Diplomatic Text
Monday
in the sweetest manner that I would remember her
to you & tell you, she had been enough in your
society to want it.[1] I aʃsure you the manner was
beyond the expreʃsion, Lady Cremorne showed me
your Letter & said & did every thing that was
obliging during my visit, she looks thinner & has
not I fear quite regained her strength -- she told us
that the day preceding before the Queen & Princeʃs
Augusta & Princeʃs Elizabeth had made her a
visit which she knew of only ten minutes before,
the K—— had desired the Q—— to to do this rather
than to take an Airing only. I will now tell you how
I came to go with Lady Wake. I am a Trustee for
poor Mrs. Vesy's Maid for £30 in the South Sea An-
nuities Lady C wanted to be informed of the parti-
-culars of this Busineʃs & wished to speak to me
Lady Wake desired me to go -- accordingly I took
my Papers & informed Lord & Lady C that I had
appointed Mr. Frank Vesey to breakfast with me
the next day & to go with me to add the Dividends
to the Stock which is now increased to £36, this has
been since done, I never see Compte[2] Soderini I
believe he goes in June therefore write soon if
you can & our Servant shall take it. I think as there
has been no Court, it would have been an obliging
attention had he called on us oftener; but I shall
regret his absence from England the leʃs. he is a very
estimable & distinguished character & I shall always
respect him, I never see Mr. Colle neither, Compte S said
he was much engaged with some Ladies & that he
believed he would be sorry to leave England he
believed & that he says he might remain here so I
imagine it is some entanglement du Coeur, but it is only
a conjecture I have heard lately from Italy my dear
old Friend is well he desires his respectful Com-
pliments to you thus, Italians have a respectful
phrase which we cannot translate Oʃsequiare
& in this the Chevalier expreʃses it. I now answer
his Letters in such Italian as I can & he desires
I will continue to do it to make me perfect, I am He
ssays he should have reminded Sr. Wm. Hamilton
of writing to you, but he was on a Tour in
Puglia. my Letter bears date the 14 April -- Dear Mrs.
Carter breakfasted with us this morning though she
was not very well I delivered your meʃsage to her
she goes on the 20th of May I have seen her but
seldom compared with what I could have wished
but considering the melancholy alteration of
poor Mrs. Vesey's, pretty often she is to dine with
us before the 20th - & Lady Rothes will I hope meet
her in the Evening, Mrs. C is a most kind friend
she interests herself for us & speaks to me quite
affectionately -- she advises me strongly to go to the
Sea -- not because I am not very well, but
because I have been she says much better this
year which I impute in great measure to
Sea Air & bathing at Ramsgate. I have had
scarcely any bilious Symptoms since & hardly
anything of that languor & dejection which always
attended it. Lady Wake, being in Town is quite a
comfort to me, she shows me great kindneʃs & attention
I most sincerely esteem her & I love her very much --
Miʃs Wake has also been very attentive to me I think
her much improved & agreeable & sensible Miʃs
Charlotte is grown very much -- It is pity Sr. Wm. has so
much affectation in his manners.
Do I write comfortably now? I think I have answered
yours almost verbatim --
Poor Mrs. Vesey is at Chelsea & well in health
I go continually to see her when she is in Town --
Lady Cremorne & Ld Cremorne are indeed her true
& invaluable friends just such as she deserved
to find all that I could wish they do, We see
my dear Friend the goodneʃs of God in bestowing
friends on Us even when friendship itself is over
with us, justly may we say, his Mercy is over all
his works & justly may we rely on him,
Mrs. Carter says she shall leave London without anxi
-ety for the care of her friend
Lady Herries you know is gone, Lady Beaumont
told me she found Miʃs Foote better -- Poor Mr. Walpole
is confined by the Gout I sent this Evening he is
better than he has been -- I dare say Taxal has a thousand
beauties Louisa, dear Louisa is among its fairest
ornaments I regret I must not see ------ her & Taxal for some time.
Remember me to your amiable Partner, Miʃs
Dickenʃons you say are absent I hope they will
receivederive both health & pleasure from their intended
excursion -- Tell my Brother I wish he had come
I am dull without you. -- How agreeable did you
make last Summer most affectionately I say Adieu
I will send the Needles next time We are to go to St:
Paul's on the 20th to see & hear the 7000 Children[3] & I
shall then buy them -- but I will not now delay to
send you News of the dear Children
A Clarke --
Wednesday I took advantage of a very cool day
yesterday & called on Lady Wake but she was
out -- I then called on my Aunt Hardy who has
been ill -- she is apparently recovered -- but as the
attack was of an alarming kind a fit -- I
advised her to send for Dr. Brocklesby who is her
Physician -- . Restrain your wrath my dear
Miranda ifwhen I tell you that I walked afterwards
to Lambeth to see my good friend Miʃs Heberden
& afterwards to Hanover Square to dinner -- It is
the first time I have attempted such a Thing
& I would not mention it but to shew you how
well I am -- I have been much more tired
with walking a mile in the extreme hot
weather, but I do not intend to do this again
so you need not scold -- I read your letter
to Mrs. Glover I knew she would be pleased to
hear it she ------ was surprised surprised I had
not told you Mrs. H[4] was again a Mother -- she
asked kindly after Louisa & as she is a great
advocate for cold bathing for young Children
I she desired I would recommend it to you for
Louisa, I met Mr. Jackʃon en paʃsant -- I begged
he would have a Consultation for Fanny
Mrs. Carter sends her Love she has just called to say she
will breakfast here on Monday with Lady Wake --
(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The letter starts mid-sentence; the previous part appears to be missing.
2. Cf. the homophonous verb meaning ‘enumerate’, for which the spelling compt was normal at the time.
3. An annual occasion around June when 7,000 children from parochial schools took part in a service.
4. If this is a Mrs. Heberden, it cannot be the wife of either of the famous physicians: Mary, second wife of the elder William Heberden, was born in 1729, while Elizabeth Miller only married William Heberden the younger in 1795 (ODNB).
Normalised Text
Monday
in the sweetest manner that I would remember her
to you & tell you, she had been enough in your
society to want it. I assure you the manner was
beyond the expression, Lady Cremorne showed me
your Letter & said & did every thing that was
obliging during my visit, she looks thinner & has
not I fear quite regained her strength -- she told us
that the day before the Queen & Princess
Augusta & Princess Elizabeth had made her a
visit which she knew of only ten minutes before,
the King had desired the Queen to do this rather
than to take an Airing only. I will now tell you how
I came to go with Lady Wake. I am a Trustee for
poor Mrs. Vesey's Maid for £30 in the South Sea Annuities
Lady Cremorne wanted to be informed of the particulars
of this Business & wished to speak to me
Lady Wake desired me to go -- accordingly I took
my Papers & informed Lord & Lady Cremorne that I had
appointed Mr. Frank Vesey to breakfast with me
the next day & to go with me to add the Dividends
to the Stock which is now increased to £36, this has
been since done, I never see Count Soderini I
believe he goes in June therefore write soon if
you can & our Servant shall take it. I think as there
has been no Court, it would have been an obliging
attention had he called on us oftener; but I shall
regret his absence from England the less. he is a very
estimable & distinguished character & I shall always
respect him, I never see Mr. Colle neither, Count Soderini said
he was much engaged with some Ladies & that he
believed he would be sorry to leave England
& says he might remain here so I
imagine it is some entanglement du Coeur, but it is only
a conjecture I have heard lately from Italy my dear
old Friend is well he desires his respectful Compliments
to you thus, Italians have a respectful
phrase which we cannot translate Ossequiare
& in this the Chevalier expresses it. I now answer
his Letters in such Italian as I can & he desires
I will continue to do it to make me perfect, He
says he should have reminded Sir William Hamilton
of writing to you, but he was on a Tour in
Puglia. my Letter bears date the 14 April -- Dear Mrs.
Carter breakfasted with us this morning though she
was not very well I delivered your message to her
she goes on the 20th of May I have seen her but
seldom compared with what I could have wished
but considering the melancholy alteration of
poor Mrs. Vesey's, pretty often she is to dine with
us before the 20th - & Lady Rothes will I hope meet
her in the Evening, Mrs. Carter is a most kind friend
she interests herself for us & speaks to me quite
affectionately -- she advises me strongly to go to the
Sea -- not because I am not very well, but
because I have been she says much better this
year which I impute in great measure to
Sea Air & bathing at Ramsgate. I have had
scarcely any bilious Symptoms since & hardly
anything of that languor & dejection which always
attended it. Lady Wake, being in Town is quite a
comfort to me, she shows me great kindness & attention
I most sincerely esteem her & I love her very much --
Miss Wake has also been very attentive to me I think
her much improved & agreeable & sensible Miss
Charlotte is grown very much -- It is pity Sir William has so
much affectation in his manners.
Do I write comfortably now? I think I have answered
yours almost verbatim --
Poor Mrs. Vesey is at Chelsea & well in health
I go continually to see her when she is in Town --
Lady Cremorne & Lord Cremorne are indeed her true
& invaluable friends just such as she deserved
to find all that I could wish they do, We see
my dear Friend the goodness of God in bestowing
friends on Us even when friendship itself is over
with us, justly may we say, his Mercy is over all
his works & justly may we rely on him,
Mrs. Carter says she shall leave London without anxiety
for the care of her friend
Lady Herries you know is gone, Lady Beaumont
told me she found Miss Foote better -- Poor Mr. Walpole
is confined by the Gout I sent this Evening he is
better than he has been -- I dare say Taxal has a thousand
beauties Louisa, dear Louisa is among its fairest
ornaments I regret I must not see her & Taxal for some time.
Remember me to your amiable Partner, Miss
Dickensons you say are absent I hope they will
derive both health & pleasure from their intended
excursion -- Tell my Brother I wish he had come
I am dull without you. -- How agreeable did you
make last Summer most affectionately I say Adieu
I will send the Needles next time We are to go to St:
Paul's on the 20th to see & hear the 7000 Children & I
shall then buy them -- but I will not now delay to
send you News of the dear Children
Anna Clarke --
Wednesday I took advantage of a very cool day
yesterday & called on Lady Wake but she was
out -- I then called on my Aunt Hardy who has
been ill -- she is apparently recovered -- but as the
attack was of an alarming kind a fit -- I
advised her to send for Dr. Brocklesby who is her
Physician -- . Restrain your wrath my dear
Miranda when I tell you that I walked afterwards
to Lambeth to see my good friend Miss Heberden
& afterwards to Hanover Square to dinner -- It is
the first time I have attempted such a Thing
& I would not mention it but to show you how
well I am -- I have been much more tired
with walking a mile in the extreme hot
weather, but I do not intend to do this again
so you need not scold -- I read your letter
to Mrs. Glover I knew she would be pleased to
hear it she was surprised I had
not told you Mrs. H was again a Mother -- she
asked kindly after Louisa & as she is a great
advocate for cold bathing for young Children
she desired I would recommend it to you for
Louisa, I met Mr. Jackson en passant -- I begged
he would have a Consultation for Fanny
Mrs. Carter sends her Love she has just called to say she
will breakfast here on Monday with Lady Wake --
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Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Journal-letter from Anna Maria Clarke to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/1/18
Correspondence Details
Sender: Anna Maria Clarke
Place sent: London (certainty: high)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: medium)
Date sent: May 1789
when May 1789 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: Journal-letter from Anna Maria Clarke to [Mary Hamilton], conveying general news of a number of friends and acquaintances including Mrs Carter, Lady Cremorne, Lady Wake, the Queen and the Princesses, Sir William Hamilton, Mrs Vesey and Horace Walpole. Clarke comments on her own robust health, passes on Mrs Glover's recommendation of 'cold bathing' for Hamilton's daughter Louisa, and declares Louisa Dickenson to be among the 'fairest ornaments' of Taxal.
On internal evidence this undated, incomplete letter is very likely from the first half of May 1789.
Length: 1 sheet, 1135 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 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Joseph Branker, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted November 2014)
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: 15 January 2024