HAM/1/4/1/37
Letter from Frederick Hamilton and Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My dear Madam,
The remembrance of the misunderstanding you allude to
is very distreʃsing to me, I wish I had acted with more coolneʃs;
the past cannot be recall'd but I beg you will aʃsure Mr. Dickenson
that I am equally desirous with him that the unfortunate
subject shou'd hereafter be buried in oblivion; & consequently be no
more touch'd upon. I have been much out of order for some
time past, but am now considerably better, & enjoy much com=
fort from the society of Mrs. Holman. My mind is as yet too much
distracted to think of visiting my friends, in deed I have so
much busineʃs upon my hands, that I cou'd not with propriety
be absent from my present residence even for a short time.
I have not only to struggle with the great misfortune that
has lately befallen me, but I am also at this time surroun=
ded by various domestic grievances, & these bearing upon
me at my advanced period of life, occupy my mind with
unpleasing reflexions, which I do not poʃseʃs sufficient strength
to exclude. I hope Mrs. Holman will not think of leaving
me soon, unleʃs upon better prospects; she poʃseʃses a strong
mind & much patience, for which she has great occasion. I have
consider'd that every distreʃs that may aʃsail her husband, must
fall equally upon her, I have therefore determin'd to consult her in=
terest in all future occurrences respecting him. I hope to be able
to do something for my daughter, but that at all events must
not be subject to his control. Having sufficiently tried your
patience, I have only to beg the favor that you will present my
respects to Mr. Dickenson & my love to my God Daughter, I remain
My dear Madam,
Your faithful and affectionate
humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
no. 1 Brock St. Bath
Feby. 20th. 1807.[1]
[2]
My dear cousin,
I conclude, by my not hearing from you,
that you suspected my stay at Bath would
be prolonged; and I am sure, from the ex-
treme kindneʃs you and Mr: Dickenson have
shown me, that you will be glad to hear that my dear Father is not at
all inclined to part with me; but, on the
contrary, wishes me to remain with him
as long as I conveniently can. You will
easily believe, my dearest Cousin, how happ[y]
I am, to be able, in any degree, to alleviate [his]
sad situation; and the great satisfaction I [have]
in perceiving, that he is certainly better than
I found him, on my arrival. I was going
to write to you to-day, and to leave him room
for a postscript; but, was agreeably surprised
by hearing that he felt well enough to write
the former part of the letter; which I am
sure, you will rejoice at. I should have
written to you sooner, but that I thought I
might perhaps have a letter from you, forwarded
from London. I dare say, you gueʃsed that
matters would turn out as they have, respecting
my stay. Pray remember me most affectionately
to Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin Louisa; and believe
me, ever, with the highest obligation for all your
▼
kindneʃs, and the truest regard and esteem,
your very affectionate
J: Holman.
P.S. I am in daily
expectation of a letter from Mr: H.[3]
Mrs. Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire[4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. These two lines appear to the left of closing salutation and signature.
2. A second letter, from Jane Holman, starts here on the right-hand column of the sheet.
3. This postscript appears at bottom right of p.3 when unfolded, to the left of the closer.
4. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded.
5. Remains of a seal, in black wax.
Normalised Text
My dear Madam,
The remembrance of the misunderstanding you allude to
is very distressing to me, I wish I had acted with more coolness;
the past cannot be recalled but I beg you will assure Mr. Dickenson
that I am equally desirous with him that the unfortunate
subject should hereafter be buried in oblivion; & consequently be no
more touched upon. I have been much out of order for some
time past, but am now considerably better, & enjoy much comfort
from the society of Mrs. Holman. My mind is as yet too much
distracted to think of visiting my friends, indeed I have so
much business upon my hands, that I could not with propriety
be absent from my present residence even for a short time.
I have not only to struggle with the great misfortune that
has lately befallen me, but I am also at this time surrounded
by various domestic grievances, & these bearing upon
me at my advanced period of life, occupy my mind with
unpleasing reflexions, which I do not possess sufficient strength
to exclude. I hope Mrs. Holman will not think of leaving
me soon, unless upon better prospects; she possesses a strong
mind & much patience, for which she has great occasion. I have
considered that every distress that may assail her husband, must
fall equally upon her, I have therefore determined to consult her interest
in all future occurrences respecting him. I hope to be able
to do something for my daughter, but that at all events must
not be subject to his control. Having sufficiently tried your
patience, I have only to beg the favour that you will present my
respects to Mr. Dickenson & my love to my God-daughter, I remain
My dear Madam,
Your faithful and affectionate
humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
no. 1 Brock Street Bath
February 20th. 1807.
My dear cousin,
I conclude, by my not hearing from you,
that you suspected my stay at Bath would
be prolonged; and I am sure, from the extreme
kindness you and Mr: Dickenson have
shown me, that you will be glad to hear that my dear Father is not at
all inclined to part with me; but, on the
contrary, wishes me to remain with him
as long as I conveniently can. You will
easily believe, my dearest Cousin, how happy
I am, to be able, in any degree, to alleviate his
sad situation; and the great satisfaction I have
in perceiving, that he is certainly better than
I found him, on my arrival. I was going
to write to you to-day, and to leave him room
for a postscript; but, was agreeably surprised
by hearing that he felt well enough to write
the former part of the letter; which I am
sure, you will rejoice at. I should have
written to you sooner, but that I thought I
might perhaps have a letter from you, forwarded
from London. I dare say, you guessed that
matters would turn out as they have, respecting
my stay. Pray remember me most affectionately
to Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin Louisa; and believe
me, ever, with the highest obligation for all your
▼
kindness, and the truest regard and esteem,
your very affectionate
Jane Holman.
P.S. I am in daily
expectation of a letter from Mr: Holman
Mrs. Dickenson
Leighton House
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: Letter from Frederick Hamilton and Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/1/37
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton and Jane Holman (née Hamilton)
Place sent: Bath
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 20 February 1807
Letter Description
Summary: Both Frederick Hamilton and his daughter, Jane Holman, write separate letters to Hamilton using the same sheet. Frederick Hamilton writes concerning a past misunderstanding and notes that he had wished he had behaved with more 'coolness'. He hopes the matter will be no longer touched upon. He writes that he is benefiting by the company of his daughter, Mrs Holman, in his house and hopes that she will not leave him for some time soon. Mrs Holman writes about her father and of her staying with him.
Dated at Bath.
Length: 1 sheet, 559 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: George Bailey (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Momina Mohammed, 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