Diplomatic Text
▼
A M Clarke
at the Post Office Deal
Kent May 26th-
My dear Friend
I am induced to trouble you with a
letter by the solicitude I feel respecting your health &
that of dear Lady Anson & all your Family it is a
long time indeed since I had the pleasure of hearing
immediately from our dear Louisa this would occasion
me much chagrin did I not know from her own decla-
ration that writing letters is irksome to her & were I
not also convinced that she has some attachment to me
as a friend notwithstanding this uncomfortable
silence atwith which I cannot be offended for the reason
she has aʃsigned & which circumstance occasioned me
▼
much uneasineʃs on a from a similar cause respecting
my late & lost most dear Friend[1]
tell Lady Anson I had the pleasure of hearing
that Sir William & herself were well from Mrs:
Luxmoore who saw them at I believe Mrs: Cockerel's
aʃsembly
Did you receive a letter of mine in answer
to one I had the pleasure of obtaining from you
when Lady Anson was recovering if you should
not be very lazy & should answer this pray mention
it as it [is] an uncomfortable circumstance to have
a letter lost though there should be no secretes or
intelligence of great importance in it which I
believe was the case respecting that Epistle -- I hope
you & yours have enjoyed the fine & promising spring
we have been favoured with. I have been generally
at home & much occupied by Music I cannot bear
so much exercice as I was used to take & it is
delightful to me to be what may be called very quiet
I had a most kind invitation to paʃs the spring
with my old friend Mrs. Steers[2] at Chelsea but
I feared it would have been at that time too great
an exertion so I was obliged malgre my inclination
to make the sacrifice I regretted it the more because
it would have enabled me to have seen you &
your Family & a few more friends I am sincerely
attached to & I should have been so much at ease
with Mrs: S that she would have been pleased
in knowing I was at times happy in the society of
my other friends I have hopes I shall go to her
for a month in the Autumn we are going to-morrow
to remove to other Lodgings in Deal to be nearer
the Sea from which health derives benefit & the
Landlady who is particularly obliging & goodhumour[ed]
has promised to show every attention to my Sister I
could wish, should I leave her you perhaps should this take place
will have left Devonshire Place -- I hope you
pursue your musical studies nothing can be more
delightful I wish I could hear you on your Baʃs
an Instrument I much admire & that you could
hear some of Geminiani's Solos on the Violin accom
panied by a Thorough Baʃs there is a sweetneʃs in
the modulation which surpaʃses all I have heard on
instruments excepting Handel's airs -- my dear Niece
Mary has left Colchester she has lost her sister Mrs.
Boggis who lately died & left a Girl of 8 months old
very sickly & of which my Niece has undertaken the care
hoping that with the divine bleʃsing she may be enabled
to raise this poor Child Colonel Boggis the Father has also
also left Colchester on this melancholy Event my Niece
has taken a pretty House Garden & Field within a
mile of Stamford Lincolnshire where I hope she is now arriv[ed]
▼ ▼ ▼
she was induced to this by Mr. Warren's solicitude to
have his two Daughters near him the eldest has been
in Town on a visit & it is said is thought to be beautiful
she is if I may be allowed to say so a very pretty Girl with
an admirable profile. I think her late dear Mother
was superior considering the figure -- I wish to know that
Mrs. S Dickenson & Mrs Palombi were well & Lord Napier &
dear Mrs. Garrick is Mrs. Baldwin living
& do you ever see her. Isabella desires
her Comp. -- [3]
give my Love to Lady Anson & best Comps
to Sir William[4] x[5]
for want of room I
must here conclude my
dear Friend & Brother
your affectionate & obliged
Friend A M Clarke[6] x[7]
Part Typed.[10]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Mary Hamilton had died in May 1816.
2. Anna Maria Clarke refers to her ‘old friend’ Mrs Steers in these late letters, dated 1819. She had a friend referred to repeatedly by Mary Hamilton in the Clarges Street period as Miss Steers, ‘a sensible well behaved young Woman’ (HAM/2/10 p.79; see also HAM/2/8 p.84, HAM/2/14 p.16, HAM/2/15/3 p.41, HAM/2/16 p.33). It seems highly likely that it is this same friend, some 35 years later, now taking the courtesy title Mrs appropriate to an elderly unmarried lady (OED s.v. Mrs noun 1, 1.b.).
3. Moved section (sec3, the last 3 lines of the paragraph) here from right side of address panel in centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.
4. Moved section (sec1, 2 lines) here from left side of p.1, written vertically across main text.
5. The x appears to link these 2 lines with the 5 lines transcribed below.
6. Moved section (sec2) here from the top left of p.1, written upside down.
7. The x appears to link these five lines with the two lines transcribed above.
8. Postmarks 'B 28MY28 1819' and 'DEAL 27MY27' to left of address when unfolded.
9. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3.
10. Moved annotation here from original location to left of address panel when unfolded.
Normalised Text
▼
Anna Maria Clarke
at the Post Office Deal
Kent May 26th-
My dear Friend
I am induced to trouble you with a
letter by the solicitude I feel respecting your health &
that of dear Lady Anson & all your Family it is a
long time indeed since I had the pleasure of hearing
immediately from our dear Louisa this would occasion
me much chagrin did I not know from her own declaration
that writing letters is irksome to her & were I
not also convinced that she has some attachment to me
as a friend notwithstanding this uncomfortable
silence with which I cannot be offended for the reason
she has assigned & which circumstance occasioned me
▼
much uneasiness from a similar cause respecting
my late & lost most dear Friend
tell Lady Anson I had the pleasure of hearing
that Sir William & herself were well from Mrs:
Luxmoore who saw them at I believe Mrs: Cockerel's
assembly
Did you receive a letter of mine in answer
to one I had the pleasure of obtaining from you
when Lady Anson was recovering if you should
not be very lazy & should answer this pray mention
it as it is an uncomfortable circumstance to have
a letter lost though there should be no secrets or
intelligence of great importance in it which I
believe was the case respecting that Epistle -- I hope
you & yours have enjoyed the fine & promising spring
we have been favoured with. I have been generally
at home & much occupied by Music I cannot bear
so much exercise as I was used to take & it is
delightful to me to be what may be called very quiet
I had a most kind invitation to pass the spring
with my old friend Mrs. Steers at Chelsea but
I feared it would have been at that time too great
an exertion so I was obliged malgré my inclination
to make the sacrifice I regretted it the more because
it would have enabled me to have seen you &
your Family & a few more friends I am sincerely
attached to & I should have been so much at ease
with Mrs: Steers that she would have been pleased
in knowing I was at times happy in the society of
my other friends I have hopes I shall go to her
for a month in the Autumn we are going to-morrow
to remove to other Lodgings in Deal to be nearer
the Sea from which health derives benefit & the
Landlady who is particularly obliging & good-humoured
has promised to show every attention to my Sister I
could wish, should I leave her you perhaps should this take place
will have left Devonshire Place -- I hope you
pursue your musical studies nothing can be more
delightful I wish I could hear you on your Bass
an Instrument I much admire & that you could
hear some of Geminiani's Solos on the Violin accompanied
by a Thorough Bass there is a sweetness in
the modulation which surpasses all I have heard on
instruments excepting Handel's airs -- my dear Niece
Mary has left Colchester she has lost her sister Mrs.
Boggis who lately died & left a Girl of 8 months old
very sickly & of which my Niece has undertaken the care
hoping that with the divine blessing she may be enabled
to raise this poor Child Colonel Boggis the Father has
also left Colchester on this melancholy Event my Niece
has taken a pretty House Garden & Field within a
mile of Stamford Lincolnshire where I hope she is now arrived
▼ ▼ ▼
she was induced to this by Mr. Warren's solicitude to
have his two Daughters near him the eldest has been
in Town on a visit & it is said is thought to be beautiful
she is if I may be allowed to say so a very pretty Girl with
an admirable profile. I think her late dear Mother
was superior considering the figure -- I wish to know that
Mrs. Sarah Dickenson & Mrs Palombi were well & Lord Napier &
dear Mrs. Garrick is Mrs. Baldwin living
& do you ever see her. Isabella desires
her Compliments --
give my Love to Lady Anson & best Compliments
to Sir William x
for want of room I
must here conclude my
dear Friend & Brother
your affectionate & obliged
Friend Anna Maria Clarke x
Devonshire Place
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 Anna Maria Clarke to John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/1/24
Correspondence Details
Sender: Anna Maria Clarke
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: John Dickenson
Place received: London
Date sent: 26 May 1819
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Anna Maria Clarke to John Dickenson, relating to his daughter Lady Louisa Anson. Clarke is concerned that she has not heard from Anson for some time and makes enquiries on her health. She continues her letter with general news of how she passes her time and on acquaintances. She notes that music occupies much of her time at home as she is not able to exercise as much as she once did. She also writes that she received an invitation from a friend to spend the spring with them in Chelsea, which would have given her an opportunity to visit, but the exertion necessary to travel was too much for her so she turned the invitation down. Clarke's letter continues on the subject of music and with news of acquaintances.
Length: 1 sheet, 745 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Bridie Cottiss, 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: 2 November 2021