28 May 1793

Robert Winter,1 Hammersmith, to Mary Hays, Gainsford Street, 28 May 1793.2

      Mr Winter presents his Respects to Miss Hays, & is greatly obliged to her, for her elegant & instructive Volume, as well as for the candid Judgment she has formed of a Discourse, which has no Recommendation, but its Design –

Hammersmith

May 28th 1793

Address: Miss Hays | Gainsford Street | Southwark

1 Robert Winter (1762-1833) was a grandson of the noted Dissenting minister Thomas Bradbury. He was raised an Independent and remained so the entirety of his life, though he moved in Unitarian circles by the late 1780s. He studied at Homerton Academy and in 1783 settled with and Independent congregation near London at Hammersmith. He later ministered at Salters’ Hall, London, with Worthington (Winter preached in the morning, Worthington in the afternoon), and at the Hanover Street Chapel before leaving for the Isle of Wight in 1803. In 1806 he returned to London, assuming pastoral duties over the Independent congregation meeting at New Court. As the letter makes clear, like many of the other ministers in this collection of letters, Hays has sent Winter a copy of her recent volume, Letters and Essays.

2 Misc. Ms. 2201, Pforzheimer Collection, NYPL; Brooks, Correspondence 281.