Diplomatic Text
Taxal --
My dr. frd.
I was often tempted to write to yo. during our
beloved & gracious Sovereagns illneʃs, but was checked by ye
consciousneʃs of ye impropriety I shld. be guilty of to intrude
during such a season of anxious solicitude -- now that,
God be praised! he is restored to health, there is no reason
why I shld- not acquaint you that I was very deeply
affected, & a sincere mourner for the dreadful calamity
wch. seem'd to be threatnened, of ye. loʃs of our most excellent
Monarch. and, that now, I am rejoicing wth. my whole
heart at the happy & bleʃsed restoration of his Majesty --
God of his infinite mercy grant that he may long long live
with future health & enjoying every earthly comfort
& happineʃs! It is I hope unneceʃsary for me to aʃsure
you that I felt ye deepest concern for her Majesty during
the times of her bitter afflictions & was also sensibly
touched by what I was certain their R: H: the Pʃs's- must
suffer -- no person, I may venture to aʃsert, prayed more
fervently for a happy termination to their grievous trial.
I was very sorry to hear from Mr. Digby that
you was taken ill at Kew -- but as ye happy recovery of
the King his Majesty has banished care & sorrow from
ye hearts of all his attached & faithful Subjects, so I
hope your health is restored & improved by ye. same
joyful event. I wld. write to LyCFinch but I have contented
myself by sending meʃsages to her thro' my frd. Ly Cremorne
knowing how much her time she is occupied & ye. numerous
correspondents she has -- I beg yo. will present my respects
& afft. regards to her. And also that yo. will remember me
kindly to all my old acquaintances -- Mrs. Cheveley. Miʃs Planta
Miʃs Nevin[1] &c I congratulate you all on ye
present happineʃs you must feel. & that yor grief
is changed to joy & gladneʃs!
Mr Dickenson desires you will accept his
Respects -- Our little Girl is ye picture of health
& is now (to us) a very entertainging & engageing
Companion -- Adieu
I am ever sincerely Yours
M Dickenson
I hope Yor Brother is well -- pray present my
Compts. to him
I take ye. liberty of enclosing a Note wch. I beg
you will give Miʃs Burney --
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. “Miss Niven, Dresser to the Princesses from 1773, sister to Louisa Cheveley” (Burney, Court Jnls & Letters II.94n.). See also HAM/1/1/3/4, HAM/1/1/3/7, HAM/1/7/2/10.
Normalised Text
Taxal --
My dear friend
I was often tempted to write to you during our
beloved & gracious Sovereigns illness, but was checked by the
consciousness of the impropriety I should be guilty of to intrude
during such a season of anxious solicitude -- now that,
God be praised! he is restored to health, there is no reason
why I should not acquaint you that I was very deeply
affected, & a sincere mourner for the dreadful calamity
which seemed to be threatened, of the loss of our most excellent
Monarch. and, that now, I am rejoicing with my whole
heart at the happy & blessed restoration of his Majesty --
God of his infinite mercy grant that he may long long live
with future health & enjoying every earthly comfort
& happiness! It is I hope unnecessary for me to assure
you that I felt the deepest concern for her Majesty during
the times of her bitter afflictions & was also sensibly
touched by what I was certain their Royal Highnesses the Princesses must
suffer -- no person, I may venture to assert, prayed more
fervently for a happy termination to their grievous trial.
I was very sorry to hear from Mr. Digby that
you was taken ill at Kew -- but as the happy recovery of
his Majesty has banished care & sorrow from
the hearts of all his attached & faithful Subjects, so I
hope your health is restored & improved by the same
joyful event. I would write to Lady Charlotte Finch but I have contented
myself by sending messages to her through my friend Lady Cremorne
knowing how much she is occupied & the numerous
correspondents she has -- I beg you will present my respects
& affectionate regards to her. And also that you will remember me
kindly to all my old acquaintances -- Mrs. Cheveley. Miss Planta
Miss Nevin &c I congratulate you all on the
present happiness you must feel. & that your grief
is changed to joy & gladness!
Mr Dickenson desires you will accept his
Respects -- Our little Girl is the picture of health
& is now (to us) a very entertaining & engaging
Companion -- Adieu
I am ever sincerely Yours
Mary Dickenson
I hope Your Brother is well -- pray present my
Compliments to him
I take the liberty of enclosing a Note which I beg
you will give Miss Burney --
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 Mary Hamilton to Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
Shelfmark: HAM/1/14/105
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
Place received: Windsor (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 24 March 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Martha Carolina Goldsworthy. She says that she was previously checked from writing on the King's illness by the 'consciousness of ye impropriety I sh[ou]ld be guilty of to intrude during such a season of anxious solicitude'. Now that he is restored to health, Hamilton is now at liberty to say that she was very deeply affected, and 'a sincere mourner for the dreadful calamity w[hi]ch seem'd to be threatnened [sic], of ye loss of our most excellent Monarch'. She felt the deepest concern for the Queen and was touched by the princesses. She is very sorry to hear from Mr Digby that Goldsworthy was taken ill at Kew, but she hopes that her health has similarly recovered. She asks to be remembered to her old acquaintances, Mrs [Louisa] Cheveley, Miss [Margaret] Planta and Miss Nevin [apparently a sister of Louisa Cheveley], and she congratulates them and Goldsworthy on the present happiness they must be feeling.
She also describes the development of her daughter Louisa: 'our little girl is the picture of health & is now (to us) a very entertaining & engaging companion'.
Dated at Taxal.
Length: 1 sheet, 397 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 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Theresa Zhao, MA student, Uppsala University (submitted June 2018)
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: 10 December 2021