Diplomatic Text
[1] [2]
The Dʃs Dr. of Portland[3] and all yr- good friends are very kin[d]
in interesting themselves so much about
you, and for including me in their good
wishes -- which, for your sake -- will --
I sincerely hope -- be gratified in their
fullest extent -- This is the last time
that I shall write to my dear Miʃs Hamilton
from Taxal -- and I hope to return to this place
with the amiable partner of my Life -- May
you -- best of women -- derive that happineʃs from a
union with yr- D. which y[o]ur virtue and universal
Goodneʃs will justly [e]ntitle you to -- and God
grant, that I may always thrō the whole Course
of my Life -- be as sensible as I now am of your
worth, and the bleʃsings I shall enjoy for being
your Husband -- and may I for ever preserve that
Solicitude for yr- happineʃs, which I have
invariably felt from our earliest acquaintance --
Adieu -- I am and for ever will be your
John Dickenson
My best Love to A Maria --
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The top of the sheet has been torn away and some text is missing.
2. This letter appears in Anson & Anson (1925: 278).
3. The insertion 'of Portland' is in a different ink and may be in a different hand.
4. This annotation appears to the left of the signature.
5. This address is written vertically below the postscript.
6. Seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
The Duchess Dowager of Portland and all your good friends are very kind
in interesting themselves so much about
you, and for including me in their good
wishes -- which, for your sake -- will --
I sincerely hope -- be gratified in their
fullest extent -- This is the last time
that I shall write to my dear Miss Hamilton
from Taxal -- and I hope to return to this place
with the amiable partner of my Life -- May
you -- best of women -- derive that happiness from a
union with your Dickenson which your virtue and universal
Goodness will justly entitle you to -- and God
grant, that I may always through the whole Course
of my Life -- be as sensible as I now am of your
worth, and the blessings I shall enjoy for being
your Husband -- and may I for ever preserve that
Solicitude for your happiness, which I have
invariably felt from our earliest acquaintance --
Adieu -- I am and for ever will be your
John Dickenson
My best Love to Anna Maria --
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 John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/2/4
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Dickenson
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: between May and June 1785
notBefore May 1785 (precision: high)
notAfter June 1785 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton. The letter does not have a complete date, only a year, but is addressed to Miss Hamilton and the contents suggest that it was written directly before their marriage and can be dated as late May or early June 1785.
Dickenson writes that this will probably be the last time which he will write to 'Miss Hamilton from Taxal, and I hope to return to this place with the amiable partner of my Life'. The letter continues on Dickenson's hopes that he will always realise the worth of Hamilton.
Original reference No. 27.
Length: 1 sheet, 174 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited 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: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 2 July 2020)
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