HAM/1/3/1/5
Letter from Mrs Sarah Dickenson (née Chetham) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
[1]
5.
Portions typed
Taxal Novr: 12th: 1772
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
'Tis highly flattering
to my Vanity, to see a young creature of your
Age, so warmly soliciting a friendship with
one of mine. but you were sincerely po --- d[2]
of it, before you ask'd it. I have been p[articu]
larly attach'd to you ever since I had th[e] [plea]
sure of your acquaintance. & if it ever is in
my power to be of the least aʃsistance to you
by my advice, ofr any thing else, I shoud think
my self extreamly happy. write to me then
my dear friend, with the greatest freedom,
be asured I shall always receive your letters
with pleasure, & will give you my thoughts on
whatever you propose to me, with truth & candour
don't be alarm'd, if I tell you that your learning
Latin is no secret, Mr Lawton mention'd
it to me, but without any reflections, as he
has the highest opinion of you - imaginable.
there are few Women who ought to be trusted
with learning, but you are an exception. &
whilst you can preserve that humility for wch:
you are so remarkable. you may safely learn all
the languages in the World. all I have to advise
is --- [3]t to give yourself up too much to it, do
------ [4] [s]tudy so as to hurt your health, remember
------ that we are creatures form'd for society,
& that we must not so wholly converse with
old Authors, as to neglect the chearful conver-
sation of our acquaintance; too severe an ap-
plication to study naturally gives the mind
too serious a turn, & indisposes it for the
social duties of Life. let study therefore be
your amusement, not your Occupation; & never
be asham'd of improving your mind, till you
find it raises your vanity, & leads you to look
down with contempt on those, who either have not
the same Capacity, or the same opportunities of im-
proving their minds with yourself. this I think
will never be your case, & therefore I may safe-
-ly advise you to go on.
You'l excuse the incoherency of this Letter when
I tell you I have just lost a most favourite
bosom friend. I will sometime attempt to give
you her Character, & perhaps (when we are
so happy to meet) shew you some of her L[ette]rs
[m]y Spirits (already weakend) cou'd ill b --- [5]
such a shock;
Your little friend is at School, & I hope imp --- [6]
I propose to have her home at Xmas, my other
Girl is with me at present, she often puts me in
mind of Miʃs Hamilton, who I flatter myself
she will be extreamly like in her dispositions.
Jack is much obliged to you for your good
opinion of him. Mr Dickenson is not at home
or wou'd have joyned me in sincere regards to
Mrs: Hamilton & yourself, I am Your affect friend
S Dickenson
▼
Miʃs Hamilton
Northampton
5th-[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Taxal November 12th: 1772
My Dear Miss Hamilton
'Tis highly flattering
to my Vanity, to see a young creature of your
Age, so warmly soliciting a friendship with
one of mine. but you were sincerely po --- d
of it, before you asked it. I have been particularly
attached to you ever since I had the pleasure
of your acquaintance. & if it ever is in
my power to be of the least assistance to you
by my advice, or any thing else, I should think
my self extremely happy. write to me then
my dear friend, with the greatest freedom,
be assured I shall always receive your letters
with pleasure, & will give you my thoughts on
whatever you propose to me, with truth & candour
don't be alarmed, if I tell you that your learning
Latin is no secret, Mr Lawton mentioned
it to me, but without any reflections, as he
has the highest opinion of you imaginable.
there are few Women who ought to be trusted
with learning, but you are an exception. &
whilst you can preserve that humility for which
you are so remarkable. you may safely learn all
the languages in the World. all I have to advise
is --- t to give yourself up too much to it, do
------ study so as to hurt your health, remember
------ that we are creatures formed for society,
& that we must not so wholly converse with
old Authors, as to neglect the cheerful conversation
of our acquaintance; too severe an application
to study naturally gives the mind
too serious a turn, & indisposes it for the
social duties of Life. let study therefore be
your amusement, not your Occupation; & never
be ashamed of improving your mind, till you
find it raises your vanity, & leads you to look
down with contempt on those, who either have not
the same Capacity, or the same opportunities of improving
their minds with yourself. this I think
will never be your case, & therefore I may safely
advise you to go on.
you'll excuse the incoherency of this Letter when
I tell you I have just lost a most favourite
bosom friend. I will sometime attempt to give
you her Character, & perhaps (when we are
so happy to meet) show you some of her Letters
my Spirits (already weakened) could ill b ---
such a shock;
Your little friend is at School, & I hope imp ---
I propose to have her home at Christmas, my other
Girl is with me at present, she often puts me in
mind of Miss Hamilton, who I flatter myself
she will be extremely like in her dispositions.
Jack is much obliged to you for your good
opinion of him. Mr Dickenson is not at home
or would have joined me in sincere regards to
Mrs: Hamilton & yourself, I am Your affectionate friend
Sarah Dickenson
▼
Miss Hamilton
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/1/3/1/5
Correspondence Details
Sender: Sarah Dickenson (née Chetham)
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Northampton
Date sent: 12 November 1772
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mrs Sarah Dickenson to Mary Hamilton. Mrs Dickenson writes that she has been attached to Hamilton since her first acquaintance and asks Hamilton to write to her if she can ever be of any assistance in giving advice.
She asks Hamilton not to be 'alarmed' by the news that she is aware that she is learning Latin. A 'Mr Lawton mentioned it to me, but without any reflections as he has the highest opinion of you imaginable'. Mrs Dickenson writes that there are few women 'who ought to be trusted with learning', and that Hamilton is an 'exception'. Whilst she retains her humility she 'can safely learn all the languages in the World'. She advises Hamilton not to spend too much time studying 'so as to hurt your health, remember that we are creatures form[e]d for society, & that we must not so wholly converse with old authors, as to neglect the cheerful conversation of our acquaintances'. She continues that 'too severe an application for study naturally gives the mind too serious a turn'. Study is best as amusement rather than occupation. While improving one's mind, vanity should be kept in check so that we do not look down on those with lesser intellect or opportunity.
Mrs Dickenson then moves on to speak of her daughters, one of whom is now at school and the other that reminds her of Hamilton. She also writes of recently losing a close friend.
Dated at Taxal [Derbyshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 483 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 22 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