The Letters of Sir Samuel Hellier

To

Mr John Roger’s at the

Woodhouses near

Wolverhampton

Staffordshire

a

Single Sheet

only

/

London January the 15^th, 1767.

John.

Mr. Jordens Obliging Letter was very agreable

to me as it gave the Intire Satisfaction I was —

Desireous of haveing relative to the Beginning of our

Charity School which shall not want my assistance

to Spirit on you will Present my best Compliments

& Thanks to him for his Letter & I hope long

before this arrives (For I sent by Monday’s Coach)

you will have Received the Book for the Charity School

& Pattern’s for the Dresses of the Children. as I have

no Trunk’s & am Unwilling to put Mr. Jorden to

Unnecessary Expence must write fully in This & you

Must Communicate ye Contents to him. Our Parish

& Neighbourhood are greatly indebted to Mr. Jorden for his —

Indefatigable Zeal to promote this good Undertakeing

& hope they will as they ought have gratitude Enough

to Express it. —

As for the Draggon you Point out Three Way’s to alter it in

answer to which I desire that which ever way is thought to be best

& absolutely Certain to Do that way I recommend to be made use off

& am pleas’d you Consulted Mr. Perry of Penwood as I believe no

one out of London so Capable of making ye alteration But

Pray Observe whatever you Conclude to Do Let it be Done with

the Utmost Nicety, Exactlness, & Precision, & whereever the

gilding is Rubbed off before it is Put up again for good on

the Church be sure to well Gild it with ye best gold again, &

if you agree to alter the Socket Take great Care not to —

efface the Writing upon the Draggon, as This is to be an

Elegant Object to be Truly Conspicuous & seen by Strangers

& Traveller’s & always’s remain in Publick Therefore Some Pains & Care

must be taken —

/

Shou’d therefore any Doubt or Difficulty arise, Determine with

Yourselves to Pack it up & let me have it to Town for Mr.

Bar^┌ r ^┐on to Do but if it can be well Done without sending it

here by all means save ye trouble & Expence. Mr. Barron had

it been summer would have come Down himself & have Done it

for he is quite uneasy about it. so now you judge for yourselves —

what is best to be Done. You forget to send one word what sort

of Finish Brown has put to ye steple before the Gold Back

goes on yours. I beg I may know so pray Do not Omit it

as if I Like it not will have it alter’d before the Scaffold

is Taken away. — The Organ must & shall of all Events

come Down so Desire you would send to Lichfield & Procure a

Faculty for while the Iron is Hot is The Time to Strike

& not suffer it to cool & as to having so many Things on

ye Carpet so much the better as they are all good & mean well

besides the Organ is just ready & I hope on Easter Day

to Praise the Lord with the help of it ^┌ I intend a handsome Red Curtain before it ^┐ — Next week you

must send to Wolverhampton to see if you have a Box by the

Coach on Wednesday I hope to send you Horns & Hautboys 

but Bassoon’s are so much Call'd for I can get none just

yet but will as soon as Ever I can, Jonah must wait

a Little for he is the man Unquestionably for that Instrument

your Brother Samuel for one Hautboy & you must find me

an other & also for the Horn’s But because they are people

who have Ear’s and will take Pain’s. shall Then inclose a

Pattern for the Band's for the Boys & Tell Nanny to Bye me

a Piece of Thick Cloth need not be Vastly fine Enough to

make Six Surplices made Pretty near of Equal size & if

They should be found too Large ‘Tis only the Boy’s Holding them

up They must be made by the Parsons Suplice you can

Easily Borrow if out of the Church while they Cut one —

out & Then all the rest may be made Like it The —

Woman Nanny used to Employ to mend my Linnen

Can Easily Do them ^┌ Let you [send] one Directly ^┐ she may also make the Band’s. —

If Jonah Cartwright is anxious to begin send a Line to Mr. Eller at

/

Birmingham he can Perhap's get you a Bassoon a while to Practice

upon & by that Time I shall be able to send some Down He

has one of mine which he Play’s upon himself but I do not

Know if he can Spare it you are heartily welcome to the

use of it if he can & you are Under a necessity of applying

to him being (Except Mr. Bond)[1] ye only one who can instruct —

upon the Bassoon & I desire you to learn without a Master

as you Should do. — As to the Hautboy Mark Beaman at

WolverHampton is ye man & to him I recommend you for —

Reeds to Play with as the best Can suit your Lip & they

must be made accordingly or no fine smooth Tone can be

had from ye instrument. — I believe I shall send Stanley's —

Voluntaries for ye Organ[2] which if I do you must Practice them I —

Propose a Voluntary on the Organ after the Psalms, then sing

an anthem or Psalm with organ before the Communion Service {...}

again as the Parson goes into his Pulpit & after Church {...}

Play the People out that's ye way. I find Mr. H[atrell? page torn]

Has Discharged William Dattern on which account The Gardoner must

Take great Care of my Dogs, Ducks, Horses &c & Send him

Often to inquire for Letter’s & Parcells at WolverHampton as

Things are apt to Lye there before you get Them Pray

Write as often as Possible & keep good Fires in ye musick

Room ‘tis Terrible Weather. Pray how many Boy’s are there

& how many Girls? I shall Put a Letter in the Box when I

Lend Down the French Horn’s.

I am your Friend &c

S. Hellier

Nanny Does not say if the Things

are Come from Mr. Kent nor you do

not say if The Curtain Rod, to my seat

in the Church which was broke is yet

repaired. —

How Does Mr. Jorden Like the Charity

School Book which I send Down?

If you write me a Line on Saturday I shall

receive it on Monday. —