Diplomatic Text
Dear Sir
On my return from the Opera late on Saturday
night I found your very obliging letter which wou'd other=
wise have been answered by return of the Post. I am sorry
my letter to Mrs. Dickenson shou'd have convey'd the idea,
that by your continuing at Bath, the time you had fixed
for so material an object as your health, I might be ex=
posed to a disappointment in the busineʃs of raising the
money for my Son's use, as I certainly imagined that if the
Bond or Deed was executed at the time mention'd for
your return, it wou'd come soon enough. In Scotland,
money is to be had only at certain periods, for instance
Lammas or the 1st. of August is one of them, & if that paʃses
it cannot be done till the next, which is Martinmaʃs or
the 1st. November.[2] It is uncertain when a vacancy may
happen in the Regt. perhaps it may not, till it wou'd
be
be perfectly convenient to me; but as I am rather of a
punctual disposition, I cou'd wish to be prepared to receive
the offer, which I am told is a very great favor. This being the
case, I can with difficulty find words to express the sense
of the obligation I feel myself under to you, for your generous
confidence in me, in making me such an offer without the
smallest parade; the favor done me on your part, is most
complete, and the remembrance of it on mine, will I trust
be corresponding. I hope my Agent will be able to supply
me, for your diverting such a Sum from the purpose you
have allotted it for even a small period of time, might I am
well aware, be attended with material inconvenience to you,
and having found you so zealous in my interest, I cannot
be too scrupulous in my attention to yours. I must therefore
with a thousand thanks to you, decline putting so heavy a
tax upon your friendship. I every day expect my Son home;
& as you are so kind as to interest yourself in this matter, I shall
not fail to acquaint you how it proceeds, for I shall be always
happy in every opportunity of aʃsuring you with how much
truth I am
Dear Sir
Your faithful & obliged Humble Servt.
Frederick Hamilton
Oxford Str. 249 July 13th. 1789.[3]
P.S. Mr. Greville is going out of Town, having parted with his House,
so that you will please not to send any more letters under cover to him.
John Dickenson Esqr-[4]
No. 18. Queen Square
Bath
[5] [6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This entire letter, apart from the final dateline, is quoted almost verbatim in a letter from Dickenson to Mary Hamilton, HAM/1/2/21.
2. Repayment of loans and so on became due on Scottish term or quarter days, including Lammas, 1 August, and Martinmas, 11 November (Wikipedia). The alternative 'or 1st of November' is perhaps a slip on Hamilton's part; cf. HAM/1/4/2/7.
3. The dateline appears to the left of the signature.
4. A large '5' is written over the top of the address, likely indicating postage due.
5. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
6. Remains of a postmark that reads 'JY 13 89' below address when unfolded, indicating that the letter went through the post on 13 July 1789.
Normalised Text
Dear Sir
On my return from the Opera late on Saturday
night I found your very obliging letter which would otherwise
have been answered by return of the Post. I am sorry
my letter to Mrs. Dickenson should have conveyed the idea,
that by your continuing at Bath, the time you had fixed
for so material an object as your health, I might be exposed
to a disappointment in the business of raising the
money for my Son's use, as I certainly imagined that if the
Bond or Deed was executed at the time mentioned for
your return, it would come soon enough. In Scotland,
money is to be had only at certain periods, for instance
Lammas or the 1st. of August is one of them, & if that passes
it cannot be done till the next, which is Martinmas or
the 1st. November. It is uncertain when a vacancy may
happen in the Regiment perhaps it may not, till it would
be perfectly convenient to me; but as I am rather of a
punctual disposition, I could wish to be prepared to receive
the offer, which I am told is a very great favour. This being the
case, I can with difficulty find words to express the sense
of the obligation I feel myself under to you, for your generous
confidence in me, in making me such an offer without the
smallest parade; the favour done me on your part, is most
complete, and the remembrance of it on mine, will I trust
be corresponding. I hope my Agent will be able to supply
me, for your diverting such a Sum from the purpose you
have allotted it for even a small period of time, might I am
well aware, be attended with material inconvenience to you,
and having found you so zealous in my interest, I cannot
be too scrupulous in my attention to yours. I must therefore
with a thousand thanks to you, decline putting so heavy a
tax upon your friendship. I every day expect my Son home;
& as you are so kind as to interest yourself in this matter, I shall
not fail to acquaint you how it proceeds, for I shall be always
happy in every opportunity of assuring you with how much
truth I am
Dear Sir
Your faithful & obliged Humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
Oxford Street 249 July 13th. 1789.
P.S. Mr. Greville is going out of Town, having parted with his House,
so that you will please not to send any more letters under cover to him.
John Dickenson Esqr-
No. 18. Queen Square
Bath
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 John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/2/6
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: London
Addressee: John Dickenson
Place received: Bath
Date sent: 13 July 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to John Dickenson. The letter relates to the raising of money to purchase a commission for Frederick's son Robert. Frederick is extremely grateful to John Dickenson for his offer of a loan to facilitate this, but he says that he must 'with a thousand thanks to you, decline putting so heavy a tax upon your friendship'.
Dated at Oxford Street [London].
Length: 3 sheets, 435 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 2016/17 provided by The John Rylands Research Institute.
Research assistant: Sarah Connor, undergraduate student, University of Manchester
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Sarah Connor (submitted May 2017)
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