Diplomatic Text
1791
Somerset Street July 7th
You have hit upon it My Dear
Niece when you suppose the Numerous
diʃsipations (for they scarcely deserve
a better Name) have prevented me
from answering your kind Letter
sooner. I can not tell exactly when
some little busineʃs still remaining
to be done will permit me to leave
London but I shou'd imagine in
about a fortnight -- I will let you
know as soon as I do my self &
I shall be happy to paʃs a few days
with you, many I can not, as I have
other visits to make & we go off,
certainly the 1st. of September
& I must be in Town a few days before
I go
in order to take leave &c.
If I knew any thing that
was not perfectly right in the
Cavr. Palombo be aʃsured I woud
tell it you. I have known him
many years & in my opinion and
the opinion of all his Friends a
more strictly honest man does not
exist, and indeed he is the only one
of my Naples Friends that I cou'd
venture to answer for. I know it
will be at first a little difficult
for Miʃs D. to relish the Naples
life but I am convinced that after
a year or two she will like it very
much & when she has had time
to introduce a little Cleanlineʃs in
her House of which no Neapolitan
has
has the least idea. You may be sure
that My family will contribute all
in their power to her happineʃs.
Sr. W.H. and E.H. appearing to
be seperate Must be so in your house
and I mean to bring with me a Man
& Maid Servants -- when we ------------------
explain the whole but you ------------
afraid Emma woud not be ------------
If I cou'd not explain all to y --- [1] ------
satisfaction -- I flatter myse[lf] ------
will think her worthy of every ------
I coud poʃsibly do for her, but yo[u] ------ [2]
comprehend that Sr. W.H is one ------ [3]
and the Kings Minister at Napl[es]
another Adieu my Dear Niece
Yrs. very affecly WH.
P.S.
My best respects to all your family --
Palombo is very busy about a Travelling
chaise
Typed by F.
Taxal Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
[4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Somerset Street July 7th
You have hit upon it My Dear
Niece when you suppose the Numerous
dissipations (for they scarcely deserve
a better Name) have prevented me
from answering your kind Letter
sooner. I can not tell exactly when
some little business still remaining
to be done will permit me to leave
London but I should imagine in
about a fortnight -- I will let you
know as soon as I do my self &
I shall be happy to pass a few days
with you, many I can not, as I have
other visits to make & we go off,
certainly the 1st. of September
& I must be in Town a few days before
I go
in order to take leave &c.
If I knew any thing that
was not perfectly right in the
Chevalier Palombo be assured I would
tell it you. I have known him
many years & in my opinion and
the opinion of all his Friends a
more strictly honest man does not
exist, and indeed he is the only one
of my Naples Friends that I could
venture to answer for. I know it
will be at first a little difficult
for Miss Dickenson to relish the Naples
life but I am convinced that after
a year or two she will like it very
much & when she has had time
to introduce a little Cleanliness in
her House of which no Neapolitan
has the least idea. You may be sure
that My family will contribute all
in their power to her happiness.
Sir William Hamilton and Emma Hart appearing to
be separate Must be so in your house
and I mean to bring with me a Man
& Maid Servants -- when we ------------------
explain the whole but you ------------
afraid Emma would not be ------------
If I could not explain all to y --- ------
satisfaction -- I flatter myself ------
will think her worthy of every ------
I could possibly do for her, but you ------
comprehend that Sir William Hamilton is one ------
and the Kings Minister at Naples
another Adieu my Dear Niece
Yours very affectionately William Hamilton
P.S.
My best respects to all your family --
Palombo is very busy about a Travelling
chaise
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 Sir William Hamilton to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/4/26
Correspondence Details
Sender: Sir William Hamilton
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 7 July 1791
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Sir William Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to Mary’s future brother-in-law, 'Count Palombo' [Hamilton spells Palombi as Palombo in his letters], and a visit to Hamilton with Emma Lyon. Sir William writes that if he knew anything that was not 'perfectly right' in the Count Palombo then he would inform her. He has known him for many years and in his 'opinion and the opinion of all his friends a more strictly fervent man does not exist, and indeed he is the only one of my Naples friends that I could continue to answer for'. Sir William writes that it will be difficult for Miss Dickenson to settle in Naples initially but is convinced that after a year or more 'she will like it very much' and Hamilton may be sure that 'my family will contribute all in their power to her happiness'.
Sir William writes on the possibility of spending a few days with his niece after his business has been completed. He and Emma will 'appear [...] to be separate must be so in your house' but he notes that he is sure that Hamilton will find Emma 'worthy of everything I could possibly do for her [...] but you must comprehend that Sir W.H. is one thing, & the King’s Minister at Naples, another'.
Dated at Somerset Street [London].
Length: 1 sheet, 372 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: Christine Wallis, 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