REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,- [A PRINTED LETTER SIGNED IN TYPE 'M.R.', DATED JULY 30, 1842, SEEKING TO RAISE FUNDS TO HIRE A SERVANT FOR BISHOP AND MRS. CHASE OF THE DIOCESE OF ILLINOIS]

[London?, 1842. Folio sheet, folded to [4]pp. Caption title, as issued. Old folds, bit of fold wear [but without effect on text], Very Good.

Bishop Chase had visited England in 1823 and1836, and made many friends and admirers, to whom this appeal is addressed. M.R. notes that "the expenses of the wages and maintenance of a servant in Illinois" are 50-55 British pounds per year. The Letter describes Chase's work, although "It would be difficult to give a view of the extent of country through which Bishop Chase has laboured, unless the eye could follow his course over a map of North America"-- from Massachusetts, to New Orleans, "and thence through the vast extent of territory he has been led over." In Ohio, he "was overwhelmed with the sight of the frightful spiritual destitution of the multitudes who were rushing into those wilds to seek an earthly subsistence, and leaving behind them every means of 'acquainting themselves with God.'" He established Kenyon College, and then moved on to Illinois, "in the far west of America." His rudimentary living conditions are described, and his need for domestic help explained.
OCLC 16917078 [1- Lincoln Pres. Lib.] [as of January 2015].