Single Letter

HAM/1/4/3/8

Letter from Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


                                                         London December 28th:



                                                         1786

My dear Mrs: Dickenson --

      Mr: Greville[1] din'd here last Friday, and
deliver'd your Letter to me. I am very glad to
hear you are as well as poʃsible -- indeed, I have
lately, had very good accounts of you, from your
friend, Miʃs Anne Clarke. Mrs: and Miʃs Glover are
come to Town for the Winter -- I have seen them --
they are both well. I was too young when I was in
Ireland, to have any acquaintance with Mrs: Preston --
We have the pleasure of knowing, and seeing frequent-
ly
, her Brother, Governor Hamilton.
      Our House is cover'd in, which is a good thing, for
I suppose, we may now expect frequent falls
of Snow -- We like this Situation better and better,
every Day -- it is certainly, a delightful one.



I remember you enquir'd after Mrs: Walkinshaw in
your last Letter but one -- I saw her the other
Day -- she was very well, and remarkably cheerful,
and agreeable. I saw the Dowager Lady Warwick,
lately -- she too, is very well. I intend to get a Frank
for this Letter, from Mr: Greville, whom I expect
to see to-morrow -- I wish you were here, for
we are to have a pleasant Music-Party, to-
morrow
Evening -- I think you wou'd like it.
      I had a Letter from my Sister, a little while
ago -- she and her Children were very well.
I hope Mr: Dickenson has receiv'd benefit from
the Bath Waters, which I conclude, he began drinking,
soon after he got to Bath. Don't you think Bath
a very pretty Place? I remember thinking it so;
and I have heard, that it is much improved,
since I left it. My sweet friend, Mrs: Siddons, is
quite well -- she has just got over the anxiety of
the Small-Pox with her youngest Child -- she chose
to inoculate him thus young, and I think she was
perfectly right, for the sooner the Small-Pox is



got over, the better -- I have had the pleasure of
seeing her perform, only twice this Season, as yet --
In Belvidera, in the Tragedy of Venice preserv'd,[2]
and in Hermione, in that of The Distreʃs'd Mother[3] --
it is unneceʃsary to say, she is as enchanting
as ever. My Brother is so grown, that, were
you to see him, you wou'd hardly know him --
I never saw him better than he is at present --
and he improves very much, in every respect.
We see him a great deal oftener, than we did,
when we liv'd in Bedford Square, we are so
considerably nearer to him. Lord and Lady Warwick
are not yet come to Town, but I hear they are
to come. -- Lady Stormont is to be with us to-mor-
row
, and is to bring William Murray with her,
who is at home, for the Christmas Holydays --
he is quite pleas'd with the Idea of coming here --
you know, it is always a great event to Chil-
dren
, to come out of an Evening. So you heard
of my speaking Italian -- I speak it now, with
great facility, I have so much practice -- I
have left off taking Leʃsons in it. I lately,



saw, a Lady, who made many Enquiries after you --
Mrs: Turton -- I met her one Evening, at a Party
that I was at. Tho, it is a very trite thing, I cannot
write to you at this Season, without making you
and Mr: Dickenson, the Compliments of it -- I wish
you, very many, and happy, returns of it.
My Father and Mother beg to be remember'd kindly
to you. My Mother says, she is quite happy that
you are to be under the care of Mr. Randall, for
that he has been for a long time, the most Pe emi-
nent
Person in his busineʃs, in Bath.
My Father and Mother beg to be very particu-
larly
remember'd to Mrs: Preston -- she is a great
favourite with them.
                             Adieu, dear Mrs: Dickenson, I am yours sincerely --

                                                         J: Hamilton.

We all beg kind Compts:
to Mr: Dickenson.

Miʃs Hamilton
Decbr. 1786[4]

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


Notes


 1. Presumably either of brothers Hon. Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809) or Hon. Robert Fulke Greville (1751-1824), cousins of Mary Hamilton.
 2. Belvidera, a character in the play Venice Preserv'd, by Thomas Otway (1652-1685).
 3. Hermione, a character in the play The Distrest Mother, by Ambrose Philips (1674-1749).
 4. These two lines appear at the bottom right of p.3, written upside down.

Normalised Text


                                                         London December 28th:



                                                        

My dear Mrs: Dickenson --

      Mr: Greville dined here last Friday, and
delivered your Letter to me. I am very glad to
hear you are as well as possible -- indeed, I have
lately, had very good accounts of you, from your
friend, Miss Anne Clarke. Mrs: and Miss Glover are
come to Town for the Winter -- I have seen them --
they are both well. I was too young when I was in
Ireland, to have any acquaintance with Mrs: Preston --
We have the pleasure of knowing, and seeing frequently
, her Brother, Governor Hamilton.
      Our House is covered in, which is a good thing, for
I suppose, we may now expect frequent falls
of Snow -- We like this Situation better and better,
every Day -- it is certainly, a delightful one.



I remember you enquired after Mrs: Walkinshaw in
your last Letter but one -- I saw her the other
Day -- she was very well, and remarkably cheerful,
and agreeable. I saw the Dowager Lady Warwick,
lately -- she too, is very well. I intend to get a Frank
for this Letter, from Mr: Greville, whom I expect
to see to-morrow -- I wish you were here, for
we are to have a pleasant Music-Party, tomorrow
Evening -- I think you would like it.
      I had a Letter from my Sister, a little while
ago -- she and her Children were very well.
I hope Mr: Dickenson has received benefit from
the Bath Waters, which I conclude, he began drinking,
soon after he got to Bath. Don't you think Bath
a very pretty Place? I remember thinking it so;
and I have heard, that it is much improved,
since I left it. My sweet friend, Mrs: Siddons, is
quite well -- she has just got over the anxiety of
the Small-Pox with her youngest Child -- she chose
to inoculate him thus young, and I think she was
perfectly right, for the sooner the Small-Pox is



got over, the better -- I have had the pleasure of
seeing her perform, only twice this Season, as yet --
In Belvidera, in the Tragedy of Venice preserved,
and in Hermione, in that of The Distressed Mother --
it is unnecessary to say, she is as enchanting
as ever. My Brother is so grown, that, were
you to see him, you would hardly know him --
I never saw him better than he is at present --
and he improves very much, in every respect.
We see him a great deal oftener, than we did,
when we lived in Bedford Square, we are so
considerably nearer to him. Lord and Lady Warwick
are not yet come to Town, but I hear they are
to come. -- Lady Stormont is to be with us to-morrow
, and is to bring William Murray with her,
who is at home, for the Christmas Holidays --
he is quite pleased with the Idea of coming here --
you know, it is always a great event to Children
, to come out of an Evening. So you heard
of my speaking Italian -- I speak it now, with
great facility, I have so much practice -- I
have left off taking Lessons in it. I lately,



saw, a Lady, who made many Enquiries after you --
Mrs: Turton -- I met her one Evening, at a Party
that I was at. Though, it is a very trite thing, I cannot
write to you at this Season, without making you
and Mr: Dickenson, the Compliments of it -- I wish
you, very many, and happy, returns of it.
My Father and Mother beg to be remembered kindly
to you. My Mother says, she is quite happy that
you are to be under the care of Mr. Randall, for
that he has been for a long time, the most eminent
Person in his business, in Bath.
My Father and Mother beg to be very particularly
remembered to Mrs: Preston -- she is a great
favourite with them.
                             Adieu, dear Mrs: Dickenson, I am yours sincerely --

                                                         Jane Hamilton.

We all beg kind Compliments
to Mr: Dickenson.

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



 1. Presumably either of brothers Hon. Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809) or Hon. Robert Fulke Greville (1751-1824), cousins of Mary Hamilton.
 2. Belvidera, a character in the play Venice Preserv'd, by Thomas Otway (1652-1685).
 3. Hermione, a character in the play The Distrest Mother, by Ambrose Philips (1674-1749).
 4. These two lines appear at the bottom right of p.3, written upside down.

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/1/4/3/8

Correspondence Details

Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)

Place sent: London

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Bath (certainty: medium)

Date sent: 28 December 1786

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Jane Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter updates Mary with news of her friends and family in London. Mrs Siddons's [Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) (1755-1831), famous actress, friend of Mary Hamilton] youngest child is just recovering from the smallpox inoculation. Jane reports that she has seen Siddons in the theatre twice this season – once as Belvidera in the 'Tragedy of Venice preserv'd' [Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway (1652-1685)], and again as Hermione in 'The Distress'd Mother' [The Distrest Mother by Ambrose Philips (1674-1749)]. Jane writes of learning Italian and speaking it now with some degree of service. The letter also relates to Mr Dickenson's health and the waters of Bath and refers to a Mr Randall, who is described as 'the most eminent Person in his business, in Bath'.
    Dated at London.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 662 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: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Adriana Pérez-Pazo, dissertation student, University of Vigo (submitted March 2015)

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: 18 August 2023

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