Diplomatic Text
[1]
2nd Octr 1813 15
Thursday -- I went to the Post Office & waited ½
an hour before I could learn that there was no letter
for me!! it is said that no News is good News but
certainly it is not agreeable & it is particularly
distreʃsing to me as it never happened before & I
am reduced to short Commons[2] here in a strange Land --
from the P. Office I went to the Marine Barracks at
Stonehouse -- where there is a very fine Band of Music
much boasted of -- Unluckily for me it was Muster
Day[3] & no Music -- I went a little further to the Lan
cashire Barracks & then returned to Dock to take
my place in the Mail for Bath which is the best
Conveyance to Clifton & was disappointed as they
could not promise me a place before 4 OClock & then
it is uncertain -- & during my walk the other Coach
was gone to Exeter & so here I am beguiling the time
in writing my journal & scribbling to you -- I must
get away to night if poʃsible as my purse is low
& therefore I desire Louisa will send me 5£ &
if any body chooses to write to me -- direct the letter
to Coll. Hamilton's Clifton -- I have not Money
to convey me to London as I believe I should go
home without stopping at Clifton -- I was a little provoked
after I got to the Comrs. yesterday to have time to read a
Newspaper before the family entered the room in Driblets
consisting of Adml. & Mrs. Stopford -- Adl. & Mrs. Martin[4] & their
Daughters & Mrs. & Miʃs Fanshaw[5] -- The party was very
pleasant & I staid till 11 after finishing & losing 2
Rubbers -- Mrs. F. asked Ad. M. if it was too late for a
Water Excursion & he said yes -- Frequently a party goes on
the River Plym to a place 15 or 20 miles called
Wear near Tavistock -- The views are beautiful &
there is a Salmon Leap at Wear -- this is managed
by attending to the Tides, Winds &c & may be very agreeable
I had not time yesterday (at least durst not take it
at Comr. said remember 5 at parting)[6] to say any Thing
about Mt. Edgcumbe -- When I sent up my Note request
ing permiʃsion to see the Grounds & using Ly Cis's Name as
she desired -- I recd. an Ansr. that I was very very welcome & was
ordered to go to the House for the Key -- & when there the Sert
said Ld. Mt. E. wished to know if I would like to see the
Gardens, which is a special favor, I said yes of course
& so I went on staring at the astonishing extent & variety
of prospects till I came to Maker Tower where the Signal
posts are & from whence there is a View of the Dock Yard
Shipping, the Country to a great extent & turng round one
sees Cornwal & the narrow Isthmus on wch. stand Mt. Edg. & also
an immense expanse of Ocean -- The Views are broken in
the plantations in a most agreeable Manner as you may sup
pose -- Lord Loughborough after seeing Mt. E. said to Mr. Comr.
“it is not a place to be puffed” what he meant one may
gather was that it was unique in Situation -- I found
when I returned the Key a Card to admit me in the Gardens
L5-[7] The Gardener shewed me into the Garden & returned
to his house for a Moment -- Opposite the Conservatory I
saw Ld. Mt. E. as soon as he saw me he came up to me
where I thanked him for his Civility &c he enquired after
the dear Cis -- & told me he was making an Italian Garden
of the Spot where we then were -- There
are a great many figures on pedestals
& there are also 3 on a high sort of parapet
that he did not propose to show me which is now constructing
his Son in Law & Wife &c were at the Spot -- Ld. Mt. E. ran to
the Gardener I believe to order him to attend me him
self -- the Man was going out on busineʃs & meant to turn
me over to his Servt. -- These Gardens are beautiful & very
pretty too -- There are some buildings one contains a very good
Room where there were books & Pianoforte &c There are some
magnificent Magnolia ferrugina[8] -- One 30 feet high in flower
several above 20 feet -- This is a most agreeable apendage
to a Place like Mt. E. & a delightful Retirement in good
Weather -- The little Lord stuck to his Workman & we cd
not get to see what he is doing tho we made many attempts
I understand there is nothing particular in the house & it is never
shewn -- The Gardener told me that on a Monday there were
a prodigious number of people to see the Place -- there had been
as many as 1400 on one day frequently 1000 -- This must add
greatly to the hilarity of the Scene -- I felt a degree of dejection for there
was no one I loved to share the pleasure I shd. have had in communicating
my Observations on the grandeur of the Scenes before me -- I looked down
on Breakwater -- that stupendous Work -- making across the Sound -- Large
maʃses of Rock are thrown into the Sea -- the base of the Column is 400
▼
feet & at the Surface 120 -- for some distance it already is above low
water mark -- it has been in progreʃs about 14 months & in as many
more years it may be completed -- Cost is out of the Question & I
believe Calculation -- I shall now conclude for the present --
I shall know probably in time just to say if I go this afternoon not -- I
never heard any Noise like the Scream the Apple Women make, as the Men return
to the yard at 2 OClock, to attract Customers -- All pill Garlicks[9] poultry wd. not
make so discordant a Sound -- The Breakwater is intended to break the force
of a tremendous Sea that is driven into the Sound by a South wind & renders
the Harbour so dangerous & it is proposed to build a Fort (in which I will not be confined)
upon it -- No Masonry can resist the Violence of the Waves there --
I am going this afternoon -- God bleʃs you all
Single
To[10]
Mrs. Dickenson
32 Devonshire Place
London[11]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The datings here are not entirely clear from internal evidence alone. Dickenson had arrived in Plymouth early on Tuesday 28 September after an overnight journey. That day he visited Mrs Rundell and planned to call on Commissioner Fanshawe (HAM/1/2/54). On Wednesday 29 he made a tour of the gardens on Mount Edgcumbe and dined at the Commissioner's, as confirmed in a brief note (HAM/1/2/55) and by his diary, DDX 274/25 p.95. Most of the present letter is taken up with detailed accounts of Wednesday's outings. He writes and posts it on Thursday 30 September at Plymouth before leaving that afternoon. The stamp of [Saturday] 2 October is a duty mark applied in London, and the pencilled annotation is probably taken from that date, also the date of receipt.
2. ‘Insufficient rations, scant fare’ (OED s.v. commons n. 4).
3. The annual day for enrolment in the militia of all able men.
4. Both the admirals' wives were daughters of Fanshawe, who was Commissioner of the Dockyard at Plymouth. As the ODNB entry for Stopford puts it, the ‘marriage tied Stopford into a large tory naval family which included Thomas Byam Martin’.
5. Dickenson originally wrote ‘Miſs & Mrs.’, then marked them for reversal with numbers ‘2 1’ above, thus restoring the usual polite order of precedence.
6. Presumably the time he was expected for dinner, which is why he was ‘provoked’ at having to wait for the family to appear.
7. This could read ‘L5-’ (for £5, though with the Libra sign uncharacteristically to the left of the figure, cf. his earlier request for funds from Louisa) or ‘& 5-’. Either way, the sense is not clear.
8. A late-flowering cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora. ‘“Ferruginea” has dark-green leaves with rust-brown undersides’ (Wikipedia).
9. Edmond Temple, The Life of Pill Garlick; Rather a Whimsical Sort of Fellow, published 1813.
10. Duty mark with date 2 October 1813 in [?]red ink, split in two by unfolding, remains of distance mark ‘[PLY]MOUTH’ in red ink.
11. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.
Normalised Text
Thursday -- I went to the Post Office & waited ½
an hour before I could learn that there was no letter
for me!! it is said that no News is good News but
certainly it is not agreeable & it is particularly
distressing to me as it never happened before & I
am reduced to short Commons here in a strange Land --
from the Post Office I went to the Marine Barracks at
Stonehouse -- where there is a very fine Band of Music
much boasted of -- Unluckily for me it was Muster
Day & no Music -- I went a little further to the Lancashire
Barracks & then returned to Dock to take
my place in the Mail for Bath which is the best
Conveyance to Clifton & was disappointed as they
could not promise me a place before 4 O'Clock & then
it is uncertain -- & during my walk the other Coach
was gone to Exeter & so here I am beguiling the time
in writing my journal & scribbling to you -- I must
get away to night if possible as my purse is low
& therefore I desire Louisa will send me 5£ &
if any body chooses to write to me -- direct the letter
to Colonel Hamilton's Clifton -- I have not Money
to convey me to London as I believe I should go
home without stopping at Clifton -- I was a little provoked
after I got to the Commissioners yesterday to have time to read a
Newspaper before the family entered the room in Driblets
consisting of Admiral & Mrs. Stopford -- Admiral & Mrs. Martin & their
Daughters & Mrs. & Miss Fanshaw -- The party was very
pleasant & I stayed till 11 after finishing & losing 2
Rubbers -- Mrs. Fanshaw asked Admiral Martin if it was too late for a
Water Excursion & he said yes -- Frequently a party goes on
the River Plym to a place 15 or 20 miles called
Wear near Tavistock -- The views are beautiful &
there is a Salmon Leap at Wear -- this is managed
by attending to the Tides, Winds &c & may be very agreeable
I had not time yesterday (at least durst not take it
as Commissioner said remember 5 at parting) to say any Thing
about Mount Edgcumbe -- When I sent up my Note requesting
permission to see the Grounds & using Lady Cis's Name as
she desired -- I received an Answer that I was very welcome & was
ordered to go to the House for the Key -- & when there the Servant
said Lord Mount Edgcumbe wished to know if I would like to see the
Gardens, which is a special favour, I said yes of course
& so I went on staring at the astonishing extent & variety
of prospects till I came to Maker Tower where the Signal
posts are & from whence there is a View of the Dock Yard
Shipping, the Country to a great extent & turning round one
sees Cornwal & the narrow Isthmus on which stands Mount Edgcumbe & also
an immense expanse of Ocean -- The Views are broken in
the plantations in a most agreeable Manner as you may suppose
-- Lord Loughborough after seeing Mount Edgcumbe said to Mr. Commissioner
“it is not a place to be puffed” what he meant one may
gather was that it was unique in Situation -- I found
when I returned the Key a Card to admit me in the Gardens
L5- The Gardener showed me into the Garden & returned
to his house for a Moment -- Opposite the Conservatory I
saw Lord Mount Edgcumbe as soon as he saw me he came up to me
where I thanked him for his Civility &c he enquired after
the dear Cis -- & told me he was making an Italian Garden
of the Spot where we then were -- There
are a great many figures on pedestals
& there are also 3 on a high sort of parapet
that he did not propose to show me which is now constructing
his Son in Law & Wife &c were at the Spot -- Lord Mount Edgcumbe ran to
the Gardener I believe to order him to attend me himself
-- the Man was going out on business & meant to turn
me over to his Servant -- These Gardens are beautiful & very
pretty too -- There are some buildings one contains a very good
Room where there were books & Pianoforte &c There are some
magnificent Magnolia Ferruginea -- One 30 feet high in flower
several above 20 feet -- This is a most agreeable appendage
to a Place like Mount Edgcumbe & a delightful Retirement in good
Weather -- The little Lord stuck to his Workman & we could
not get to see what he is doing though we made many attempts
I understand there is nothing particular in the house & it is never
shown -- The Gardener told me that on a Monday there were
a prodigious number of people to see the Place -- there had been
as many as 1400 on one day frequently 1000 -- This must add
greatly to the hilarity of the Scene -- I felt a degree of dejection for there
was no one I loved to share the pleasure I should have had in communicating
my Observations on the grandeur of the Scenes before me -- I looked down
on Breakwater -- that stupendous Work -- making across the Sound -- Large
masses of Rock are thrown into the Sea -- the base of the Column is 400
▼
feet & at the Surface 120 -- for some distance it already is above low
water mark -- it has been in progress about 14 months & in as many
more years it may be completed -- Cost is out of the Question & I
believe Calculation -- I shall now conclude for the present --
I shall know probably in time just to say if I go this afternoon not -- I
never heard any Noise like the Scream the Apple Women make, as the Men return
to the yard at 2 O'Clock, to attract Customers -- All pill Garlicks poultry would not
make so discordant a Sound -- The Breakwater is intended to break the force
of a tremendous Sea that is driven into the Sound by a South wind & renders
the Harbour so dangerous & it is proposed to build a Fort (in which I will not be confined)
upon it -- No Masonry can resist the Violence of the Waves there --
I am going this afternoon -- God bless you all
Single
To
Mrs. Dickenson
32 Devonshire Place
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: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/2/57
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Dickenson
Place sent: Plymouth (certainty: medium)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 30 September 1813
Letter Description
Summary: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to his wife Mary née Hamilton. He describes his frustrations in Plymouth on 30 September, visiting the Marine Barracks on Muster Day, so that he cannot hear 'a very fine Band of Music much boasted of', having to wait for a place on the mail coach to Bath as the best way to get to Clifton, and then missing another coach. He asks that their daughter Louisa send him £5, as he is low on funds. He discusses a conversation the previous evening about water excursions on the River Plym, before narrating his visit to Mount Edgcumbe earlier that day (see HAM/1/2/53). He also describes a massive breakwater under construction across Plymouth Sound.
Original reference No. 15.
Length: 1 sheet, 1089 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Andrew Wells, 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: 4 April 2023