Single Letter

HAM/1/4/3/23

Letter from Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


London.
      Nov: 10th: 1807.

I am afraid, my dear Cousin, you must think
I have quite forgotten you. Just after I
received your last kind letter (franked
by Lord Napier) I was taken so ill that
it required great medical skill, and
all my poor Father's tender care, to save
my life. To let you into the truth, this
attack was entirely brought on by agitation
of mind. You know the unpleasant state
of suspense that I have long been in: it
has terminated by the discovery that Mr:
Holman
does not wish, nor, in fact, wou'd
consent, to have me with him, in Dublin,
where he has renewed his engagement.
He adduces various reasons so little
credible, that I have the strongest ground
to fear that the true one must be, some
other attachment. Rumours to that effect,
reached me long ago, but I gave no
credit to them. One of the chief motives



he alledged being a plan of œconomy, my
Father
with the utmost kindneʃs, offered
to make an addition to our income, for
the purpose of enabling us to live comfor-
tably
together. That proposition being un-
succeʃsful
, of course confirms my suspicions.
You may easily judge what I have suffered,
particularly as the suspense was so protracted.
However, I must now, bear with what
patience I can, a misfortune not brought
on by any fault of mine. I came to
London a short time since; having re-
solved
upon looking out for some little
moderate establishment for myself, here;
as the air of Bath never agreed well
with my health, and I dislike it as a
residence on various other accounts. My
Father
likes it no better than I do; so
I am not without all hope of his coming
to town. Should he, however, not remove,
I shall visit him every now and then.
      I am sure you will be vexed to hear



this ill news. I deferred writing, because
I was still in the hope that things might
take a favourable turn; but that hope is
now extinct. I must quit the subject; for
it is too painful a one for me to dwell upon.
      I was very sorry forat the account you
gave me of poor Mrs: Glover, whose goodneʃs
of heart made her an object of great re-
gard
. I fear to enquire after her, and
likewise after Lady Herries, who was afflicted
by a similar visitation -- but let me know
about them both.      I saw Mr: and Mrs: Ha[lsey]
at Bath, not very long before the death of
the former. I regret that he left his
money so oddly: besides his Sisters, I could
have wished he had left something, if ever
so trifling, to his daughter, Mrs: J: Beaver, in
addition to her provisions, as a token of re-
membrance
. --
      I hope you, Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin
Louisa, have been well since I last heard
from you. Pray give my kind love to them. I
left my dear Father in tolerably good health, but



spirits by no means mended. I don't think
Bath suits him well; but moving is such
an operation at his age, that there is no
certainty of his resolving upon it.
      When you write, direct No: 35 Aldgate
High Street, as, wherever I may be, Mrs: Mann



will take care of the letter. Has Miʃs A: Clarke
been with you, and how does she do?
Adieu, my dear Cousin -- I have nothing more to
tell you but that I am in a most unpleasant
state; which you must know already, by what I have
unfolded. I remain ever your obliged & affecte.
                                                         Jane Holman.

Mrs: Dickenson[1]
      Leighton House
           Leighton Buzzard
                             Bedfordshire[2]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. Postmark 'C NO 10 [1]807' to left of address when unfolded.
 2. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

Normalised Text


London.
      November: 10th: 1807.

I am afraid, my dear Cousin, you must think
I have quite forgotten you. Just after I
received your last kind letter (franked
by Lord Napier) I was taken so ill that
it required great medical skill, and
all my poor Father's tender care, to save
my life. To let you into the truth, this
attack was entirely brought on by agitation
of mind. You know the unpleasant state
of suspense that I have long been in: it
has terminated by the discovery that Mr:
Holman does not wish, nor, in fact, would
consent, to have me with him, in Dublin,
where he has renewed his engagement.
He adduces reasons so little
credible, that I have the strongest ground
to fear that the true one must be, some
other attachment. Rumours to that effect,
reached me long ago, but I gave no
credit to them. One of the chief motives



he alleged being a plan of economy, my
Father with the utmost kindness, offered
to make an addition to our income, for
the purpose of enabling us to live comfortably
together. That proposition being unsuccessful
, of course confirms my suspicions.
You may easily judge what I have suffered,
particularly as the suspense was so protracted.
However, I must now, bear with what
patience I can, a misfortune not brought
on by any fault of mine. I came to
London a short time since; having resolved
upon looking out for some little
moderate establishment for myself, here;
as the air of Bath never agreed well
with my health, and I dislike it as a
residence on various other accounts. My
Father likes it no better than I do; so
I am not without all hope of his coming
to town. Should he, however, not remove,
I shall visit him every now and then.
      I am sure you will be vexed to hear



this ill news. I deferred writing, because
I was still in the hope that things might
take a favourable turn; but that hope is
now extinct. I must quit the subject; for
it is too painful a one for me to dwell upon.
      I was very sorry at the account you
gave me of poor Mrs: Glover, whose goodness
of heart made her an object of great regard
. I fear to enquire after her, and
likewise after Lady Herries, who was afflicted
by a similar visitation -- but let me know
about them both.      I saw Mr: and Mrs: Halsey
at Bath, not very long before the death of
the former. I regret that he left his
money so oddly: besides his Sisters, I could
have wished he had left something, if ever
so trifling, to his daughter, Mrs: J: Beaver, in
addition to her provisions, as a token of remembrance
. --
      I hope you, Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin
Louisa, have been well since I last heard
from you. Pray give my kind love to them. I
left my dear Father in tolerably good health, but



spirits by no means mended. I don't think
Bath suits him well; but moving is such
an operation at his age, that there is no
certainty of his resolving upon it.
      When you write, direct Number 35 Aldgate
High Street, as, wherever I may be, Mrs: Mann



will take care of the letter. Has Miss Anna Clarke
been with you, and how does she do?
Adieu, my dear Cousin -- I have nothing more to
tell you but that I am in a most unpleasant
state; which you must know already, by what I have
unfolded. I remain ever your obliged & affectionate
                                                         Jane Holman.

Mrs: Dickenson
      Leighton House
           Leighton Buzzard
                             Bedfordshire

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
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 1. Postmark 'C NO 10 [1]807' to left of address when unfolded.
 2. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

Metadata

Library References

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

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/3/23

Correspondence Details

Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)

Place sent: London

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Leighton Buzzard

Date sent: 10 November 1807

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mrs Jane Holman née Hamilton to Mary Hamilton, relating to Jane's health and marriage. Joseph Holman is staying in Dublin, having renewed his engagement at the theatre, and does not wish his wife to come to the city to be with him. The reasons he gives seem so incredible to Holman that she believes the true reason to be that he has another attachment there. She has suspected this for some time. Reasons of economy were given by Joseph for her not travelling to the city. Frederick Hamilton offered to contribute to their income to enable them to live together and was turned down by her husband, which confirms her suspicions. She is now looking for a 'moderate establishment' in London, as the air in Bath does not agree with her. The letter continues on news of friends and family.
    Dated at London.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 611 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 2016/17 provided by The John Rylands Research Institute.

Research assistant: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester

Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo

Transliterator: Andrew Gott, dissertation student, University of Manchester (submitted June 2012)

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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