Diplomatic Text
London December 21st:
1787.
My dear Cousin/
I had the Pleasure to receive your Letter
a little while ago, for which, I thank you. You give
a very satisfactory Acount of yourself, of Mr: Dickenson,
and of your little Daughter; and mention a Design,
which I hope you will not be prevented from putting
into Execution: I mean that of visiting us in the Spring.
I long to be introduc'd to my pretty Cousin. By the Bye,
you never told me whether she was like you, or Mr:
Dickenson. I have no Doubt of her being a very
good little Girl, though if you don't spoil her, you
will have great Merit, for Children at her age, are
so engaging, that it is difficult to refuse them their
own Way in almost any Thing. I shou'd make a pretty Governeʃs,
you'll say. My Brother is plac'd much to his own satis-
faction, as well as to that of my Father and Mother.
How long he will remain Abroad, is uncertain. I shall
not fail to tell him when I write, that you, and
Mr: Dickenson, desire to be remember'd to him./
My Sister is at present at Nancy: she rather chose
to spend the Winter there than at Geneva. She
lodges in the same House with her Friends Mr: & Mrs.
Foster, who are Abroad upon a similar Plan to her's --
Œconomy. The last letter we had from her, said, that
she and her Children were well, and that she lik'd
her Situation./ We are in great Confusion, just now,
as we remove into our new House to-morrow. It was
to have been ready for our Reception, at Michaelmas
last, but Builders hardly ever are punctual./
I shall keep your Engravings for you, till I see you,
as they wou'd make too large a Packet to put into
a Frank: besides, folding them, wou'd injure them.
We were very glad to see Mrs: Preston, though only for a
few Minutes, one Morning. I think her a very agree-
able Woman. So you are to spend some time with Mr:
and Mrs: Daniell, next Summer: I dare say, it will
be a pleasant Visit, for Mrs: Daniell is a most amia-
ble Woman./
I am very busy, (or rather have been,) learning a Part
which I am to play, at the Duke of Richmond's
Theatre.[1] It is Isabella, in the Comedy of the Wonder:[2]
I say I have been busy, because I know my Part pretty
perfectly now. I have rehears'd several Times, and
hope to acquit myself well; as I have been receiv'd
in the handsomest Manner poʃsible, by all the Parties
concern'd. The Play can't be perform'd till about the
Birth-day, because the Duke means to have a new
Theatre, which won't be finish'd sooner.
I have seen Mrs: Siddons two or three Times this Season.
She has been indispos'd, but is pretty well now.
I like Music as much as ever; and hope you will
find me improv'd, when you hear me sing.
We have had no Music Parties yet, this Winter, because
we have been in such Confusion, and Busineʃs, relatingowing
to the new House./
My Father and Mother beg to be kindly remember'd to you,
and Mr: Dickenson. They are much pleas'd to hear that
you are all so well, and that you are so happy.
This Letter will reach you in proper Time, for the
Direction on the Frank is right. I don't know how
I came to be so stupid as to mistake your Direction, when
I wrote last./
Adieu my dear Cousin -- Give my Compliments to
Mr: Dickenson, and believe me your's affectionately
J: Hamilton.
Decbr. 21st. 1787[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The Duke of Richmond had a purpose-built theatre at Richmond House for private theatricals involving his family and friends. It would have been highly improper for a gentry woman (such as Jane) to perform publicly. Even private theatricals could be considered morally dubious though, depending on the material, as Jane Austen depicts in the planned performance of Elizabeth Inchbald's Lover's Vows in Mansfield Park (1814), which facilitates the inappropriate romances and ultimate elopements of both Bertram sisters.
2. Susanna Centlivre's The Wonder: a Woman Keeps a Secret (1714).
3. This annotation is written upside down.
Normalised Text
London December 21st:
1787.
My dear Cousin/
I had the Pleasure to receive your Letter
a little while ago, for which, I thank you. You give
a very satisfactory Acount of yourself, of Mr: Dickenson,
and of your little Daughter; and mention a Design,
which I hope you will not be prevented from putting
into Execution: I mean that of visiting us in the Spring.
I long to be introduced to my pretty Cousin. By the Bye,
you never told me whether she was like you, or Mr:
Dickenson. I have no Doubt of her being a very
good little Girl, though if you don't spoil her, you
will have great Merit, for Children at her age, are
so engaging, that it is difficult to refuse them their
own Way in almost any Thing. I should make a pretty Governess,
you'll say. My Brother is placed much to his own satisfaction
, as well as to that of my Father and Mother.
How long he will remain Abroad, is uncertain. I shall
not fail to tell him when I write, that you, and
Mr: Dickenson, desire to be remembered to him./
My Sister is at present at Nancy: she rather chose
to spend the Winter there than at Geneva. She
lodges in the same House with her Friends Mr: & Mrs.
Foster, who are Abroad upon a similar Plan to her's --
Economy. The last letter we had from her, said, that
she and her Children were well, and that she liked
her Situation./ We are in great Confusion, just now,
as we remove into our new House to-morrow. It was
to have been ready for our Reception, at Michaelmas
last, but Builders hardly ever are punctual./
I shall keep your Engravings for you, till I see you,
as they would make too large a Packet to put into
a Frank: besides, folding them, would injure them.
We were very glad to see Mrs: Preston, though only for a
few Minutes, one Morning. I think her a very agreeable
Woman. So you are to spend some time with Mr:
and Mrs: Daniell, next Summer: I dare say, it will
be a pleasant Visit, for Mrs: Daniell is a most amiable
Woman./
I am very busy, (or rather have been,) learning a Part
which I am to play, at the Duke of Richmond's
Theatre. It is Isabella, in the Comedy of the Wonder:
I say I have been busy, because I know my Part pretty
perfectly now. I have rehearsed several Times, and
hope to acquit myself well; I have been received
in the handsomest Manner possible, by all the Parties
concerned. The Play can't be performed till about the
Birthday, because the Duke means to have a new
Theatre, which won't be finished sooner.
I have seen Mrs: Siddons two or three Times this Season.
She has been indisposed, but is pretty well now.
I like Music as much as ever; and hope you will
find me improved, when you hear me sing.
We have had no Music Parties yet, this Winter, because
we have been in such Confusion, and Business, owing
to the new House./
My Father and Mother beg to be kindly remembered to you,
and Mr: Dickenson. They are much pleased to hear that
you are all so well, and that you are so happy.
This Letter will reach you in proper Time, for the
Direction on the Frank is right. I don't know how
I came to be so stupid as to mistake your Direction, when
I wrote last./
Adieu my dear Cousin -- Give my Compliments to
Mr: Dickenson, and believe me your's affectionately
Jane Hamilton.
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/1/4/3/11
Correspondence Details
Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 21 December 1787
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Jane Hamilton to Mary Hamilton, concerning family matters. Jane writes to ask if Louisa resembles Mary or her husband and notes that 'children of her age are so engaging that it is difficult to refuse them their own way in almost anything'. Mrs Stratford is spending the winter at Nancy rather than Geneva, lodging at the same house as her friends, Mr and Mrs Foster, who are also abroad for reasons of economy. Jane and her parents are due to move to their new house tomorrow. They had meant to move sooner but the unreliability of builders had held them up. She also writes of being busy learning the part of Isabella in a play called Comedy of the Wonder [Susanna Centlivre's The Wonder: a Woman Keeps a Secret (1714)] to be performed at the Duke of Richmond's Theatre. She has rehearsed several times and learnt her part very well, but the play cannot be performed until the Duke's new theatre has been completed.
Dated at London.
Length: 1 sheet, 608 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited 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: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 29 July 2020)
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