Diplomatic Text
[1]
that dashed around us. The alarm & terror that pre-
vaild, stoped my sickneʃs, & threw me into a fever
attended by a small degree of delirium, and I was so
exhausted & reduced in strength that I was obliged
to sit on the floor when we arrived at the inn, and
support my miserable head on a Chair, as there was
neither bed nor sopha to be met with in the house,
I believe the Idea of having involved Mrs: Ainsworth
and Ann Dorsand in a destruction which appeard
inevitable, & the misery and wretchedneʃs I knew
our loʃs woud occasion to my friends in England
occasionedbrought on the extraordinary agitation of my nerves
and which sitting near 30 hours in wet Cloaths by
no means tended to diminish -- I believe there [was]
as little of self in my mind at that time as [never]
will be separated from a human being, for I ne[glected]
to serve those who appeard to be more enfeebled than
my-self. during the whole storm -- Tho I cannot persuade Mrs: Ainsworth to believe
me, I can aʃsure you I do not regret having been
exposed to the sufferings I have gone thro, it was
a scene of grand sublimity of which my mind
had no conception, & tho terror prevaild over every
other feeling, I was still at times sufficiently collect[ed]
to be sensible of the superintending providence of
the almighty -- When light appeard in the morning
I held myself on the top of the stairs, & watchd the
storm, that beautiful line of Pope, where he describes
the Indian who “sees God in Clouds and hears him
in the wind” occurrd forcibly to my recollection and
insensibly calm'd my mind & renew'd my hope of protection
-- I will reservd the numberleʃs occurrences and adven-
tures we met with, till I have the great pleasure of
again embracing you my dear Sister, and aʃsuring
you at Leighton how affectionately you are all beloved by
me -- I desire you will give floras[2] respectful duty
▼
[to] Miʃs Morrison and tell her she flatters herself she
[w]ill be like desdemona, and love her for the dangers she
has paʃsed in her disastrous voyage, as she finds
external charms have no influence on her discerning
mind -- I have had a letter from Elizabeth, all my letters
have miscarried, & she has not heard from me of 12 Months
I find the Neopolitan democrates have far exceeded their
grand prototipe and example in france -- Adieu with love my dear
sister I remain your affect S D.[3]
Mrs: Dickenson[4]
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This sheet was originally catalogued as part of HAM/1/3/2/10/1, but discontinuities of tone, content, colour of paper and folding marks rule that out.
2. Flora, presumably a dog, is a humorous surrogate for the writer.
3. This line appears on the right-hand margin of p.2, written vertically.
4. Postmark 'MANCHESTER' to the left of the address when unfolded.
5. Moved address here from middle of the page, written vertically.
Normalised Text
that dashed around us. The alarm & terror that prevailed
, stopped my sickness, & threw me into a fever
attended by a small degree of delirium, and I was so
exhausted & reduced in strength that I was obliged
to sit on the floor when we arrived at the inn, and
support my miserable head on a Chair, as there was
neither bed nor sofa to be met with in the house,
I believe the Idea of having involved Mrs: Ainsworth
and Ann Dorsand in a destruction which appeared
inevitable, & the misery and wretchedness I knew
our loss would occasion to my friends in England
brought on the extraordinary agitation of my nerves
and which sitting near 30 hours in wet Clothes by
no means tended to diminish -- I believe there was
as little of self in my mind at that time as never
will be separated from a human being, for I neglected
to serve those who appeared to be more enfeebled than
my-self. during the whole storm -- Though I cannot persuade Mrs: Ainsworth to believe
me, I can assure you I do not regret having been
exposed to the sufferings I have gone through, it was
a scene of grand sublimity of which my mind
had no conception, & though terror prevailed over every
other feeling, I was still at times sufficiently collected
to be sensible of the superintending providence of
the almighty -- When light appeared in the morning
I held myself on the top of the stairs, & watched the
storm, that beautiful line of Pope, where he describes
the Indian who “sees God in Clouds and hears him
in the wind” occurred forcibly to my recollection and
insensibly calmed my mind & renewed my hope of protection
-- I will reserve the numberless occurrences and adventures
we met with, till I have the great pleasure of
again embracing you my dear Sister, and assuring
you at Leighton how affectionately you are all beloved by
me -- I desire you will give floras respectful duty
▼
to Miss Morrison and tell her she flatters herself she
will be like desdemona, and love her for the dangers she
has passed in her disastrous voyage, as she finds
external charms have no influence on her discerning
mind -- I have had a letter from Elizabeth, all my letters
have miscarried, & she has not heard from me of 12 Months
I find the Neopolitan democrats have far exceeded their
grand prototype and example in france -- Adieu with love my dear
sister I remain your affectionate Sarah Dickenson
Mrs: Dickenson
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
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: Incomplete letter from Sarah Dickenson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/3/2/10/2
Correspondence Details
Sender: Sarah Dickenson
Place sent: Rusholme, near Manchester (certainty: medium)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: between 1795 and 1809
notBefore 1795 (precision: medium)
notAfter 1809 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: Page from a missing letter from Sarah Dickenson. She describes a terrifying storm at sea and the subsequent misery of the party after reaching land somewhere abroad. She concludes on a lighter note but notes that communication with her sister Elizabeth has been disrupted for twelve months by the political upheavals in Naples, and 'all my letters have miscarried'.
This item was originally catalogued as part of HAM/1/3/2/10/1.
Length: 1 sheet, 430 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 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Georgia Tutt (submitted May 2018)
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: 31 August 2023