charge that he has been drinking alcohol, which he claims is untrue. Griffin called on Sell and read the letter – Sell says that he has written to the bishop to inform him that a charge had been falsely laid against him. Griffin did not respond except to say that he would call on him again before he went home. When he returned, he found that Mr Sell was not in and his wife said that her husband was insistent on T.H. providing the name of his anonymous accusor. Griffin then went home and wrote Sell a severe letter ‘for a greater booby or baby I never met with in one house, being conscious I had neither spoken out nor wrote one word of an accusing nature against him but was strictly true. If I stood in need of evidence to prove my [unreadable word] his taking liquor into the vestry to drink before he preached, I should summon(?) Mrs Fell, for she to excuse and confute the charge fetched a small wine decanter into the parlor and poured out what quantity was [unreadable three words] the clerk carried into the vestry every Sabbath and Mr Sell never took more than 3 glasses, sometimes only 2. O such practice was frequent by the ministers in town [London]. I have several times heard some of his hearers that they never liked those sermons as proceeded from spirit(?), but such as the spirit of God aided and assisted in…I have not yet spoke or wrote half that was strictly true to Mr Sell’s disadvantage. I never thought it worth my time, to fire my pen, or blot so much paper on his follies and impudencies…’ Poor Mr Coales is deceased – his effects were sold yesterday by public auction. Griffin thought it also a proper place to sell T.H.’s cart. T.H.s faithful old horse was also purchased for £8.2.6 by Reverend Eastwick, which must please T.H. As Griffin mentioned in an earlier letter, he could not persuade Mr Coales to ‘remove a bent of the hay off your ground upon his own, yet by a civil address to Mr Sanders, prevailed with Mr Sanders to have it put up as his property not your’s, which request he obligingly complied with…’ Financial matters are further discussed in detail with regard to the sale of T.H.’s remaining effects in Aldwincle. T.H’s tenant Mr Volston(?) met Griffin by chance – Volston was glad as it saved him the trouble of coming to Thrapston to pay his rent. He is a good, honest, simple and pious man. He was saying that he was not as well ‘served’ by Sell’s ministry as formerly, yet such was obviously the will of the Lord. Volston did not think that more than 18 or 20 stayed for Communion. He has also heard that Sells has applied for three other curacies but with no luck. Apparently, he intends to advertise in the Christian Observer – ‘this same man who worked up the people to a state of madness for fear of losing him, saying he was offered 2 or 3 curacies [at] £100 each. The same Mr Sell is not at present able to obtain one at £50….’ He has glaring inadequecies and he is such a poor preacher that some would prefer to simply read a printed sermon at home rather than have to listen to him. Griffin has already informed T.H. of Sell’s weakness of character – he took liquor into the vestry to give him confidence. One of the sermons that he preached got the parishioners arguing between themselves and even with Sell himself. Mr H. Thomson, who dined with Griffin today, has discovered that Sell is defending himself from the drinking charge by claiming that ‘they was not liquor, because they were not spiritous liquors – curious indeed.’ The wife of Abbot the gardener called on Griffin yesterday and asked for three guineas – he told her that Griffin would have to write to T.H. as he could not pay any money except on T.H.’s instructions. He has given the same answer to Thomson. Griffin’s wife sends her regards with the hope that [Elizabeth] Haweis will soon be feeling better. (1 sheet, 4p.) 17 October 1809
Notes	William Griffin may have been a parish official at Aldwincle.
Digitization Date	Digitized: 2012
Digitization Process	Digitization process: Derivatives resized at 4030 pixels in height or width
Digital Publisher	Bridwell Library, Special Collections; Perkins School of Theology; Southern Methodist University
Rights	Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Head of Special Collections of the Bridwell Library
Decade	1800-1809