Diplomatic Text
Stanton. Bury St: Edmund's
Suffolk.
Dear Mrs: Dickenson,
I am in a new Habitation, as you will
perceive by the Top of this Letter. I have been
here near a Fortnight, and am very well pleased
with our little Place: it is pleasant either for
walking or riding, and the House is very comfortable.
We proposingpropose staying here till November. We have
not yet seen all our Neighbours, for the Election
has much engaged most of them, hitherto. That Busineʃs
is terminated now, however. Sir John Rous[1] and Sir Chas:
Bunbury,[2] carried the Election by a great Majority, a-
gainst Sir Gerard Vanneck.[3] My Father went to
Ipswich to vote for Sir Charles Bunbury.
I hope you, Mr: Dickenson, and the dear little Girl,
have been perfectly well, since I last heard from
you. I long to see my pretty little Cousin, who I
dare say, improves daily.
My Brother is with his Regiment (the 10th: Dragoons -- )
at Croydon. The Fatigue of military Duty disagreed
with him a little, at first; but he is now, quite
well, and I hope and believe, will find no more
Inconvenience from it. My Sister and her Children,
were well when I last heard of them.
My Father and Mother are quite pleased with
this Place; which I am very glad of, as that makes
some Amends to my Father, for his disadvantageous
Exchange.
I dined in Company with Mrs: Siddons, a few Days
before I came here. She has been in a most
perilous State, but is vastly better; and Sir Lucas Pepys
says she will soon be quite well. Mr: Kemble is
now, Proprietor of the Theatre at Liverpool; so,
Summer brings no Rest to him: however, he goes through
all his Occupations very succeʃsfully. The Operas are not
yet over in London. The Number subscribed for, is out,
but Gallini[4] has a few Nights exclusive of the Subscription,
because that is clear Gain. He really ought to make
something, for I think this last Season cannot have
been profitable to him, considering the smallneʃs of
the Theatre, and the great Price he gave Marchesi
I fear we shall not have Marchesi next ------------
is engaged at Venice.
Sir William Hamilton is to be in England in the
Spring: I am very glad of it, for I wish much, to
renew my Acquaintance with him. Have I any
chance of seeing you in London, in the Course of the
Season? I hope I need not say how happy it wou'd
make me. My Father and Mother beg to be affectionate
ly remember'd to you and Mr: Dickenson, to whom I
beg you will likewise present my best Regards; and I remain,
my dear Cousin,
sincerely & affectionately yours.
J: Hamilton.
Mrs: Dickenson[5]
Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Sir John Rous, MP for Suffolk and 1st Earl of Stadbroke, 6th Baronet (1750-1827). Known as Lord Rous from 1796 to 1821.
2. Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, 6th Baronet (1740–1821), MP for Suffolk.
3. Sir Gerard Vanneck, 2nd Baronet (c1743-1791), a British merchant and Member of Parliament.
4. Sir John Andrew Gallini (born Giovanni Andrea Battista Gallini) (1728-1805), Italian dancer, choreographer and impresario.
5. Postmark 'BURY ST. EDMUND'S' on left side of address panel.
6. The address appears in the middle of the page when unfolded.
Normalised Text
Stanton. Bury St: Edmund's
Suffolk.
Dear Mrs: Dickenson,
I am in a new Habitation, as you will
perceive by the Top of this Letter. I have been
here near a Fortnight, and am very well pleased
with our little Place: it is pleasant either for
walking or riding, and the House is very comfortable.
We propose staying here till November. We have
not yet seen all our Neighbours, for the Election
has much engaged most of them, hitherto. That Business
is terminated now, however. Sir John Rous and Sir Charles
Bunbury, carried the Election by a great Majority, against
Sir Gerard Vanneck. My Father went to
Ipswich to vote for Sir Charles Bunbury.
I hope you, Mr: Dickenson, and the dear little Girl,
have been perfectly well, since I last heard from
you. I long to see my pretty little Cousin, who I
dare say, improves daily.
My Brother is with his Regiment (the 10th: Dragoons -- )
at Croydon. The Fatigue of military Duty disagreed
with him a little, at first; but he is now, quite
well, and I hope and believe, will find no more
Inconvenience from it. My Sister and her Children,
were well when I last heard of them.
My Father and Mother are quite pleased with
this Place; which I am very glad of, as that makes
some Amends to my Father, for his disadvantageous
Exchange.
I dined in Company with Mrs: Siddons, a few Days
before I came here. She has been in a most
perilous State, but is vastly better; and Sir Lucas Pepys
says she will soon be quite well. Mr: Kemble is
now, Proprietor of the Theatre at Liverpool; so,
Summer brings no Rest to him: however, he goes through
all his Occupations very successfully. The Operas are not
yet over in London. The Number subscribed for, is out,
but Gallini has a few Nights exclusive of the Subscription,
because that is clear Gain. He really ought to make
something, for I think this last Season cannot have
been profitable to him, considering the smallness of
the Theatre, and the great Price he gave Marchesi
I fear we shall not have Marchesi next ------------
is engaged at Venice.
Sir William Hamilton is to be in England in the
Spring: I am very glad of it, for I wish much, to
renew my Acquaintance with him. Have I any
chance of seeing you in London, in the Course of the
Season? I hope I need not say how happy it would
make me. My Father and Mother beg to be affectionately
remembered to you and Mr: Dickenson, to whom I
beg you will likewise present my best Regards; and I remain,
my dear Cousin,
sincerely & affectionately yours.
Jane: Hamilton.
Mrs: Dickenson
Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
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/1/4/3/14
Correspondence Details
Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)
Place sent: Stanton, near Bury St Edmunds
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 4 July 1790
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Jane Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter is written from Frederick Hamilton's new living in Stanton, which Jane finds very pleasing. They have not met all their neighbours at present, because of the election which has taken up many of her neighbours' time. Sir John Rous [MP for Suffolk, 1st Earl of Stadbroke, 6th Baronet (1750-1827), known at Lord Rous from 1796 to 1821] and Sir Charles Bunbury [MP for Suffolk, 6th Baronet of Bunbury and Stanney, Cheshire (1740-1821), married Sarah Lennox, they divorced in 1776] carried the election by a majority against Sir Gerard Vanneck. Her father travelled to Ipswich to vote for Bunbury. Robert Hamilton is with his regiment [the 10th Dragoons] at Croydon. He initially found military duty tiring, but his sister hopes that he now finds it more agreeable. Sir William Hamilton is to travel to England next spring and she hopes to renew his acquaintance.
The letter is also concerned with society and cultural news of London. Jane Hamilton dined with Mrs Siddons before she left London, and her health had greatly improved. Her brother, Mr Kemble [John Philip (1757-1823), actor], is now the 'proprietor of the theatre at Liverpool, so Summer brings no rest to him, however he goes through all his occupations very successfully'. The Operas are not yet over and the 'number subscribed for, is out'. She reports that Gallini has a few nights that are not part of the subscription and she hopes he makes a profit from this, as she does not think that last season was very profitable, 'considering the smallness of the Theatre, and the great Price he gave Marchesi'.
Dated at Stanton [Suffolk]
Length: 1 sheet, 466 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Nicole Tamer, 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