Single Letter

HAM/1/4/2/24

Letter from Frederick Hamilton to John Dickenson

Diplomatic Text


My Dear Sir,

      I feel the most bitter regret that on the first notice of this impen=
ding
calamity I did not immediately come to London where I might have
been at hand to have administerd in person every poʃsible consolation
to the supreme object of my affection & to have given her my parting
embrace. In this afflicting situation, no other Person coud answer every
neceʃsary object. I am really shock'd to perceive that her medical aʃsis=
tants
may not have received regular satisfaction for their attendance,
for I supposed that there might have been a sufficient fund in my dear
Daughter
's hands under the management of Mrs. Mann, who it seems was
her Cash keeper, & to whom I referrd you to answer every exigence that
might occur till I sent her a fresh supply, which I aʃsure you has hitherto
largely anticipated her wants; where as to my great confusion her Phy=
siscians
have been left to their own conclusions from whence their remu=
neration
was to come, I beg therefore that you will inform them with my
respects that due attention shall be paid to that object. As my Daughter
has been suddenly struck by the hand of Providence, she has been preven=
ted
from communicating her neceʃsities to me shoud any have really
existed, & on my part I have always felt great satisfaction in antici=
pating
her wants. Mann shou'd have communicated to you what she
had in her hands belonging to Mrs. Holman, had she done this a sup=
ly
wou'd have been sent to you in time to have answer'd every
                                                         purpose



It is my particular desire that every medical expence shou'd be forthwith
accounted for according to each Person's attendance. It can be no inconve=
nience
to me as you perceive the money can be remitted at a day's notice. So
sudden a demand cou'd not have been foreseen, I therefore cannot reproach
myself with having neglected my dear Daughter, who has been render'd
doubly so to me from the misfortunes she has suffer'd. I beg the favor that
you will call upon Mrs. Mann from me to lay before you the state of Mrs. Holmans
cash Acct. with her & to desire her to deliver the Balance into your hands. Tho'
I have a very high opinion of her integrity, yet this was a confidence that
Mrs. Holman knew I did not recommend; her argument was the trifling
advantage to be made of the interest of the money which Mrs. Mann negotiated
for her. A circumstance you will be surpriz'd at, my poor Daughter was by
no means accurate in keeping an Acct. of the money I gave her & not long since
on my remonstrating with her upon this subject, she acknowledged her
fault and gave me perfect satisfaction. Your goodneʃs of heart has drawn
upon you & Mrs. Dickenson more trouble than you were aware of; proceed
I intreat you to the end of the Tragedy, & let me owe the weight of my ob=
ligations
to no other Persons. I was formerly a volunteer in your service, &
have ever since enjoy'd the pleasing reflexion that I acquitted myself with
propriety, in this you can never fail when you are guided by that heavenly
maxim do as you wou'd be done by. No one woud hardly give credit to
to the horrid treatment I have met with from Mr. Holman; he is to be guarded
                                                         against



as a Person capable of every thing that is bad & you may be aʃsured he will
not fail showing himself on the first opportunity by laying claim to Mrs. Holmans
property when she is no longer in his way. What he may [lay] a legal claim to
I shall not oppose but Mrs. Mann will make but a feeble opposition to his
violence & shoud avoid all intercourse with him. With my best Compts. to
Mrs & Miʃs Dickenson, I remain
                                            My dear Sir,
                                                         Your faithful
                                                         & obliged humble Servant
                                                                   Frederick Hamilton
No. 1 Brock St. Bath
      May 30th. 1810.[1]

I was extremely surprised by the Contents of this letter
as I informed Mr Hamilton in my letter yesterday that
Mrs Holman had plenty of money -- Somebody must
have written to him on the subject.
                                                         J.D.
                             May 30





      John Dickenson Junr. Esqr.
No. 49 Welbeck Street
                             London



                             [2]
                             [3]
30 May 1810[4]

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


Notes


 1. This dateline appears to the left of the closing salutation.
 2. Remains of a postmark, reading 'E 31MY31 1810', indicating that the letter went through the post on 31 May 1810.
 3. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
 4. This annotation appears in the right margin, written vertically.

Normalised Text


My Dear Sir,

      I feel the most bitter regret that on the first notice of this impending
calamity I did not immediately come to London where I might have
been at hand to have administered in person every possible consolation
to the supreme object of my affection & to have given her my parting
embrace. In this afflicting situation, no other Person could answer every
necessary object. I am really shocked to perceive that her medical assistants
may not have received regular satisfaction for their attendance,
for I supposed that there might have been a sufficient fund in my dear
Daughter's hands under the management of Mrs. Mann, who it seems was
her Cash keeper, & to whom I referred you to answer every exigence that
might occur till I sent her a fresh supply, which I assure you has hitherto
largely anticipated her wants; whereas to my great confusion her Physicians
have been left to their own conclusions from whence their remuneration
was to come, I beg therefore that you will inform them with my
respects that due attention shall be paid to that object. As my Daughter
has been suddenly struck by the hand of Providence, she has been prevented
from communicating her necessities to me should any have really
existed, & on my part I have always felt great satisfaction in anticipating
her wants. Mann should have communicated to you what she
had in her hands belonging to Mrs. Holman, had she done this a supply
would have been sent to you in time to have answered every
                                                         purpose



It is my particular desire that every medical expense should be forthwith
accounted for according to each Person's attendance. It can be no inconvenience
to me as you perceive the money can be remitted at a day's notice. So
sudden a demand could not have been foreseen, I therefore cannot reproach
myself with having neglected my dear Daughter, who has been rendered
doubly so to me from the misfortunes she has suffered. I beg the favour that
you will call upon Mrs. Mann from me to lay before you the state of Mrs. Holmans
cash Account with her & to desire her to deliver the Balance into your hands. Though
I have a very high opinion of her integrity, yet this was a confidence that
Mrs. Holman knew I did not recommend; her argument was the trifling
advantage to be made of the interest of the money which Mrs. Mann negotiated
for her. A circumstance you will be surprised at, my poor Daughter was by
no means accurate in keeping an Account of the money I gave her & not long since
on my remonstrating with her upon this subject, she acknowledged her
fault and gave me perfect satisfaction. Your goodness of heart has drawn
upon you & Mrs. Dickenson more trouble than you were aware of; proceed
I entreat you to the end of the Tragedy, & let me owe the weight of my obligations
to no other Persons. I was formerly a volunteer in your service, &
have ever since enjoyed the pleasing reflexion that I acquitted myself with
propriety, in this you can never fail when you are guided by that heavenly
maxim do as you would be done by. No one would hardly give credit to
the horrid treatment I have met with from Mr. Holman; he is to be guarded
                                                         against



as a Person capable of every thing that is bad & you may be assured he will
not fail showing himself on the first opportunity by laying claim to Mrs. Holmans
property when she is no longer in his way. What he may lay a legal claim to
I shall not oppose but Mrs. Mann will make but a feeble opposition to his
violence & should avoid all intercourse with him. With my best Compliments to
Mrs & Miss Dickenson, I remain
                                            My dear Sir,
                                                         Your faithful
                                                         & obliged humble Servant
                                                                   Frederick Hamilton
No. 1 Brock Street Bath
      May 30th. 1810.






      John Dickenson Junior Esqr.
No. 49 Welbeck Street
                             London



                            
                            

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



 1. This dateline appears to the left of the closing salutation.
 2. Remains of a postmark, reading 'E 31MY31 1810', indicating that the letter went through the post on 31 May 1810.
 3. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
 4. This annotation appears in the right margin, written vertically.

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/1/4/2/24

Correspondence Details

Sender: Frederick Hamilton

Place sent: Bath

Addressee: John Dickenson

Place received: London

Date sent: 31 May 1810

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to John Dickenson. He bitterly regrets not setting out for London when he first heard of his daughter's illness, so that he could have given comfort to her '& to have given her my parting embrace'. The letter continues on matters relating to her medical supervision and medical expenses. It also refers to Mr Holman: Hamilton fears that he will not fail to show himself 'at the first opportunity by laying claim to Mrs. Holman[']s property when she is no longer in his way'.
    A note written in John Dickenson's hand at the bottom of the letter states he was surprised at the contents of this letter and that Mrs Holman had plenty of money.
    Dated at Bath.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 678 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: Anna Jones, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)

Transliterator: Sarah Wolff, 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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