She was with child at the time of her separation, and when her labour came on, the woman where she lodged insisted upon doubling her rent: whereupon she was obliged to write petitionary letters, which were not always successful.
"The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753),Vol. V."
Theophilus Cibber
As the higher use of Prayer consists, not in its fulfilment, but in its accustoming you to pray; so likewise petitionary papers ought to be given in, not indeed that you may get the office,-this nothing but your money can do,-but that you may learn to write petitions.
"The Campaner Thal and Other Writings"
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter
Would not this apply against all petitionary prayer?
"Literary Remains, Vol. 2"
Coleridge