Diplomatic Text
[1]
1.[2]
Portions Typed[3]
Taxal August 13th: 1769
I thought I cou'd have obey'd
every Command of Miʃs Hamilton's with Pleasure; but
I have of late years wrote so little, that I find myself
quite at a loʃs whenever I attempt it, & in the retired
situation I now am, 'tis impoʃsible to find Subjects the
least entertaining for a Letter to a young Lady: but you
was so obliging to desire it, & I know you will excuse
my stupidity.
I had a tollerable good Journey home, where I arrived
safe on Wednesday, about 6 in the Evening, & had
the pleasure of finding all my Family well.[4] We were
look'd upon as prodigious great Strangers, & my
Husband had entertain'd some hopes, that he shou'd be
troubled with me no more, as I had staid longer than
I at first proposed.
We find this Country extreamly cold after leaving North
ampton, & especially Mr: Lawtons warm Rooms, & we
have each of us got a severe Cold by the Change.
Sally often talks of Miʃs Hamilton, her little Heart
is warm with Gratitude for the kind notice you took
of her, & I beg Mrs: Hamilton & you, will accept my
best Thanks for your Civilities.
Our little Habitation commands a sweet Prospect; we
have a Graʃs Plott behind the House, from whence you
may see a pretty Rivulet, Woods, Cottages, Sheep,
Cows, &c. & I have been wishing (to compleat the Scene)
I had you here, with your Camera[5], I think your Pencil
wou'd be employ'd in a manner not diʃagreeable to you,
& I have another little wild Girl,[6] that I know you
wou'd be fond of. I hope you will not grow tired of
draw[in]g, 'tis a pretty Amusement, & I am certain you
will arrive at Perfection, if you persevere.
“One thing at once the famed De Witt profeʃst'd,
‘Was all his Wisdom e'er presumed to do,
‘And she is still an Artist 'tis confeʃs'd
‘Among the Ladies, that at once does two.”[7]
But you attempt an hundred things at a Time, you scorn
the beaten Track prescribed to the rest of your Sex, &
wou'd soar to the Skyes at once. Patience my dear Miʃs
Hamilton is all you want. “You - By slow degrees the liberal
Arts were won, & Hercules grew Strong.”
You are so young that you may have a knowledge
of every useful Science, before the time that most Women
know how to read English.
It will always give me pleasure to hear of your
Improvements, & believe me that no one upon so short
an Acquaintance can have a higher esteem for you,
than, Madam, Your most obedient
& obliged humble Servt:
S Dickenson
Please to present my Compts:
to Mr & Mrs: Hamilton
[8]
To
Miʃs Hamilton
in[9]
Northampton
1.[10]
[11]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter is selectively quoted in Anson & Anson (1925: 7-8).
2. This subset of letters is numbered at the top left of p.1 and in most cases also by a different hand on the last page.
3. This annotation appears to the left of the dateline.
4. The continuation implies that her daughter Sarah (‘Sally’) had been with her on the trip to Northampton. The family would have consisted of 4 or 5 children then, because between August 1771 and February 1772, ‘Mrs. Dickenson had lost two much loved children’ from illness (Anson & Anson 1925: 10), while another family chronicle notes that ‘[i]n 1771, Jack had lost a sister’ (Anson 1920: 29). See also Mrs Dickenson's ‘bitter cup of affliction’ (HAM/1/3/1/4). The Dickenson family tree in Buckley (1910) lists the siblings John, Sarah and Elizabeth, but also three other siblings buried in Birch Chapel: Frances (1771), Charles (1755) and Mary (n.d.).
5. ‘Camera’ here would refer to Camera Obscura, a popular box-type drawing aid used by amateur artists.
6. It is unclear whether she is referring to Elizabeth or to the daughter(s) who died.
7. An essay in The Spectator mentions Johan de Witt (1625-1672) in passing: ‘The famous De Witt, one of the greatest ſtateſmen of the age in which he lived, being aſked by a friend, How he was able to diſpatch that multitude of affairs in which he was engaged, replied, That his whole art conſiſted in, doing one thing at once.’ (no. 283, 24 January 1712). It is probable that the quoted verse has been built on this observation.
8. Remains of a seal, in red wax, partially cut away.
9. The address is crossed with a ‘3’, indicating postage charge.
10. This annotation appears in the left margin of the address panel, written vertically.
11. Remains of a postmark, ‘Chapel le Frith’, upside down.
Normalised Text
Taxal August 13th: 1769
I thought I could have obeyed
every Command of Miss Hamilton's with Pleasure; but
I have of late years written so little, that I find myself
quite at a loss whenever I attempt it, & in the retired
situation I now am, 'tis impossible to find Subjects the
least entertaining for a Letter to a young Lady: but you
was so obliging to desire it, & I know you will excuse
my stupidity.
I had a tolerable good Journey home, where I arrived
safe on Wednesday, about 6 in the Evening, & had
the pleasure of finding all my Family well. We were
looked upon as prodigious great Strangers, & my
Husband had entertained some hopes, that he should be
troubled with me no more, as I had stayed longer than
I at first proposed.
We find this Country extremely cold after leaving Northampton
, & especially Mr: Lawtons warm Rooms, & we
have each of us got a severe Cold by the Change.
Sally often talks of Miss Hamilton, her little Heart
is warm with Gratitude for the kind notice you took
of her, & I beg Mrs: Hamilton & you, will accept my
best Thanks for your Civilities.
Our little Habitation commands a sweet Prospect; we
have a Grass Plot behind the House, from whence you
may see a pretty Rivulet, Woods, Cottages, Sheep,
Cows, &c. & I have been wishing (to complete the Scene)
I had you here, with your Camera, I think your Pencil
would be employed in a manner not disagreeable to you,
& I have another little wild Girl, that I know you
would be fond of. I hope you will not grow tired of
drawing, 'tis a pretty Amusement, & I am certain you
will arrive at Perfection, if you persevere.
“One thing at once the famed De Witt profess'd,
‘Was all his Wisdom e'er presumed to do,
‘And she is still an Artist 'tis confess'd
‘Among the Ladies, that at once does two.”
But you attempt an hundred things at a Time, you scorn
the beaten Track prescribed to the rest of your Sex, &
would soar to the Skies at once. Patience my dear Miss
Hamilton is all you want. “By slow degrees the liberal
Arts were won, & Hercules grew Strong.”
You are so young that you may have a knowledge
of every useful Science, before the time that most Women
know how to read English.
It will always give me pleasure to hear of your
Improvements, & believe me that no one upon so short
an Acquaintance can have a higher esteem for you,
than, Madam, Your most obedient
& obliged humble Servant
Sarah Dickenson
Please to present my Compliments
to Mr & Mrs: Hamilton
To
Miss Hamilton
in
Northampton
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 Mrs Sarah Dickenson (née Chetham) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/3/1/1
Correspondence Details
Sender: Sarah Dickenson (née Chetham)
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Northampton
Date sent: 13 August 1769
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mrs Sarah Dickenson to Mary Hamilton. Mrs Dickenson [Sarah Dickenson née Chetham, married John Dickenson of Birch Hall, Manchester] notes that she has written so infrequently over recent years that she finds herself at a 'loss whenever I attempt it, & in the retired situation I now am, 'tis impossible to find Subjects the least entertaining for a letter to a young lady'.
She writes of her journey home and that, as she had stayed away for longer than expected, her husband 'had entertained some hopes that he should be troubled with me no more'. Mrs Dickenson and her husband find the weather in Taxal cold compared to Northampton and they both have colds brought on by the change in weather. Their house has a good view with a grass plot behind it from where woods, cottages, sheep and a 'rivulet' can be seen. If Hamilton were here, Mrs Dickenson writes, then the scene would be complete and she believes Hamilton would delight in drawing the view. She hopes that Hamilton does not tire of drawing and that she will perfect the art if she continues.
Mrs Dickenson writes of Hamilton's attempts at many different things at once and advises patience. '[Y]ou scorn the beaten track prescribed to the rest of your Sex, & woul]d soar to the skyes at once'. She continues, noting that knowledge can be gained over time and that Hamilton is 'so young that you may have a knowledge of every useful science before the time that most women know how to read English'.
Mrs Dickenson finishes her letter by noting her high regard for Hamilton, and asks her to present her compliments to her parents.
Dated at Taxal [Derbyshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 464 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: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 20 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: 4 April 2022