Single Letter

HAM/1/4/1/15

Letter from Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


Latour -- Clontarf
      near Dublin
      July 17th. 1780.


Dear Miʃs Hamilton,

      In compliance with your desire, which perfectly
agrees with my own inclination, I seize this earliest
opportunity to thank you for your most obliging letter
of the 8th. of this Inst. and to return the papers it contain'd.
I desire no stronger or more convincing proof of your con=
fidence
in me, which in one respect only, I feel myself
worthy of a consciousneʃs of my being incapable of betray=
ing
it for any earthly consideration. I shall not be free
from anxiety, till I know you are again in poʃseʃsion of
the papers. I tremble to trust them under a cover rather
vaguely directed. I am at a loʃs which to admire most
the sound sense, or the sentiments so distinguishingly
expreʃsive of an excellent heart. My ideas of the writer
are greatly raised, and you know how high they were
before. You very justly feel yourself in a most happy
                                                         situation



situation; you are mistreʃs of the degree of estimation
you may chuse to acquire; you cou'd not already be in
poʃseʃsion of so much, without the ability of making still
further advances; there is no exhausting the source of
virtuous merit still leʃs the poʃsibility of abating the
approbation of it in elevated minds.
      I took the opportunity of your having mentioned, that
Lady Stormont imagined that I might have taken it amiʃs
in not having receiv'd any notification of the birth of her
second son
, to write to her, and I received a very proper
and obliging answer, so that there is now an end of that
matter; that being the case, I am sure you will not be angry
with me for having made use of your name, which I did
only en paʃsant, without which, I cou'd not have brought
myself to have wrote to her upon the subject; I touched
upon no other; to insinuate a feeling of neglect, and to ask
favors at the same time is sometimes done, but is it not
an indication of an abject mind?



I am very sorry to hear Lord Cathcart's health will not
permit him to continue in America till the end of the war,
which I look upon now to be at no great distance.
      I really think you are likely to find more benefit from sea=
bathing
with exercise on horseback than from any medical
prescriptions; you have weak nerves ------------------------------
------------------------------ which bathing and riding are
very proper provided there is no fear in the case, for that
wou'd indeed destroy their good effect; but what you recom=
mend
to others, I am sure you have fortitude enough to
show an example of yourself. Mrs. Hamilton desires to be af=
fectionately
rememberd to you; my daughter Jane is well
& growing fast, she will be twelve years old in October. Mrs.
Stratford
comes to Town on Wednesday next upon the busineʃs
I mention'd in my last, she is truely unfortunate, -- a fine under=
standing
& great sensibility -- to no understanding & the
greatest brutality Adieu My Dear Miʃs Hamilton continue
your confidence & affection & believe me in return
                                                         Your very faithful Uncle & Friend
                                                                        Frederick Hamilton

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Normalised Text


Latour -- Clontarf
      near Dublin
      July 17th. 1780.


Dear Miss Hamilton,

      In compliance with your desire, which perfectly
agrees with my own inclination, I seize this earliest
opportunity to thank you for your most obliging letter
of the 8th. of this Instant and to return the papers it contained.
I desire no stronger or more convincing proof of your confidence
in me, which in one respect only, I feel myself
worthy of a consciousness of my being incapable of betraying
it for any earthly consideration. I shall not be free
from anxiety, till I know you are again in possession of
the papers. I tremble to trust them under a cover rather
vaguely directed. I am at a loss which to admire most
the sound sense, or the sentiments so distinguishingly
expressive of an excellent heart. My ideas of the writer
are greatly raised, and you know how high they were
before. You very justly feel yourself in a most happy
                                                        



situation; you are mistress of the degree of estimation
you may choose to acquire; you could not already be in
possession of so much, without the ability of making still
further advances; there is no exhausting the source of
virtuous merit still less the possibility of abating the
approbation of it in elevated minds.
      I took the opportunity of your having mentioned, that
Lady Stormont imagined that I might have taken it amiss
in not having received any notification of the birth of her
second son, to write to her, and I received a very proper
and obliging answer, so that there is now an end of that
matter; that being the case, I am sure you will not be angry
with me for having made use of your name, which I did
only en passant, without which, I could not have brought
myself to have written to her upon the subject; I touched
upon no other; to insinuate a feeling of neglect, and to ask
favours at the same time is sometimes done, but is it not
an indication of an abject mind?



I am very sorry to hear Lord Cathcart's health will not
permit him to continue in America till the end of the war,
which I look upon now to be at no great distance.
      I really think you are likely to find more benefit from seabathing
with exercise on horseback than from any medical
prescriptions; you have weak nerves ------------------------------
------------------------------ which bathing and riding are
very proper provided there is no fear in the case, for that
would indeed destroy their good effect; but what you recommend
to others, I am sure you have fortitude enough to
show an example of yourself. Mrs. Hamilton desires to be affectionately
remembered to you; my daughter Jane is well
& growing fast, she will be twelve years old in October. Mrs.
Stratford comes to Town on Wednesday next upon the business
I mentioned in my last, she is truly unfortunate, -- a fine understanding
& great sensibility -- to no understanding & the
greatest brutality Adieu My Dear Miss Hamilton continue
your confidence & affection & believe me in return
                                                         Your very faithful Uncle & Friend
                                                                        Frederick Hamilton

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Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/1/15

Correspondence Details

Sender: Frederick Hamilton

Place sent: Clontarf

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 17 July 1780

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. He writes that he is returning some papers to his niece and refers back to the birth of Lord and Lady Stormont's second son. He writes that his complaint at not being informed of the birth may have been amiss (see HAM/1/4/1/14) and that the matter should end there.
    He is sorry to hear of the poor state of health of Lord Cathcart, which will not allow him to continue in America until the end of the war, which Frederick Hamilton believes will be shortly.
    Frederick Hamilton advises that sea-bathing and horse-riding will be more beneficial to his niece than a medical prescription. He continues on family matters: his second daughter, Jane, will be twelve in October; his eldest daughter, Mrs Stratford, is described as truly 'unfortunate [with regard to her husband], a fine understanding & great sensibility – to no understanding & the greatest brutality'.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 526 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).

All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.

Acknowledgements: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2013/14 provided by G.L. Brook bequest, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: George Bailey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Louisa Gerrard, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)

Transliterator: Joanna Tripney, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)

Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library

Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors

Revision date: 2 November 2021

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