Diplomatic Text
Dear Miʃs Hamilton
I lose no time in thanking you for your very obliging
letter of the 27th. of September, and to inform you, that you
may depend upon receiving the Balance of your Account
entire early in the next month; I went to town yesterday
to settle that busineʃs with Mr. Huband; I aʃsure you
there has been no unneceʃsary delay, as the whole of your
money is not yet received from the Tenants, & that from
the great distreʃs of the Country I have not yet received
a shilling of my May Rents of my Lands in the Counties of
Kildare & Meath & that I shall be under the neceʃsity of
ejecting several of the Tenants.
You may be aʃsured that I am highly sensible of the
confidence you have reposed in me with regard to the pur=
port of part of your letter, and that no improper use will
ever be made of the freedom you may think fit to use in
disclosing your sentiments to me upon any subject.
It wou'd be a very long and tiresome detail to inform
you minutely of my expectations & disappointments from a certain
quarter, all that I shall insist upon at present, is, that I am
persuaded there is no man living who had better founded
pretensions, resting upon the basis of royal Promises frequent=
ly repeated; how it has happen'd that I have derived so little
good from them, I will not pretend to account for; no impatience
on my part was ever improperly expreʃs'd & when the late Ld.
Warwick, many years ago had an audience of the K. on
my account, he was pleased to expreʃs his rembrance of me in such
terms as I cou'd have wish'd. I was under the neceʃsity of resigning
the honor of being Chaplain in Ordinary, having held it a certain
time, as my residence In Ireland made it extremely expensive
& inconvenient to me, for I had to return to Ireland annually
in the month of November. That this might not be look'd upon
as dismiʃsing myself & giving up all further expectations, my
Br. Sr. W. H. at my particular desire made my resignation for
me, & explain'd my motives to the K.; this was about fifteen
years ago; to resume solicitations so long suspended, tho' my
Br. aʃsured me, he mention'd me to his M——y when he was last
in England, seems to me to be an hopeleʃs undertaking, especially
as my ardor for worldly Things is now much abated, having
nearly attain'd the age of 51 years. It seems to have been the
policy of Ministers to fill almost every department in this
Country with very low men, had I by chance been a Schoolmaster
or a Tutor in a great Family I might probably have been a
Bishop, for of such materials is that order here principally composed;
to be descended from noble ancestors inheriting from them sentiments
of honour & integrity with a respectable landed property if urged
as pretensions to favors wou'd produce nothing more than an answer
of contempt. Has he Parliamentary interest what can he do for
or against us? are the questions ask'd. It is hardly to be expected
that Persons of low & mean origin who have risen to high Stations
through worldly craft & servility shou'd have adequate ideas
of honour & dignity of sentiment which in the end are the best
for the interests of a State. I have had frequent thoughts
of making my appearance in London once more, upon the busineʃs
of renewing my solicitations, but have always dropp'd them
as I cou'd never so far deceive myself as to entertain hopes of
suceʃs. As I have been long forgotten as well as my pretensions
I shou'd be advised, I suppose, to proceed in form, by a Memorial,
which unleʃs presented & back'd by a Person of consequence,
wou'd have as little weight as the Petition of a mad
Apothecary that I rember to have seen standing in the Antichamber
at St. James's. My Dr. Miʃs Hamilton it is full time to quit this
unpleasing subject, tho' I have fail'd of advancement in my
Profeʃsion I ought to be thankful for the many comforts I
enjoy, excellent health, admirable spirits, & a competency;
if added to these bleʃsings, I enjoy the esteem of those who
know me, an aʃsertion which can not come properly from
myself, you will not think me an unhappy being, I am
sure I shou'd be much affronted to be called so. I return
the letters you enclosed -- As your royal eléves are not
slow in attaining the stature of women I flatter myself
with the hopes, unleʃs you are honor'd with an additional
supply of them, that the time is not far distant when
you will be honor'd with some substantial mark of approba=
tion. Mrs. Hamilton desires to be remember'd to you I am
Dear Miʃs Hamilton,
Your Affectionate Uncle
Frederick Hamilton
Latour October 6th. 1779.[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Dear Miss Hamilton
I lose no time in thanking you for your very obliging
letter of the 27th. of September, and to inform you, that you
may depend upon receiving the Balance of your Account
entire early in the next month; I went to town yesterday
to settle that business with Mr. Huband; I assure you
there has been no unnecessary delay, as the whole of your
money is not yet received from the Tenants, & that from
the great distress of the Country I have not yet received
a shilling of my May Rents of my Lands in the Counties of
Kildare & Meath & that I shall be under the necessity of
ejecting several of the Tenants.
You may be assured that I am highly sensible of the
confidence you have reposed in me with regard to the purport
of part of your letter, and that no improper use will
ever be made of the freedom you may think fit to use in
disclosing your sentiments to me upon any subject.
It would be a very long and tiresome detail to inform
you minutely of my expectations & disappointments from a certain
quarter, all that I shall insist upon at present, is, that I am
persuaded there is no man living who had better founded
pretensions, resting upon the basis of royal Promises frequently
repeated; how it has happened that I have derived so little
good from them, I will not pretend to account for; no impatience
on my part was ever improperly expressed & when the late Lord
Warwick, many years ago had an audience of the King on
my account, he was pleased to express his remembrance of me in such
terms as I could have wished. I was under the necessity of resigning
the honour of being Chaplain in Ordinary, having held it a certain
time, as my residence In Ireland made it extremely expensive
& inconvenient to me, for I had to return to Ireland annually
in the month of November. That this might not be looked upon
as dismissing myself & giving up all further expectations, my
Brother Sir William Hamilton at my particular desire made my resignation for
me, & explained my motives to the King; this was about fifteen
years ago; to resume solicitations so long suspended, though my
Brother. assured me, he mentioned me to his Majesty when he was last
in England, seems to me to be an hopeless undertaking, especially
as my ardour for worldly Things is now much abated, having
nearly attained the age of 51 years. It seems to have been the
policy of Ministers to fill almost every department in this
Country with very low men, had I by chance been a Schoolmaster
or a Tutor in a great Family I might probably have been a
Bishop, for of such materials is that order here principally composed;
to be descended from noble ancestors inheriting from them sentiments
of honour & integrity with a respectable landed property if urged
as pretensions to favours would produce nothing more than an answer
of contempt. Has he Parliamentary interest what can he do for
or against us? are the questions asked. It is hardly to be expected
that Persons of low & mean origin who have risen to high Stations
through worldly craft & servility should have adequate ideas
of honour & dignity of sentiment which in the end are the best
for the interests of a State. I have had frequent thoughts
of making my appearance in London once more, upon the business
of renewing my solicitations, but have always dropped them
as I could never so far deceive myself as to entertain hopes of
success. As I have been long forgotten as well as my pretensions
I should be advised, I suppose, to proceed in form, by a Memorial,
which unless presented & backed by a Person of consequence,
would have as little weight as the Petition of a mad
Apothecary that I remember to have seen standing in the Antechamber
at St. James's. My Dear Miss Hamilton it is full time to quit this
unpleasing subject, though I have failed of advancement in my
Profession I ought to be thankful for the many comforts I
enjoy, excellent health, admirable spirits, & a competency;
if added to these blessings, I enjoy the esteem of those who
know me, an assertion which can not come properly from
myself, you will not think me an unhappy being, I am
sure I should be much affronted to be called so. I return
the letters you enclosed -- As your royal eléves are not
slow in attaining the stature of women I flatter myself
with the hopes, unless you are honoured with an additional
supply of them, that the time is not far distant when
you will be honoured with some substantial mark of approbation
. Mrs. Hamilton desires to be remembered to you I am
Dear Miss Hamilton,
Your Affectionate Uncle
Frederick Hamilton
Latour October 6th. 1779.
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 Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/1/11
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: Clontarf
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 6 October 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to financial matters, particularly the collection of rents, which is proving at times difficult because of the economic distress in Ireland. Frederick Hamilton writes of the necessity of ejecting a number of his tenants because they are so behind in their rents. 'I have not yet received a shilling of my May Rents of my Lands in the Counties of Kildare & Meath & that I shall be under the necessity of ejecting several of the Tenants'.
The letter is also concerned with Hamilton's disappointment over his failed expectations of promotion within the Church, which were 'rested on royal Promises frequently repeated'. He also discusses his views on the type of people who do gain promotion in Ireland, writing that it is the 'policy of Ministers to fill almost every department in this Country with very low men', adding that if he were a schoolmaster or a tutor in the house of a prominent family, he might probably be a bishop by this date.
Length: 1 sheet, 835 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: Jenny Toner, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Amy Galbraith, 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