Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

HAM/1/2/36

Letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text

[1]
17.

17.

                             Wherwell 23. Apl. 94

      I am happy ma tres chere amie to date
my letter to you from this place, I came
here to dinner yesterday & recd. that kind of
welcome reception which affords you & I so
much gratification -- Mr. Iremonger looks
vastly well & is very little lame at least much
leʃs so than I expected -- Mrs. I a little aged Mr.
Laʃss- I. looking vastly well, his daughter is
an uncommon size for her Age & xtremely
lusty -- Miʃs I is very indifferent, she took an
airing in an open carriage lately & caught
cold, & is very feverish & looks ill -- I am now
writing in her room -- & am desired to present
her best Compts. to you -- Mr. Lethelier is here
as you will see by the Cover[2] & a Mr & Mrs
Tighe niece to Mrs. I. -- The Newspapers


arrived at Breakfast & have brought us charm
ing tidings from the Duke of York -- I feel
exceʃsively rejoiced that he has done something
so creditable, at least he has the merit of
an extraordinary Action in which we lost
so few Men & only one Officer -- it will be a
very great gratification to the King and
a fine stimulant to the luke warm in this
country -- I am glad too that the Emperor was
present at an Action which succeeded so
well -- Martinique too has surrendered
& forces are detached against Guadaloupe
& St. Lucia -- & our forces are now bombarding
Bastia the capital of Corsica -- I hope
we shall do well & before the end of the Year
sit down quietly in peace -- Another division
of Poland is expected -- that is a villainous
busineʃs -- I delivered Mrs. Preston's


meʃsage to Mrs. I -- I mean to set out for
Windsor tomorrow morng & shall sleep tomorrow
night at Bagshot as I cannot reach
Windsor in one day -- When I get there I
shall certainly have the pleasure of receiving
a letter from my plaguer[3] & I hope with
good Accts. of you all -- I will write to
you from thence -- This place looks
just as formerly. every body & every thing appear
comfortable & happy & as the french say --
peace & plenty is the order of the day poor
Dad is not here -- he was so drunken that he
was obliged to be dismiʃsed -- A Boy that
was brought up here now lives wh- Mr. Bower
as batman -- by whom the I.s had heard
of the sale of Taxal -- I did not forget
but I omitted to bring my Spurs which I
felt the want of yesterday & I don't at
this moment recollect any thing that I wish


to say to you except that I love you dearly.
 ------------------------------------------------------------

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                                                         18.[4]
 ------------------------------------------------------------
                                                         ▼
 ------------------------------------------------------------

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I am & shall remain pour toujour le
même mari tres affectioné et fidele
                                                         J.D——
                                                         Mr. Tighe is


going to leave a place about 7 Miles from hence
it wd. not suit us & I only mention it as Mrs.
I. has just been talking of Mr. T.'s library
which contains 7000 Volumes -- he has laid
out 5000£ in very few Years in Books
& Mrs. T. had a very fine Library from her
Grandfather -- they have their Rooms filled
with them -- Miʃs Irem. says the library
was quite a Bugbear to the Country where
Nobody reads -- They are going to live
near Stourhead where Sir R. Hoare has
given them a house -- in his Grounds
rent free, as he wishes them to live
near him -- this [can] be no Object to them
as they appear to have a good fortune -- but
when people dont want friends, Acts of friendship
are forced upon & the Neceʃsitous may go to the
Devil -- I believe most people feel this -- Adieu
Love to Louisa

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


Notes


 1. This letter has previously been catalogued as two separate items, HAM/1/2/36 (pp.1-3 of the present letter) and the undated HAM/1/2/59 (pp. 4 and 5), while an earlier arrangement numbered them consecutively as 17 and 18. Evidence that this was originally a single letter includes the similar layout and continuous heavy censorship of the two fragments; the position of the only opener and closer and of the postscripts; the fact that the sale of Taxal is newsworthy in the first fragment and that Dickenson tells Hamilton in the second that a soon-to-be-vacated house ‘wd. not suit us’; and the early introduction of Dickenson's hosts, the Iremongers, and their relations, the Tighes, all of whom are mentioned again in the second fragment without further ado.
 2. Presumably the cover had been franked by Mr Lethieullier, the local MP for Andover.
 3. The reference is more than likely to Hamilton, though the precise occasion for an affectionately teasing plaguer is unknown.
 4. Moved annotation here from right margin below first line.

Normalised Text




                             Wherwell 23. April 1794

      I am happy ma tres chere amie to date
my letter to you from this place, I came
here to dinner yesterday & received that kind of
welcome reception which affords you & I so
much gratification -- Mr. Iremonger looks
vastly well & is very little lame at least much
less so than I expected -- Mrs. Iremonger a little aged Mr.
Lascelles Iremonger looking vastly well, his daughter is
an uncommon size for her Age & extremely
lusty -- Miss Iremonger is very indifferent, she took an
airing in an open carriage lately & caught
cold, & is very feverish & looks ill -- I am now
writing in her room -- & am desired to present
her best Compliments to you -- Mr. Lethelier is here
as you will see by the Cover & a Mr & Mrs
Tighe niece to Mrs. Iremonger -- The Newspapers


arrived at Breakfast & have brought us charming
 tidings from the Duke of York -- I feel
excessively rejoiced that he has done something
so creditable, at least he has the merit of
an extraordinary Action in which we lost
so few Men & only one Officer -- it will be a
very great gratification to the King and
a fine stimulant to the luke warm in this
country -- I am glad too that the Emperor was
present at an Action which succeeded so
well -- Martinique too has surrendered
& forces are detached against Guadaloupe
& St. Lucia -- & our forces are now bombarding
Bastia the capital of Corsica -- I hope
we shall do well & before the end of the Year
sit down quietly in peace -- Another division
of Poland is expected -- that is a villainous
business -- I delivered Mrs. Preston's


message to Mrs. Iremonger -- I mean to set out for
Windsor tomorrow morning & shall sleep tomorrow
night at Bagshot as I cannot reach
Windsor in one day -- When I get there I
shall certainly have the pleasure of receiving
a letter from my plaguer & I hope with
good Accounts of you all -- I will write to
you from thence -- This place looks
just as formerly. every body & every thing appear
comfortable & happy & as the french say --
peace & plenty is the order of the day poor
Dad is not here -- he was so drunken that he
was obliged to be dismissed -- A Boy that
was brought up here now lives with Mr. Bower
as batman -- by whom the Iremongers had heard
of the sale of Taxal -- I did not forget
but I omitted to bring my Spurs which I
felt the want of yesterday & I don't at
this moment recollect any thing that I wish


to say to you except that I love you dearly.
 ------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------


                                                        
 ------------------------------------------------------------
                                                         ▼
 ------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

I am & shall remain pour toujour le
même mari tres affectioné et fidele
                                                         John Dickenson
                                                         Mr. Tighe is


going to leave a place about 7 Miles from hence
it would not suit us & I only mention it as Mrs.
Iremonger has just been talking of Mr. Tighe's library
which contains 7000 Volumes -- he has laid
out 5000£ in very few Years in Books
& Mrs. Tighe had a very fine Library from her
Grandfather -- they have their Rooms filled
with them -- Miss Iremonger says the library
was quite a Bugbear to the Country where
Nobody reads -- They are going to live
near Stourhead where Sir Richard Hoare has
given them a house -- in his Grounds
rent free, as he wishes them to live
near him -- this can be no Object to them
as they appear to have a good fortune -- but
when people don't want friends, Acts of friendship
are forced upon & the Necessitous may go to the
Devil -- I believe most people feel this -- Adieu
Love to Louisa

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



 1. This letter has previously been catalogued as two separate items, HAM/1/2/36 (pp.1-3 of the present letter) and the undated HAM/1/2/59 (pp. 4 and 5), while an earlier arrangement numbered them consecutively as 17 and 18. Evidence that this was originally a single letter includes the similar layout and continuous heavy censorship of the two fragments; the position of the only opener and closer and of the postscripts; the fact that the sale of Taxal is newsworthy in the first fragment and that Dickenson tells Hamilton in the second that a soon-to-be-vacated house ‘wd. not suit us’; and the early introduction of Dickenson's hosts, the Iremongers, and their relations, the Tighes, all of whom are mentioned again in the second fragment without further ado.
 2. Presumably the cover had been franked by Mr Lethieullier, the local MP for Andover.
 3. The reference is more than likely to Hamilton, though the precise occasion for an affectionately teasing plaguer is unknown.
 4. Moved annotation here from right margin below first line.

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/1/2/36

Correspondence Details

Sender: John Dickenson

Place sent: Wherwell

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 23 April 1794

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from John Dickenson to his wife Mary née Hamilton. He writes of Hamilton's friends, including the Iremongers (see HAM/1/8/1). Much of the letter after the first two pages has been censored and is indecipherable. The postscript on the last page relates to general news of acquaintances.
    Previously catalogued as two separate items, HAM/1/2/36 and HAM/1/2/59.
    Original reference Nos. 17 and 18.
   

Length: 2 sheets, 629 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 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Parisa Hallgate, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2018)

Transliterator: Martha Whitford Kelly, 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

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