Single Letter

HAM/1/2/32

Letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


13

13

11th: Decbr: 1790
Buxton

My Dear Mary
      Tho I am full of pain to day
yet I am better, as I think my complaint
will prove Rheumatism which is to be
sure bad enough, -- it varies about and
is in different parts of my body, so that
I hope it will-not fix any where -- I must
confeʃs that I have been very uneasy
from a supposition that it proceeded from
the repeated hurts in my back -- but now
I dont think that is the Case --
      Wm. came as we were at Dinner -- as soon
as I could I gave yr- Letter to my Father --
from his Mucles I augured no pleasant
communication -- after reading yr- letter
he said -- “he thought it was not a proper
Connection” he said nothing against Cr



which makes me hope that he will comply
with their Wishes -- they may be aʃsured
of having a very warm Advocate in me
as I am flattered by the Connection and
approve of it, as far as I can judge of
Cr.s Character -- You are too precipitate
in expecting an immediate Ansr. from
a Parent on a Subject of so much conse-
quence
to the happiness of his Child --
After saying that he “saw it yesterday”, he
took up a Newspaper read it twice over
& then took his hat & stick & walked out --
I make no doubt but he will consent
but he must have Time to consider
of it -- he saw perfectly yesterday how
matters were going on & slept well after it
which is a very good sign -- he mentioned
it at dinner about 5 minutes before



Wm. came --
      I am happy that Sarah & You should
know each other perfectly -- as it is not
probable that my Father will return soon
I shall send Wm. away -- I would not have
Cr. come here -- when I have agreeable
News to send, I shall dispatch
it immediately --
      Grandpapa almost cried at Louisas
distreʃs last night -- but I found it quite
neceʃsary to send her home, as she prevent-
ed
both of us from sleeping --
      Addio --
My ever dear Mary -- If
Cr. P. marries my Sister, may they be as
tenderly attached & love each other as entirely
as we do -- Then a great addition of happineʃs
will accrue
to yr. most Affe. Husband
                                                         JD






I insist upon Peggys staying constantly
at home & that she shall give a months
notice & quit her place as I am satisfied
that she does not go to New mill[1] from a Love[2]
to his Children -- [3]

Mrs. Dickenson[4]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. If New Mill is the correct reading here, it is the earlier form of New Mills, Derbyshire, some 5 miles from Taxal.
 2. This postscript appears at the bottom of p.3, below the address when unfolded.
 3. Moved section [last line of postscript] here from the top of p.3, above the address when unfolded.
 4. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded.

Normalised Text





My Dear Mary
      Though I am full of pain to day
yet I am better, as I think my complaint
will prove Rheumatism which is to be
sure bad enough, -- it varies about and
is in different parts of my body, so that
I hope it will not fix any where -- I must
confess that I have been very uneasy
from a supposition that it proceeded from
the repeated hurts in my back -- but now
I don't think that is the Case --
      William came as we were at Dinner -- as soon
as I could I gave your Letter to my Father --
from his Muscles I augured no pleasant
communication -- after reading your letter
he said -- “he thought it was not a proper
Connection” he said nothing against Chevalier



which makes me hope that he will comply
with their Wishes -- they may be assured
of having a very warm Advocate in me
as I am flattered by the Connection and
approve of it, as far as I can judge of
Chevaliers Character -- You are too precipitate
in expecting an immediate Answer from
a Parent on a Subject of so much consequence
to the happiness of his Child --
After saying that he “saw it yesterday”, he
took up a Newspaper read it twice over
& then took his hat & stick & walked out --
I make no doubt but he will consent
but he must have Time to consider
of it -- he saw perfectly yesterday how
matters were going on & slept well after it
which is a very good sign -- he mentioned
it at dinner about 5 minutes before



William came --
      I am happy that Sarah & You should
know each other perfectly -- as it is not
probable that my Father will return soon
I shall send William away -- I would not have
Chevalier come here -- when I have agreeable
News to send, I shall dispatch
it immediately --
      Grandpapa almost cried at Louisas
distress last night -- but I found it quite
necessary to send her home, as she prevented
both of us from sleeping --
      Addio --
My ever dear Mary -- If
Chevalier Palombi marries my Sister, may they be as
tenderly attached & love each other as entirely
as we do -- Then a great addition of happiness
will accrue
to your most Affectionate Husband
                                                         John Dickenson






I insist upon Peggys staying constantly
at home & that she shall give a months
notice & quit her place as I am satisfied
that she does not go to New mill from a Love
to his Children --

Mrs. Dickenson

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. If New Mill is the correct reading here, it is the earlier form of New Mills, Derbyshire, some 5 miles from Taxal.
 2. This postscript appears at the bottom of p.3, below the address when unfolded.
 3. Moved section [last line of postscript] here from the top of p.3, above the address when unfolded.
 4. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded.

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/1/2/32

Correspondence Details

Sender: John Dickenson

Place sent: Buxton

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: medium)

Date sent: 11 December 1790

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from John Dickenson to his wife Mary née Hamilton. The letter is concerned with Dickenson's health. He writes that he is in pain today and that he now thinks he has rheumatism. The letter is also concerned with his family, especially his father's attitude to his sister's possible betrothal to Count Palombi.
    Original reference No. 13.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 424 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 2016/17 provided by The John Rylands Research Institute.

Research assistant: Sarah Connor, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo

Transliterator: Hannah Smith, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2017)

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

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