[blind stamp:]
Lacock Vicarage
Dec 3 1850
Dear Sir
I thank you for your kind suggestions – We are very liable on this exciting occasion, to run to extremes &, therefore, I did not admire the sudden burst of zeal in the Bishop of Bath & Wells, calling upon his clergy to instruct all their flocks thoughroughly, from the oldest to the infant, on the polish controversy. And I did feel some hesitation when Mr Cullen asked for the rooms. Still it will not do to be silent here. you are but little aware, perhaps, how generally & how long the Tractarian publications have been spread & planted in the parish: The fruit I fear has yet to appear. I am, therefore, glad, upon the whole that the evil has been exposed by one who knows it from sad experience. His Lectures will close on Monday next – he has delivered two – and for the future I shall be guided, as to the schools, by the wish expressed in the conclusion of your note.
Any future applicant for the use of the rooms, I will beg to be allowed to refer to you for permission, & I will send with them a note explaining their object & character as far as I may be able to ascertain them
I beg to remain Dear Sir very faithfully Yrs
J Matthews