Diplomatic Text
My dear Sir,
I have now before me your very interesting & affectionate letter
of the 25th. of Novr. last unanswerd! A shameful return for your un=
wearied & effectual services at the period of my unspeakable distreʃs;
I need not inform you that I am lost to all manly energies, it is in deed
too evident that the imbecillity of old age has the almost absolute
dominion over me & writing is now become a very painful employment;
be aʃsured therefore my dear Sir, without repetitions that the services
for which I am indebted to you & Mrs. Dickenson were most judicious
& consolatory in the highest degree. The event of your late loʃs is some=
what different, but still the death of a most worthy Parent must al=
ways be an object of very sincere regret.
Lady Aldborough my only remaining Child & the subject of my most
solicitous concern has been at Bath for near this month past, she has
constant resort to medical aʃsistance, her constitution being much
impaired & subject to most alarming attacks; her complaint has
been thought by some of the most eminent of the faculty in London
to be seated in the liver, but the apprehension has of late much
subsided, still it is much to be wished that her disorder which
gives
gives her great uneasineʃs were more clearly ascertain'd; being arrived
at a crititical period in life, it may happen that a sudden fortunate
change may take place; in the mean time her friends by whom she is
much beloved; live in constant anxiety on her anxietyaccount. I shou'd esteem
it a want of due confidence not to inform you, that my relation the
late Duke of Queensberry, has left me a legacy of £10,000, which was
not altogether a surprize, as he once aʃsured me that he wou'd
remember me; With my best regard to Mrs. Dickenson & your dear
Daugher, I remain
My dear Sir
your faithful & affectionate humble Servt.
Frederick Hamilton
No. 1 Brock St Bath
January 15th. 1811.[1]
Mr. Hamilton
Telling of his Legacy
from Ld. Queensberry[2]
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This dateline appears to the left of the closing salutation and signature.
2. Moved annotation here from the top of the page, above the address when unfolded.
3. Postmarks 'K 16JA16 1811' (indicating that the letter went through the post on 16 January 1811) and 'BAT[H] 109' to left of address when unfolded.
4. Remains of a seal, in black wax.
Normalised Text
My dear Sir,
I have now before me your very interesting & affectionate letter
of the 25th. of November last unanswered! A shameful return for your unwearied
& effectual services at the period of my unspeakable distress;
I need not inform you that I am lost to all manly energies, it is indeed
too evident that the imbecility of old age has the almost absolute
dominion over me & writing is now become a very painful employment;
be assured therefore my dear Sir, without repetitions that the services
for which I am indebted to you & Mrs. Dickenson were most judicious
& consolatory in the highest degree. The event of your late loss is somewhat
different, but still the death of a most worthy Parent must always
be an object of very sincere regret.
Lady Aldborough my only remaining Child & the subject of my most
solicitous concern has been at Bath for near this month past, she has
constant resort to medical assistance, her constitution being much
impaired & subject to most alarming attacks; her complaint has
been thought by some of the most eminent of the faculty in London
to be seated in the liver, but the apprehension has of late much
subsided, still it is much to be wished that her disorder which
gives her great uneasiness were more clearly ascertained; being arrived
at a critical period in life, it may happen that a sudden fortunate
change may take place; in the mean time her friends by whom she is
much beloved; live in constant anxiety on her account. I should esteem
it a want of due confidence not to inform you, that my relation the
late Duke of Queensberry, has left me a legacy of £10,000, which was
not altogether a surprise, as he once assured me that he would
remember me; With my best regard to Mrs. Dickenson & your dear
Daughter, I remain
My dear Sir
your faithful & affectionate humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
No. 1 Brock Street Bath
January 15th. 1811.
49. Welbeck Street
Cavendish Square
London
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letter from Frederick Hamilton to John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/2/32
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: Bath
Addressee: John Dickenson
Place received: London
Date sent: 16 January 1811
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to John Dickenson. He writes that his age makes writing difficult and painful. He sends his condolences on the death of Dickenson's parent. Lady Aldborough is now Frederick Hamilton's only remaining child and is the subject of concern to him. She has been at Bath for a month and is constantly resorting to medical assistance, as her constitution is impaired. He also reports that a relation of his, the Duke of Queensberry [William Douglas, fourth Duke of Queensberry (1725-1810)], has left him a legacy of £10,000, which is not a surprise to him as the Duke had assured him that he would remember him.
Dated at Bath.
Length: 1 sheet, 347 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Umara Nasim, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Thomas Dalton, 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