Single Letter

HAM/1/2/52

Journal-letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text

[1]
                                                         10
Thursday -- We went a Coursing & as it often happens
when a person wishes to shew diversion they are disappoin[t]
ed
& so it was with us -- I rode Mr. H. Parkins blind mare
& had a sufft. Occupation in taking Care to bring my bones
back safe & whole -- he told me he had rode her 115 miles
one day from 1 in the morning & got home before 12 -- This may
be so -- but it is travelling fast -- The rest of the Cavalry
were engaged -- Poney has the Strongles[2] & all the Rest somehow
occupied & therefore I was obliged to ride blindy as I did not
choose to walk so much --
Friday -- After breakfast Hayden proposed to shew me
his Estates & he took[3] thro his Woods which I would
have excused him doing as it did not suit my knee
which is not worse than it was, but now & then grumbles
a little -- what from my Weakneʃs in that part & other
reasons which deter me from jumping off the Hedges
I have given up Shooting as it does not suit my Antiquity
Hayden took this opportunity of comparing the difference
of his Situation with his Brothers which certainly
will be very great -- but he is a very imprudent young
Man & no experience will ever make him steady --
From what he said I dont think his Mother can ever
accommodate matters with him for her to remain
here, indeed I have taken pains to convince her of
                                                         this



imprudence of continuing here with a diminished Income
James is extremely young & has no idea of the value of money
& is too lately returned from 7 Years residence at Oxford &
the Society & Stile of living of young Men of Fortune
to know what attention is requisite for the manage
ment
of an Establishment -- Whilst I was out
Mr. Dayvy called here & wished I would go to Bampton
tomorrow to give him my Aʃsistance about the picture
Hayden gave me a letter of Introduction to a Gentn
at Plymouth wch. I may or may not make use of --
I then set off for Taunton about one -- at 2 I took
a ride with Mr. J. Paynter upon the new road under
the beautiful Woods for an hour --
Saturday -- I am going to Bampton -- Mr. Paynter wd.
have left this place tomorrow, but I have advised him
to stay till monday morning & go wh me in a Chaise to Ti
verton
which will save him one night & a day's journey
he can then take his days ride without so much fatigue
James proposes to meet him somewhere & attend him
to Cornwall about 90 miles, as it is not fit for him to
go alone -- I believe I shall be under the neceʃsity of taking
a post Chaise all the Way to Exeter 25 miles & then take
the Mail as other Coach, of which there are plenty to Ply



mouth
& shall probably get to that place before you are up
on Tuesday morning & when you are sipping yr- Tea you
may conclude my person to be removed the greatest distance
from you that it ever has been yet since our marriage, but
the Heart remains Stationary if there is any Comfort in
that Reflection for you -- I long to see you again
& have felt half inclined not to extend my journey, but
The Weather is so fine that it induces me to go on as I
      originally proposed to Plymouth.
      It will be very few miles out of my Way
      to call at Clifton & it will also break
the Neck of the journey, & the palavering Compy.
of the Shrewd One will amuse me for a Time --
      Adieu ma chere Amie
Kiʃs Louisa for me -- Kind Regards to Mor.
                             Ever Yours
                             Most Affy
                                  JD

Nothing can exceed the Kindneʃs & attention I have received
from this family



                             Single[4]
To
      Mrs. Dickenson
32      Devonshire Place
                             London

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


Notes


 1. This letter is catalogued out of sequence. It belongs chronologically between HAM/1/2/53 and HAM/1/2/54.
 2. Horses that graze in pastures often become infected with large strongyle worms. This instance predates both strongle and strongyle in OED by some 16 or 17 years.
 3. Probably an intransitive use of take ‘proceed’ (OED s.v. take 60b. Accessed 06-03-2021), ‘frequently with implications of prompt or forceful movement’; there is no need to assume omission of me.
 4. Round duty mark, in red ink, dated 27 September 1813. Distance marks, in black ink, ‘BAMPTON-D 187’.

Normalised Text


                                                        
Thursday -- We went a Coursing & as it often happens
when a person wishes to show diversion they are disappointed
& so it was with us -- I rode Mr. Hayden Parkins blind mare
& had a sufficient Occupation in taking Care to bring my bones
back safe & whole -- he told me he had ridden her 115 miles
one day from 1 in the morning & got home before 12 -- This may
be so -- but it is travelling fast -- The rest of the Cavalry
were engaged -- Pony has the Strongles & all the Rest somehow
occupied & therefore I was obliged to ride blindy as I did not
choose to walk so much --
Friday -- After breakfast Hayden proposed to show me
his Estates & he took through his Woods which I would
have excused him doing as it did not suit my knee
which is not worse than it was, but now & then grumbles
a little -- what from my Weakness in that part & other
reasons which deter me from jumping off the Hedges
I have given up Shooting as it does not suit my Antiquity
Hayden took this opportunity of comparing the difference
of his Situation with his Brothers which certainly
will be very great -- but he is a very imprudent young
Man & no experience will ever make him steady --
From what he said I don't think his Mother can ever
accommodate matters with him for her to remain
here, indeed I have taken pains to convince her of
                                                         this



imprudence of continuing here with a diminished Income
James is extremely young & has no idea of the value of money
& is too lately returned from 7 Years residence at Oxford &
the Society & Style of living of young Men of Fortune
to know what attention is requisite for the management
of an Establishment -- Whilst I was out
Mr. Dayvy called here & wished I would go to Bampton
tomorrow to give him my Assistance about the picture
Hayden gave me a letter of Introduction to a Gentlemen
at Plymouth which I may or may not make use of --
I then set off for Taunton about one -- at 2 I took
a ride with Mr. J. Paynter upon the new road under
the beautiful Woods for an hour --
Saturday -- I am going to Bampton -- Mr. Paynter would
have left this place tomorrow, but I have advised him
to stay till monday morning & go with me in a Chaise to Tiverton
which will save him one night & a day's journey
he can then take his days ride without so much fatigue
James proposes to meet him somewhere & attend him
to Cornwall about 90 miles, as it is not fit for him to
go alone -- I believe I shall be under the necessity of taking
a post Chaise all the Way to Exeter 25 miles & then take
the Mail as other Coach, of which there are plenty to Plymouth



& shall probably get to that place before you are up
on Tuesday morning & when you are sipping your Tea you
may conclude my person to be removed the greatest distance
from you that it ever has been yet since our marriage, but
the Heart remains Stationary if there is any Comfort in
that Reflection for you -- I long to see you again
& have felt half inclined not to extend my journey, but
The Weather is so fine that it induces me to go on as I
      originally proposed to Plymouth.
      It will be very few miles out of my Way
      to call at Clifton & it will also break
the Neck of the journey, & the palavering Company
of the Shrewd One will amuse me for a Time --
      Adieu ma chere Amie
Kiss Louisa for me -- Kind Regards to Morrison
                             Ever Yours
                             Most Affectionately
                                  John Dickenson

Nothing can exceed the Kindness & attention I have received
from this family



                             Single
To
      Mrs. Dickenson
32      Devonshire Place
                             London

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



 1. This letter is catalogued out of sequence. It belongs chronologically between HAM/1/2/53 and HAM/1/2/54.
 2. Horses that graze in pastures often become infected with large strongyle worms. This instance predates both strongle and strongyle in OED by some 16 or 17 years.
 3. Probably an intransitive use of take ‘proceed’ (OED s.v. take 60b. Accessed 06-03-2021), ‘frequently with implications of prompt or forceful movement’; there is no need to assume omission of me.
 4. Round duty mark, in red ink, dated 27 September 1813. Distance marks, in black ink, ‘BAMPTON-D 187’.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/2/52

Correspondence Details

Sender: John Dickenson

Place sent: Oakford (certainty: high)

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: London

Date sent: 25 September 1813

Letter Description

Summary: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to his wife Mary née Hamilton, relating to Dickenson’s travels. He departs for Bampton on the 25th.
    Original reference No. 10.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 666 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: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Thomas McKiernan, MA student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2016)

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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