Single Letter

HAM/1/4/1/5

Letter from Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


April 1778

Dear Miʃs Hamilton

      I was much concern'd to hear by a letter I receiv'd
yesterday from Miʃs Clarke that you had lately been
so much indisposed & had been so unfortunate as to have
relapsed after having been nearly recover'd from a former
illneʃs; I shoud suffer the greatest anxiety if Miʃs Clarke
had not aʃsured me that you were recovering fast and
regaining your appetite by the benefit of the Country air.
I hope you will not suffer again by an impatience to
return to your attendance, before you find yourself per=
=fectly
restored, nor suffer yourself to be too anxious upon
that subject; you may be sure that a very hasty return
will not be expected as it must take a certain time before
the strength & spirits can be recover'd after such an illneʃs, when
that time comes I hope to be favor'd with a letter from your=
self
.
      I have been much engaged for some time past in making



preparations for my residence at a place about three miles
from Dublin which turns out far beyond my expectations as
it is indeed uncommonly beautiful & the House is answerable
to it, we propose to remove there by the end of next month. I
have been so long a dupe to expectations of further Preferment,
which I had certainly great reason to expect in as much as they were
founded upon repeated promises of Persons who might have served
me that I now entertain but small hopes upon that subject. My
residence upon my Living in the farthest northern part of Ireland
is expected & may probably be insisted upon, which wou'd be the
finishing stroke of my perverse fortune, for as it is situated in
a most disagreeable climate in the midst of the most rigid
Presbeterian Independants, most of whom wou'd emigrate to their
Friends in America cou'd they be permitted, I must sooner determine
to resign my Living than attend to what is call'd my duty among
a set of People that have an unconquerable aversion to the esta=
blish'd
Church as well as being by no means Friends to our Consti=
tution
. I am labouring if possible to procure a small Living
in the neighbourhood of my House near Dublin which wou'd
give me an option in point of residence & with propriety dis=



pense
with my removal to a place that I have always abhor'd.
I have applied to the Ld Lieutenant upon this subject but as my request
has no other advocate to support it but myself it is not propable
that it will meet with succeʃs. These are expensive & extravagant
times & as I have fixed myself in Ireland for the remainder of my
life a gratuitous surrender of my Living wou'd be a measure that
wou'd not meet with the approbation of my Friends, tho' I own I cou'd
wish my circumstances were such as to justify my doing it. I cannot
be thought very greedy or ambitious when my only wish is to realize m[y]
present Income with propriety which I might do by having the a------
of a small Living in exchange for which I cou'd procure theone in th[e]
neighbourhood of the Place where I mean to reside for the future.
      I had a letter lately from Mr. Chas. Brown who is now in London
attending an Appeal before the House of Lords he told me he shou'd
make a visit to Mr. Hamilton to whom I beg you will present
my Compts. with Mrs. H——'s My dear Mrs. Stratford is extremely well very
handsome, agreeable & remarkably clever but most unfortunately
match'd Adieu. My Dear Miʃs Hamilton take care of your
health and believe me as I am most Sincerely
                                                         Your Affectionate Uncle
                                                                   Frederick Hamilton

Gloucester Street Dublin
      April 15th 1778[1]




Miʃs Hamilton[2]
at Mrs. Hamilton's
James Street near
Buckingham Gate      London

[3]

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


Notes


 1. These two lines appear to the left of the closing salutation and signature.
 2. Postmarks 'AP 15' and '20 AP' above address panel when unfolded.
 3. Remains of a seal, in red wax.

Normalised Text



Dear Miss Hamilton

      I was much concerned to hear by a letter I received
yesterday from Miss Clarke that you had lately been
so much indisposed & had been so unfortunate as to have
relapsed after having been nearly recovered from a former
illness; I should suffer the greatest anxiety if Miss Clarke
had not assured me that you were recovering fast and
regaining your appetite by the benefit of the Country air.
I hope you will not suffer again by an impatience to
return to your attendance, before you find yourself perfectly
restored, nor suffer yourself to be too anxious upon
that subject; you may be sure that a very hasty return
will not be expected as it must take a certain time before
the strength & spirits can be recovered after such an illness, when
that time comes I hope to be favoured with a letter from yourself
.
      I have been much engaged for some time past in making



preparations for my residence at a place about three miles
from Dublin which turns out far beyond my expectations as
it is indeed uncommonly beautiful & the House is answerable
to it, we propose to remove there by the end of next month. I
have been so long a dupe to expectations of further Preferment,
which I had certainly great reason to expect in as much as they were
founded upon repeated promises of Persons who might have served
me that I now entertain but small hopes upon that subject. My
residence upon my Living in the farthest northern part of Ireland
is expected & may probably be insisted upon, which would be the
finishing stroke of my perverse fortune, for as it is situated in
a most disagreeable climate in the midst of the most rigid
Presbyterian Independents, most of whom would emigrate to their
Friends in America could they be permitted, I must sooner determine
to resign my Living than attend to what is called my duty among
a set of People that have an unconquerable aversion to the established
Church as well as being by no means Friends to our Constitution
. I am labouring if possible to procure a small Living
in the neighbourhood of my House near Dublin which would
give me an option in point of residence & with propriety dispense



with my removal to a place that I have always abhorred.
I have applied to the Lord Lieutenant upon this subject but as my request
has no other advocate to support it but myself it is not probable
that it will meet with success. These are expensive & extravagant
times & as I have fixed myself in Ireland for the remainder of my
life a gratuitous surrender of my Living would be a measure that
would not meet with the approbation of my Friends, though I own I could
wish my circumstances were such as to justify my doing it. I cannot
be thought very greedy or ambitious when my only wish is to realize my
present Income with propriety which I might do by having the a------
of a small Living in exchange for which I could procure one in the
neighbourhood of the Place where I mean to reside for the future.
      I had a letter lately from Mr. Charles Brown who is now in London
attending an Appeal before the House of Lords he told me he should
make a visit to Mr. Hamilton to whom I beg you will present
my Compliments with Mrs. Hamilton's My dear Mrs. Stratford is extremely well very
handsome, agreeable & remarkably clever but most unfortunately
matched Adieu. My Dear Miss Hamilton take care of your
health and believe me as I am most Sincerely
                                                         Your Affectionate Uncle
                                                                   Frederick Hamilton

Gloucester Street Dublin
      April 15th 1778




Miss Hamilton
at Mrs. Hamilton's
James Street near
Buckingham Gate      London

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



 1. These two lines appear to the left of the closing salutation and signature.
 2. Postmarks 'AP 15' and '20 AP' above address panel when unfolded.
 3. Remains of a seal, in red wax.

Metadata

Library References

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

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/1/5

Correspondence Details

Sender: Frederick Hamilton

Place sent: Dublin

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: London

Date sent: 15 April 1778

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. After expressing concern over Mary Hamilton's health, the letter relates to Frederick Hamilton's living in Ireland. He had had expectations of further advancement in the Church, but this now seems unlikely, and he describes being situated at the 'farthest Northern part of Ireland' amongst Presbyterian Independents, who, given the chance, would emigrate to America. 'I must [...] sooner resign my Living than attend to what is call[e]d my duty among a set of people that have an unconquerable aversion to the establish[e]d Church'. Frederick Hamilton has made the decision to spend the remainder of his life in Ireland, and in such expensive times, he acknowledges that giving up such a living may not meet with the approval of his relations ['friends'].
   

Length: 1 sheet, 643 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 2013/14 provided by G.L. Brook bequest, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: George Bailey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Kadie Ratchford, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)

Transliterator: Gillian Davies, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)

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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