Single Letter

HAM/1/4/3/28

Letter from Jane Holman to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


                             50 Mortimer Street, London.
                                                         June 8th: 1809
My dear Cousin,

      I began to be apprehensive, from your
long silence, that something was the mat-
ter
and am very sorry to find that my fears
were just. I am lately returned from
making a visit of eight weeks to my
dear Father
, and thought the time
was approaching when I should see you
in London, when I received your letter
saying that you have given up the idea
of coming, for this season. I am, however,
happy to find that you are recovered,
and that Mr: Dickenson and my Cousin
Louisa, are well. I am afraid the old
Gentleman
has been ill, by Mr: Dickenson's
long visit to him.      I have the pleasure
to say that I left my Father very well:
he was very much affected by the death of
poor Mr: Greville, and I was glad that it
so happened that I was with him at
the time. Both Lady Mansfield and Lord
Warwick
, were very attentive in writing
him preparatory letters, during the illneʃs



of Mr: Greville. -- I wrote to my Father
yesterday, and delivered your kind remem-
brance
. I fear he will not quit Bath, tho'
he does not like it: a removal he dreads
(very naturally) as a serious operation.
Were it not for that, I think he would
spend the remainder of his life in London,
which would be a circumstance at which
I should much rejoice.
      While I was in Herefordshire, about
four years ago, I amused myself with
translating into English Blank Verse, one
of the Tragedies of Count Alfieri; which
I suppose is what Mr: Morgan alludes to.
He never heard me read it; but may
have seen the manuscript, in the hands
of one or two people to whom I lent it --
Mrs: Peploe, ------ for one, fromto whom I
was indebted for the reading of Alfieri's
Works in their original language.
I have not read Miʃs Hamilton's “Cottagers
of Glenburnie”,[1] but shall do so, on your recom-
mendation
. I think her “Memoirs of Modern
Philosophers”,[2] very clever. She is, I believe, no



relation, though of Scotland. --
I have not heard any thing of Mrs: Garrick:
I suppose writing is become troublesome to
her, or you would, in all probability, have
had tidings of her. -- I was at two Concerts,
while I was at Bath, a private one at
Miʃs Wroughton's[3] and Mr: Rauzzini's Benefit,
at the Rooms;[4] at which latter, Mr: Braham
and Madame Catalani sung: I need add
no praise to that account. My Father
has not heard Mad: Catalani being afraid
of crouds. At the play I have been but
once since my return to town, and that
was on the occasion of Mr: Lewis's far[e]
well
, having been 36 years in the profeʃsion,
and not leaving, at this day, by many de-
grees
, his equal, on the Stage. He was
much agitated, and so were all his
friends. -- Covent-Garden new Theatre,
will, they say, positively open on the 11 th: of
September. What is to be done about re-
building
Drury-Lane, I don't know.
      Mr: B—— is still in the same place. Sad
work indeed, as you justly observe, has been
paʃsing, both in the moral and political world. The



Paper of to-day, however, states, that Bonaparte
has experienced a defeat on the Banks of the
Danube. --      Pray give my love to Mr:
Dickenson
and Louisa, and remember me to
Mrs: Bloʃset, &c. How come the De Salis's to be
Count and Counteʃs, all on a sudden?[5] I suppose



by inheritance. -- I am in expectation of
soon seeing, in town, some Irish friends of mine,
that I met at Bath. They went thence to Cheltenham;
and I hear one of the Daughters is married, en paʃsant.[6]
I don't know what to say to those quick elections, but am
sincerely interested for her. I must leave off now, having
scrawled over all my paper.      Very truly yours.
                                                                        Jane Holman.

Mrs: Dickenson[7]
      Leighton House
           Leighton Buzzard
                             Bedfordshire
Single[8]

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


Notes


 1. The Cottagers of Glenburnie: a Scottish tale (1808), by Elizabeth Hamilton. Story of a retired servant who seeks to improve the lives and morals of her distant relatives.
 2. Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800), by Elizabeth Hamilton: a novel responding to the Revolution Controversy of the 1790s and the debates about what roles women should occupy in English society.
 3. Wroughton was a patroness and long-time friend of Rauzzini. Richard Warner, Bath Characters, Or, Sketches from Life (London, 1808), has ‘Resin’ (Rauzzini) say of ‘Signora Rattana’ (Wroughton) that ‘our friendship is only Platonique’ (reference due to Kenneth James, ‘Venanzio Rauzzini and the search for musical perfection', Bath History 3, 90-113, History of Bath Research Group). We are grateful to Dr Chloe Valenti for confirming the identification of Miss Suzanne Wroughton and ascertaining her true birthdate.
 4. The Bath Assembly Rooms, designed by John Wood, the Younger, in 1769. Used as a venue for balls, concerts and gambling.
 5. As of April 1809, the De Salis's were given Royal Licence to use their titles in the UK as Counts of the Holy Roman Empire. See The London Gazette, April 8 to April 11, 1809 (Number 16244, p.469).
 6. French for 'in passing'.
 7. Postmark 'A JU 8 [1]809' to left of address panel when unfolded.
 8. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

Normalised Text


                             50 Mortimer Street, London.
                                                         June 8th: 1809
My dear Cousin,

      I began to be apprehensive, from your
long silence, that something was the matter
and am very sorry to find that my fears
were just. I am lately returned from
making a visit of eight weeks to my
dear Father, and thought the time
was approaching when I should see you
in London, when I received your letter
saying that you have given up the idea
of coming, for this season. I am, however,
happy to find that you are recovered,
and that Mr: Dickenson and my Cousin
Louisa, are well. I am afraid the old
Gentleman has been ill, by Mr: Dickenson's
long visit to him.      I have the pleasure
to say that I left my Father very well:
he was very much affected by the death of
poor Mr: Greville, and I was glad that it
so happened that I was with him at
the time. Both Lady Mansfield and Lord
Warwick, were very attentive in writing
him preparatory letters, during the illness



of Mr: Greville. -- I wrote to my Father
yesterday, and delivered your kind remembrance
. I fear he will not quit Bath, though
he does not like it: a removal he dreads
(very naturally) as a serious operation.
Were it not for that, I think he would
spend the remainder of his life in London,
which would be a circumstance at which
I should much rejoice.
      While I was in Herefordshire, about
four years ago, I amused myself with
translating into English Blank Verse, one
of the Tragedies of Count Alfieri; which
I suppose is what Mr: Morgan alludes to.
He never heard me read it; but may
have seen the manuscript, in the hands
of one or two people to whom I lent it --
Mrs: Peploe, for one, to whom I
was indebted for the reading of Alfieri's
Works in their original language.
I have not read Miss Hamilton's “Cottagers
of Glenburnie”, but shall do so, on your recommendation
. I think her “Memoirs of Modern
Philosophers”, very clever. She is, I believe, no



relation, though of Scotland. --
I have not heard any thing of Mrs: Garrick:
I suppose writing is become troublesome to
her, or you would, in all probability, have
had tidings of her. -- I was at two Concerts,
while I was at Bath, a private one at
Miss Wroughton's and Mr: Rauzzini's Benefit,
at the Rooms; at which latter, Mr: Braham
and Madame Catalani sang: I need add
no praise to that account. My Father
has not heard Madame Catalani being afraid
of crowds. At the play I have been but
once since my return to town, and that
was on the occasion of Mr: Lewis's farewell
, having been 36 years in the profession,
and not leaving, at this day, by many degrees
, his equal, on the Stage. He was
much agitated, and so were all his
friends. -- Covent-Garden new Theatre,
will, they say, positively open on the 11 th: of
September. What is to be done about rebuilding
Drury-Lane, I don't know.
      Mr: Bonaparte is still in the same place. Sad
work indeed, as you justly observe, has been
passing, both in the moral and political world. The



Paper of to-day, however, states, that Bonaparte
has experienced a defeat on the Banks of the
Danube. --      Pray give my love to Mr:
Dickenson and Louisa, and remember me to
Mrs: Blosset, &c. How come the De Salis's to be
Count and Countess, all on a sudden? I suppose



by inheritance. -- I am in expectation of
soon seeing, in town, some Irish friends of mine,
that I met at Bath. They went thence to Cheltenham;
and I hear one of the Daughters is married, en passant.
I don't know what to say to those quick elections, but am
sincerely interested for her. I must leave off now, having
scrawled over all my paper.      Very truly yours.
                                                                        Jane Holman.

Mrs: Dickenson
      Leighton House
           Leighton Buzzard
                             Bedfordshire
Single

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 1. The Cottagers of Glenburnie: a Scottish tale (1808), by Elizabeth Hamilton. Story of a retired servant who seeks to improve the lives and morals of her distant relatives.
 2. Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800), by Elizabeth Hamilton: a novel responding to the Revolution Controversy of the 1790s and the debates about what roles women should occupy in English society.
 3. Wroughton was a patroness and long-time friend of Rauzzini. Richard Warner, Bath Characters, Or, Sketches from Life (London, 1808), has ‘Resin’ (Rauzzini) say of ‘Signora Rattana’ (Wroughton) that ‘our friendship is only Platonique’ (reference due to Kenneth James, ‘Venanzio Rauzzini and the search for musical perfection', Bath History 3, 90-113, History of Bath Research Group). We are grateful to Dr Chloe Valenti for confirming the identification of Miss Suzanne Wroughton and ascertaining her true birthdate.
 4. The Bath Assembly Rooms, designed by John Wood, the Younger, in 1769. Used as a venue for balls, concerts and gambling.
 5. As of April 1809, the De Salis's were given Royal Licence to use their titles in the UK as Counts of the Holy Roman Empire. See The London Gazette, April 8 to April 11, 1809 (Number 16244, p.469).
 6. French for 'in passing'.
 7. Postmark 'A JU 8 [1]809' to left of address panel when unfolded.
 8. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

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/1/4/3/28

Correspondence Details

Sender: Jane Holman (née Hamilton)

Place sent: London

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Leighton Buzzard

Date sent: 8 June 1809

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mrs Jane Holman née Hamilton to Mary Hamilton, containing news on family and society. Frederick Hamilton is well but has been 'much affected' by the death of his relation, Mr Greville [Charles Francis Greville, mineralogist (1749-1809), Mary Hamilton's cousin]. Jane Holman would prefer it if he would live in London, but she writes that he will not leave Bath although he does not like it there. He sees moving as being 'a serious operation'.
    The letter also relates to literature and society. She notes that she has translated into 'English blank verse' one of the tragedies of Count Alifieri [an Italian dramatist]. Mary Hamilton had suggested that Jane Holman read Miss Hamilton's Cottages of Glenburnie [Elizabeth Hamilton, author (1756?-1816)]; Holman has already read her Memoirs of Modern Philosophers. She believes that Elizabeth Hamilton is 'no relation, though of Scotland'.
    Holman reports that she has not heard anything from Mrs Garrick [Eva Maria Garrick (née Veigel), dancer, (1724-1822), married the actor David Garrick], and has attended two concerts while in Bath, a private one and one in the Rooms, where she heard Madame Catalani sing. She has been to see only one play since her return to London, which was on the occasion of the actor Mr Lewis retiring from the theatre after thirty-six years. She notes that he and his friends were 'much agitated'. The Covent Garden theatre is to open on the 11th September, but she reports that she does not know what is to be done about the rebuilding of the Drury Lane Theatre.
    The letter ends with a report from the newspapers of the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte on the banks of the Danube [in the Battle of Aspern-Essling].
    Dated at 50 Mortimer Street [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: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester

Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo

Transliterator: Grace Ormerod, 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

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