Diplomatic Text
October 11th: 1806.
The Hill Top -- near Weobley
Herefordshire.
My dear Cousin,
It is so very long since I wrote to you, that I am
almost ashamed to addreʃs you. Were you with
me, I could account in various ways, for my
silence, by explaining plans and prospects, that
I meant to communicate, and that fell to
the ground instead of affording matter for a
letter, &c. -- While I deferreddeferred from day to day (which
by the by) is the worst way in the world) writing
to you, my return to England took place, at a
very short notice; for that was the effect of
a change of plan. I had intended, as Mr: Holman's
engagement in Dublin is renewed for this Winter,
remaining there, while he transacted what
was to be done in England; but on reflection,
I found I must come over, on account of busineʃs
relative to this place, for which we wished to
find a tenant -- Mr: Holman's having accepted thea-
trical engagements, made it uncertain what
time he would have to arrange any thing. -- Now,
to a part of my chapter of grievances, since I
came home. In the first place, I was very ill
the former period of my coming, owing to a fauʃse
couche. I had no suspicion of my situation, or I
should not have ventured upon the journey and
voyage. In the next place, we have not suc-
ceeded in finding a tenant; the consequence
of which, is, that I shall have to remain here,
great part of the Winter, instead of returning
to Dublin with Mr: Holman, according to my firm
expectation. I have other uneasineʃses, that I
would tell you if we were together; but that I
don't like to write -- the worst of all, however,
is being obliged to be so much separated from
Mr: Holman. Pour comble de malheur, I am
going to lose Mann, who is very shortly to be mar-
ried. She will be most eligibly established; there-
fore I ought to rejoice; but parting from a
friend of eleven years' tried attachment, very
much damps the satisfaction I should otherwise
feel. -- I fear you will say that I might
as well have kept silence a little longer, as write
such a letter of lamentation and egotism. To speak
truth, I am far from entertaining, at present;
for my spirits are quite lowered by one croʃs
circumstance or another. Mr: Holman is now
at Bristol: I expect him home about the 22d:,
on his way to Ireland. We only came over in
August; so his vacation is but a short one.
It is high time, now, I think, to ask after
you, Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin, Louisa.
I hope you are all well. I have not heard
of your being at Cheltenham (where Mr: Holman
was, the other day); -- I therefore flatter myself
your health has not needed it.
My Father and Mother got tired of Cheltenham,
and have taken a house at Bath. Do you
ever hear any thing of them? I suppose not;
for I recollect they shewed no very extraordinary
Kindneʃs when you were at Cheltenham.
However, these are subjects better discuʃsed verbal-
ly, than by letter -- if worth discuʃsing, any how;
which, perhaps, you will agree, admits of doubt.
I hope you will soon let me hear from you,
notwithstanding my seeming negligence. I believe
I shall be here some months: at the same time,
my movements have been, for some years, so
extremely uncertain, that I should not be
surprised at any other arrangement. One con-
solation is, that none can be so disagreeable
as the present; which you will easily un-
derstand; as I believe, living in one place, while
Mr: Dickenson was in another, would not
at all please you. Pray remember me
affectionately, to him and my Cousin -- I hope
she practises her singing. --
I should almost hesitate sending you this dull
scrawl, but that any thing is better than
the continued appearance of inattention.
Hoping very soon to have a letter containing
good accounts of you all, I remain,
my dear Cousin,
most sincerely yours.
Jane Holman.
P.S. How is Mr: Dickenson senr:? I hope, well.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
October 11th: 1806.
The Hill Top -- near Weobley
Herefordshire.
My dear Cousin,
It is so very long since I wrote to you, that I am
almost ashamed to address you. Were you with
me, I could account in various ways, for my
silence, by explaining plans and prospects, that
I meant to communicate, and that fell to
the ground instead of affording matter for a
letter, &c. -- While I deferred from day to day (which
by the by) is the worst way in the world) writing
to you, my return to England took place, at a
very short notice; for that was the effect of
a change of plan. I had intended, as Mr: Holman's
engagement in Dublin is renewed for this Winter,
remaining there, while he transacted what
was to be done in England; but on reflection,
I found I must come over, on account of business
relative to this place, for which we wished to
find a tenant -- Mr: Holman's having accepted theatrical
engagements, made it uncertain what
time he would have to arrange any thing. -- Now,
to a part of my chapter of grievances, since I
came home. In the first place, I was very ill
the former period of my coming, owing to a fausse
couche. I had no suspicion of my situation, or I
should not have ventured upon the journey and
voyage. In the next place, we have not succeeded
in finding a tenant; the consequence
of which, is, that I shall have to remain here,
great part of the Winter, instead of returning
to Dublin with Mr: Holman, according to my firm
expectation. I have other uneasinesses, that I
would tell you if we were together; but that I
don't like to write -- the worst of all, however,
is being obliged to be so much separated from
Mr: Holman. Pour comble de malheur, I am
going to lose Mann, who is very shortly to be married
. She will be most eligibly established; therefore
I ought to rejoice; but parting from a
friend of eleven years' tried attachment, very
much damps the satisfaction I should otherwise
feel. -- I fear you will say that I might
as well have kept silence a little longer, as write
such a letter of lamentation and egotism. To speak
truth, I am far from entertaining, at present;
for my spirits are quite lowered by one cross
circumstance or another. Mr: Holman is now
at Bristol: I expect him home about the 22d:,
on his way to Ireland. We only came over in
August; so his vacation is but a short one.
It is high time, now, I think, to ask after
you, Mr: Dickenson, and my Cousin, Louisa.
I hope you are all well. I have not heard
of your being at Cheltenham (where Mr: Holman
was, the other day); -- I therefore flatter myself
your health has not needed it.
My Father and Mother got tired of Cheltenham,
and have taken a house at Bath. Do you
ever hear any thing of them? I suppose not;
for I recollect they showed no very extraordinary
Kindness when you were at Cheltenham.
However, these are subjects better discussed verbally
, than by letter -- if worth discussing, any how;
which, perhaps, you will agree, admits of doubt.
I hope you will soon let me hear from you,
notwithstanding my seeming negligence. I believe
I shall be here some months: at the same time,
my movements have been, for some years, so
extremely uncertain, that I should not be
surprised at any other arrangement. One consolation
is, that none can be so disagreeable
as the present; which you will easily understand
; as I believe, living in one place, while
Mr: Dickenson was in another, would not
at all please you. Pray remember me
affectionately, to him and my Cousin -- I hope
she practises her singing. --
I should almost hesitate sending you this dull
scrawl, but that any thing is better than
the continued appearance of inattention.
Hoping very soon to have a letter containing
good accounts of you all, I remain,
my dear Cousin,
most sincerely yours.
Jane Holman.
P.S. How is Mr: Dickenson senior? I hope, well.
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
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/1/4/3/17
Correspondence Details
Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)
Place sent: Weobley, Herefordshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard (certainty: low)
Date sent: 11 October 1806
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mrs Jane Holman née Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to Jane's returning to England from Dublin on account of business, specifically the finding of a tenant. Her husband is unable to do so, as he has renewed his engagement at a theatre in Dublin for the Winter season and is unsure as to when he can get back to England. He is in Bristol at the moment and is expected home on the 22nd before he travels again to Dublin.
The letter continues on more general news. Jane reports that she is to lose Mrs Mann, a friend of eleven years, to marriage and that it is a good match, so she should rejoice for her, but the loss 'damps the satisfaction [she] should otherwise feel'.
Dated at The Hill Top, near Weobley, Herefordshire.
Length: 1 sheet, 694 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: 2 November 2021