Diplomatic Text
My Dear Madam
You will ere this have heard
of the melancholy, tho' expected event which has
taken place in my Aunt Plowden's family,
in the death of very poor Cousin Loui, whose
long sufferings were terminated on Wednesday
Night last; & tho' we have to regret in common
with her own family, the loʃs of a most amiable
Being, we yet cannot but be thankful that
it has pleased the Almighty to take her to him=
=self, when we consider, that, as no human
skill could avert the fatal disorder, her death
has relieved her family from a sad, & hopeleʃs
state of anxiety & suspense! --
I regret that anything should have happen'd
to prevent my having the pleasure of attending
Miʃs Dickenson on the 20th: inst: but, putting
my own feelings out of the question, I am
sure you will see the impoʃsibility of my
aʃsisting on any joyful occasion, so imme=
diately
after the last sad scene will have taken
place in Devonshire Place! --
I beg you to aʃsure my dear Cousin Louisa,
of every kindest interest in her happineʃs, my
best wishes for which I shall hope to offer her
in person, in a few days; mean time
with my love & regards to her & Mr. Dickenson
& the affectt. remembrance of all my Family to
you & Yrs:, believe me to be
My dear Madam
Most sincerely, Yr: obliged & affect:
L:C:S:Hamilton
[1]
[2]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The right-hand column of this page is blank.
2. Postmark in black ink, dated 16 January.
3. A mile stamp with ‘HORNDEAN 62’ to the right of the address.
4. The number 8 has been written accross the address lines, indicating postage due.
5. Remains of a seal at the bottom of the page, in black wax.
Normalised Text
My Dear Madam
You will ere this have heard
of the melancholy, though expected event which has
taken place in my Aunt Plowden's family,
in the death of very poor Cousin Loui, whose
long sufferings were terminated on Wednesday
Night last; & though we have to regret in common
with her own family, the loss of a most amiable
Being, we yet cannot but be thankful that
it has pleased the Almighty to take her to himself
, when we consider, that, as no human
skill could avert the fatal disorder, her death
has relieved her family from a sad, & hopeless
state of anxiety & suspense! --
I regret that anything should have happened
to prevent my having the pleasure of attending
Miss Dickenson on the 20th: inst: but, putting
my own feelings out of the question, I am
sure you will see the impossibility of my
assisting on any joyful occasion, so immediately
after the last sad scene will have taken
place in Devonshire Place! --
I beg you to assure my dear Cousin Louisa,
of every kindest interest in her happiness, my
best wishes for which I shall hope to offer her
in person, in a few days; mean time
with my love & regards to her & Mr. Dickenson
& the affectionate remembrance of all my Family to
you & Yours, believe me to be
My dear Madam
Most sincerely, Your obliged & affectionate
Lucretia Charlotte Susanna Hamilton
Mrs: Dickenson
Devonshire Place
London
(32)
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 Lucretia Douglas-Hamilton to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/7/7
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lucretia Charlotte Susanna Briggs (née Douglas-Hamilton)
Place sent: Hambledon, Hampshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 15 January 1815
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Lucretia Charlotte Susanna Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. She writes on the sudden death of her cousin and the impossibility of her being able to wait on Louisa Dickenson (Mary's daughter) at her wedding on the 26 January because of this. She writes that she is sure that Mary can see the ‘impossibility of my assisting on any joyful occasion so immediately after the loss’. She sends her ‘kind wishes’ to Louisa Dickenson and hopes that she will be able to offer them in person in a few days.
Dated at Hambledon.
Length: 1 sheet, 250 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 3 August 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