Diplomatic Text
My dear Friend!
I meant to have written to you immediatly on my
arrival here which was this Day sev'night, but some
how or other ones purposes are seldom put in execution
& I have not been very well -- I did not leave London
till Sunday morning, I was you know to have set
out on Friday, but my Brother had a return of his
ague on Thursday, & another Fit on Saturday, which
detained & alarmed us very much, I never left him
a moment Day or night, the anxiety and fatigue
made me ill for some Days after my arrival here
but I am better again, especially since the violent
thunder=Storm we have had this morning -- it has
relieved the air & our lungs of that dreadful weight
which was become quite oppreʃsive, we pray for
more rain, everything is burnt up & all the Cattle
absolutely starving, I aʃsure you that their lamentation
& cries for food go to one's heart, and yet we are better
off than our Neighbours, on account of the water --
My Brother is very far from well, he keeps off the
fever with Bark, but it is hanging upon him & I
am sure he will never be quite well till he has
another regular Fit -- I found my Father thank
God quite well, you may imagine my dear that
we were very happy to meet after so long an absence.
They would have had a very pleasant & improving
journey but for my Brother's illneʃs who kept his
bed three Weeks at Fairfield -- however they saw all
the Lakes in Cumberland & Westmoreland & my
Brother gives an account of them that excites my
curiosity & a very strong inclination to make the
same tour -- I have seen nobody yet -- except Mr
Newman[1] who dined here & you may suppose
let us into all the private History of the Winter at
Northamton &c. -- we shall have very little visiting
this Summer thank God -- I really think it quite
cruel to be routed from ones comfortable home &
occupations, to stuff in a chaise broiling in the heat
I must regret Lady Wake tho' & the Throckmortons
who are both the best & pleasantest People in the
World & who I fear will never come to Weston
again -- I begin my visits beyond Northamton
tomorrow, the Suttons Thursby's &c -- & I believe
I must go for a couple of Days to Sir J. Langhams,
I wish it over -- When do you leave Town my dear
sure you cannot bear that hot dusty place any
longer -- if you do not make haste you will
certainly have a wet bad Season for your tour
in Derbyshire, besides I am, & so are we all very
impatient to see you here, 1000 things may
happen, we may go to Wakefield to Weston in Staffordshire
Sir H. Bridgemans, inshort I wish to make sure
of you whilst we are stationary, for I shall certainly
not be so much this Summer -- pray pray come
remember me kindly to Mr Dickenson, I wish
much to introduce him to my Father & Brother,
I cannot say much for the Beauty of this place now
tho' I believe it is better than most others, but even
here the verdure is gone -- the Severity of the Winter
has killed all the Green House plants and many
of the Shrubs in my Flower Garden which being
only in its first infancy has felt the cold very
much -- it is however a great amusement to me
& I watch the progreʃs of every plant -- We play &
sing a great deal, & I am occupied 2 hours ------
the morning with my little ChildCharlotte who is ------
pretty & very good -- & will I daresay turn out
very well -- adieu my dear Friend if you have
time write to me soon & pray let it be to fix
your coming, adieu your affecte: CMG
To
Mrs Dickenson[2]
No 27 Clarges Street
London
[3]
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. There is a disparaging reference to Mr Newman in HAM/1/15/1/11.
2. A large '4' is written to the right of the address, likely indicating postage due.
3. Postmarks '52 NE[WPORT P ]AGNELL' and '19 JY' (indicating that the date the letter went through the post was 19 July 1785) below address when unfolded.
4. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
My dear Friend!
I meant to have written to you immediately on my
arrival here which was this Day sennight, but some
how or other ones purposes are seldom put in execution
& I have not been very well -- I did not leave London
till Sunday morning, I was you know to have set
out on Friday, but my Brother had a return of his
ague on Thursday, & another Fit on Saturday, which
detained & alarmed us very much, I never left him
a moment Day or night, the anxiety and fatigue
made me ill for some Days after my arrival here
but I am better again, especially since the violent
thunder=Storm we have had this morning -- it has
relieved the air & our lungs of that dreadful weight
which was become quite oppressive, we pray for
more rain, everything is burnt up & all the Cattle
absolutely starving, I assure you that their lamentation
& cries for food go to one's heart, and yet we are better
off than our Neighbours, on account of the water --
My Brother is very far from well, he keeps off the
fever with Bark, but it is hanging upon him & I
am sure he will never be quite well till he has
another regular Fit -- I found my Father thank
God quite well, you may imagine my dear that
we were very happy to meet after so long an absence.
They would have had a very pleasant & improving
journey but for my Brother's illness who kept his
bed three Weeks at Fairfield -- however they saw all
the Lakes in Cumberland & Westmoreland & my
Brother gives an account of them that excites my
curiosity & a very strong inclination to make the
same tour -- I have seen nobody yet -- except Mr
Newman who dined here & you may suppose
let us into all the private History of the Winter at
Northamton &c. -- we shall have very little visiting
this Summer thank God -- I really think it quite
cruel to be routed from ones comfortable home &
occupations, to stuff in a chaise broiling in the heat
I must regret Lady Wake though & the Throckmortons
who are both the best & pleasantest People in the
World & who I fear will never come to Weston
again -- I begin my visits beyond Northamton
tomorrow, the Suttons Thursby's &c -- & I believe
I must go for a couple of Days to Sir James Langhams,
I wish it over -- When do you leave Town my dear
sure you cannot bear that hot dusty place any
longer -- if you do not make haste you will
certainly have a wet bad Season for your tour
in Derbyshire, besides I am, & so are we all very
impatient to see you here, 1000 things may
happen, we may go to Wakefield to Weston in Staffordshire
Sir Henry Bridgemans, in short I wish to make sure
of you whilst we are stationary, for I shall certainly
not be so much this Summer -- pray pray come
remember me kindly to Mr Dickenson, I wish
much to introduce him to my Father & Brother,
I cannot say much for the Beauty of this place now
though I believe it is better than most others, but even
here the verdure is gone -- the Severity of the Winter
has killed all the Green House plants and many
of the Shrubs in my Flower Garden which being
only in its first infancy has felt the cold very
much -- it is however a great amusement to me
& I watch the progress of every plant -- We play &
sing a great deal, & I am occupied 2 hours ------
the morning with my little Charlotte who is ------
pretty & very good -- & will I daresay turn out
very well -- adieu my dear Friend if you have
time write to me soon & pray let it be to fix
your coming, adieu your affectionate Charlotte Margaret Gunning
To
Mrs Dickenson
Number 27 Clarges Street
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 Charlotte Margaret Gunning to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/1/7
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: Horton, Northamptonshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 19 July 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton, relating to the hot weather and to news of family and friends. Gunning writes from Horton and notes that a thunderstorm that morning has brought some relief 'from that dreadful weight which was become quite oppressive'. She hopes for more rain, as the weather has dried everything up and all the cattle are starving. She continues that the animals' cries for food 'go to one's heart' but reports that they are better off for water than their neighbours. She also writes that the severity of the last winter has killed all her greenhouse plants and many of the shrubs of her garden, but she enjoys watching 'the progress of every plant' as they return.
Dated at Horton.
Original reference No. 6.
Length: 1 sheet, 674 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: Holly Jones, 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