He would himself provide the funds for the purchase, though others might join him as partners provided they did so on his terms. The main consideration was speed and secrecy so that competitors would not thwart them. He records that he had taken the chair at a lecture by Eccleston at Earlham the previous day and that some people were dissatisfied with Eccleston because they deemed him flippant. As he was enclosing Priscilla's letter about him, he begs Trew to ignore what she had said about himself because the letter had been written to her father in confidence. He was dejected about the state of their Society. A note identifies this as the reply to No. 139 L.C. (Copy.)