Diplomatic Text
Dear Madam
I am infinitely obliged to you for your
kind Enquiries respecting My Dear Lady Mansfield
who has continued progreʃsively ------ recovering
daily since this day Se'night when She was brought
to bed -- Our Little Girl thrives & is as well as can
be -- She is very healthy & very stout, I am told particularly
so, & I am also told, & inclined to beleive, that She is
pretty --
Your Friend Caroline, is very well, much grown, &
much improv'd, & ------ delighted with the many
kind Enquiries & meʃsages which your Letter has
convey'd to Her, but I fear it will not be in Her
power, nor ours, to promise a speedy Visit to you,
Mr. Dickenson, & your Little Louisa --
Mr. Henry Murray has long left Mr. Nicholson, & has
made progreʃs at Westminster, where He is now
in the Shell, a situation of some distinction --
He is much grown & goes on as well as can be --
Lord & Lady Mansfield are now in Yorkshire in their
Way to Scotland -- Mr. Charles Murray is with them,
& a pleasant Companion they have got --
Captn George Murray having made a very succeʃsful
beginning in Lord Cathcarts Regt. of Life Guards, is
now collecting Cavalry knowledge at the Camp near
Windsor with the flower of the British Cavalry, & as
Aid de Camp to Genl. Dundas,[1] with whom all the
manoeuvres practiced at this Camp originate -- an
appointment most flattering to Him --
My Sister is well & at Broadstairs[2] --
My Mother My Brother Charles, & Mr. Fredk. Hamilton
are also quite well --
I am happy that your house is so comfortable &
that it has lately been renderd so completely so.
Lady Mansfield joins me in kind Wishes to you &
Mr: Dickenson, & Believe me always,
My Dear Madam
Yours most Truely & Faithfully
Robt. F. Greville
No. 1 Gt Cumberland St
Augst. 4th[3]
1798
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Of several army generals with the surname Dundas, the most likely candidate is General Sir David Dundas (1735-1820), known for manuals of officer training (Wikipedia).
2. Lady Frances Harpur, Greville's only surviving sister, was a friend and correspondent of Hamilton's and had written to her from Broadstairs in 1796 (see D2375/F/G/2/1(59)).
3. The dateline appears to the left of the closing salutation and signature.
Normalised Text
Dear Madam
I am infinitely obliged to you for your
kind Enquiries respecting My Dear Lady Mansfield
who has continued progressively recovering
daily since this day Sennight when She was brought
to bed -- Our Little Girl thrives & is as well as can
be -- She is very healthy & very stout, I am told particularly
so, & I am also told, & inclined to believe, that She is
pretty --
Your Friend Caroline, is very well, much grown, &
much improved, & delighted with the many
kind Enquiries & messages which your Letter has
conveyed to Her, but I fear it will not be in Her
power, nor ours, to promise a speedy Visit to you,
Mr. Dickenson, & your Little Louisa --
Mr. Henry Murray has long left Mr. Nicholson, & has
made progress at Westminster, where He is now
in the Shell, a situation of some distinction --
He is much grown & goes on as well as can be --
Lord & Lady Mansfield are now in Yorkshire in their
Way to Scotland -- Mr. Charles Murray is with them,
& a pleasant Companion they have got --
Captain George Murray having made a very successful
beginning in Lord Cathcarts Regiment of Life Guards, is
now collecting Cavalry knowledge at the Camp near
Windsor with the flower of the British Cavalry, & as
Aide de Camp to General Dundas, with whom all the
manoeuvres practised at this Camp originate -- an
appointment most flattering to Him --
My Sister is well & at Broadstairs --
My Mother My Brother Charles, & Mr. Frederick Hamilton
are also quite well --
I am happy that your house is so comfortable &
that it has lately been rendered so completely so.
Lady Mansfield joins me in kind Wishes to you &
Mr: Dickenson, & Believe me always,
My Dear Madam
Yours most Truly & Faithfully
Robert Fulke Greville
Number 1 Great Cumberland Street
August 4th
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 Robert Fulke Greville to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/5/3/3
Correspondence Details
Sender: Robert Fulke Greville
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 4 August 1798
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Robert Fulke Greville to Mary Hamilton, concerning family news. Greville updates Hamilton on the recovery of his wife, Louisa [Countess of Mansfield, his first cousin], from the birth of her daughter. He reports that his daughter is 'very healthy and very stout', and he has been informed that she is also 'pretty'. The letter continues with news on family members including the news that Captain George Murray is reported to have done very well in Lord Cathcart's Regiment and is now gaining 'Cavalry knowledge at the Camp near Windsor with the flower of the British Cavalry', where he is aide-de-camp to a General Dundas.
Length: 1 sheet, 315 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: Marta Nicole Maffioletti, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted November 2014)
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