Diplomatic Text
August 1786[1]
My Dear Cousin --
In the Letter that Mr: Dickenson was so
good as to write to my Father, he mention'd from
you that you thought I was very long of answer-
-ing a Letter you wrote me from Warwickshire --
Now I am a little angry with you, for supposing
me so negligent, instead of concluding that your
Letter has miscarried, which was the fact -- I
hope you will make me amends for the loʃs of it,
and for the pretty opinion you have had of me as
a Correspondent, by writing me a long Answer
to this. My Father begg'd I wou'd mention that
he had written to Mr: Dickenson to thank him
for the Brace of Grouse, in case his Letter shou'd
not have reach'd him, as he by mistake had it directed
to Taxall, Cheshire, instead of Derbyshire -- he inform'd
Mr: Dickenson in that Letter, that we were go-
-ing to remove to No: 248 Oxford-Street.
I correspond with Miʃs Glover, and have the pleasure
of telling you, that her health is considerably better
this Summer than it used to be -- She said in
her last Letter to me that she was quite well,
and my Mother (since that,) saw Mrs: Glover in
Town, who told her that she never knew any Person
receive more benefit than Miʃs Glover had, from
James's Powders[2] -- her complaint was found to be
bilious -- It is a pity she shou'd ever be indispos'd,
for she is a very clever and most amiable young
Woman -- she is one of those whose friendship may
be depended upon. Miʃs Clarkes were at Sunning
Hill for a little while, and were as well as
cou'd be expected, considering the affliction they
had sustain'd in the loʃs of Mrs: Jackson -- I don't
know when I have been more shock'd at the death
of a Person whom I was not intimately acquainted with,
than I was at her's -- she was such a loʃs to her family,
and so pleasing a Woman./ I had a long Letter from
my sister a few Days ago -- She and her Children are
very well. My Brother (who you know is at Ken-
-sington,) is very well also -- he and a large
Party of his Companions, were here last Friday,
to celebrate his Birth-day, which was on Thursday
the 17th: Inst., but as we always have Music
of a Friday, it was kept on that Day -- I aʃsure
you he does not forget either you or Mr: Dickenson --
you are both great favourites of his.
My Father is going to build a House, or rather
is building it, at the upper end of Oxford Street
looking into Hyde-Park -- the House he has
taken for a Year is next Door to the one that
is growing -- it is a beautiful Situation.
We remove tomorrow./
I am fonder than ever of Music, and have been
in Town all this Summer taking Leʃsons of it.
My Father and Mother beg to be kindly remember'd
to you and Mr: Dickenson, to whom I beg you
will present my best Compliments -- and I remain
my dear Cousin yours affectionately
J: Hamilton.
Bedford Square London.
August 25th: 1786.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The letter is naturally ascribed to 'Miss Hamilton', the title by which Jane Holman would have been known between the marriage of her elder sister Elizabeth (1777) and her own (1798).
2. Dr James's Fever Powder, a medicine patented by the English physician Robert James in 1746. It claimed to cure fevers and various other maladies.
Normalised Text
My Dear Cousin --
In the Letter that Mr: Dickenson was so
good as to write to my Father, he mentioned from
you that you thought I was very long of answering
a Letter you wrote me from Warwickshire --
Now I am a little angry with you, for supposing
me so negligent, instead of concluding that your
Letter has miscarried, which was the fact -- I
hope you will make me amends for the loss of it,
and for the pretty opinion you have had of me as
a Correspondent, by writing me a long Answer
to this. My Father begged I would mention that
he had written to Mr: Dickenson to thank him
for the Brace of Grouse, in case his Letter should
not have reached him, as he by mistake had it directed
to Taxall, Cheshire, instead of Derbyshire -- he informed
Mr: Dickenson in that Letter, that we were going
to remove to No: 248 Oxford-Street.
I correspond with Miss Glover, and have the pleasure
of telling you, that her health is considerably better
this Summer than it used to be -- She said in
her last Letter to me that she was quite well,
and my Mother (since that,) saw Mrs: Glover in
Town, who told her that she never knew any Person
receive more benefit than Miss Glover had, from
James's Powders -- her complaint was found to be
bilious -- It is a pity she should ever be indisposed,
for she is a very clever and most amiable young
Woman -- she is one of those whose friendship may
be depended upon. Miss Clarkes were at Sunning
Hill for a little while, and were as well as
could be expected, considering the affliction they
had sustained in the loss of Mrs: Jackson -- I don't
know when I have been more shocked at the death
of a Person whom I was not intimately acquainted with,
than I was at her's -- she was such a loss to her family,
and so pleasing a Woman./ I had a long Letter from
my sister a few Days ago -- She and her Children are
very well. My Brother (who you know is at Kensington
,) is very well also -- he and a large
Party of his Companions, were here last Friday,
to celebrate his Birthday, which was on Thursday
the 17th: Instant, but as we always have Music
of a Friday, it was kept on that Day -- I assure
you he does not forget either you or Mr: Dickenson --
you are both great favourites of his.
My Father is going to build a House, or rather
is building it, at the upper end of Oxford Street
looking into Hyde-Park -- the House he has
taken for a Year is next Door to the one that
is growing -- it is a beautiful Situation.
We remove tomorrow./
I am fonder than ever of Music, and have been
in Town all this Summer taking Lessons of it.
My Father and Mother beg to be kindly remembered
to you and Mr: Dickenson, to whom I beg you
will present my best Compliments -- and I remain
my dear Cousin yours affectionately
Jane Hamilton.
Bedford Square London.
August 25th: 1786.
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 Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/3/6
Correspondence Details
Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: low)
Date sent: 25 August 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Jane Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. She reports that Miss Glover's health had improved [she was suffering from a 'bilious' complaint] and that Mrs Glover had said that she had never known of anyone receiving more benefit from James's Powders [patented medicine (1746) known as 'Dr James's Fever Powder', used as a cure for many different conditions] than her daughter. The letter relates to various family matters and to the new house Frederick Hamilton is building in Oxford Street (see HAM/1/4/2/3). A house has been taken next door to the building plot for one year and the family will move into it tomorrow.
Dated at Bedford Square [London].
Length: 1 sheet, 526 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 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Katie Ashworth, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2016)
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