Single Letter

HAM/1/6/2/5

Letter from Elizabeth Vesey to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


                                                         5
From Mrs Vesey           To Miʃs Hamilton
Margate 15th Augt 1783[1]

      Tho I have out lived the use of Pen & Ink
I can not refuse myself the pleasure of
thanking my Dear Miʃs Hamilton for Her
most obliging agreeable Letter -- & kind remembrance
of Her wandring Friends, -- I feel also a great
d---deal that you & your sweet Companions hate
the deserted Vis a Vis,[2] was I in London I
shou'd never open the Blinds here I see
for ever Families dislodging & Strangers
thtaking their Place without ever enquiring
who they are very well convinced that I
shall never match the midnight Visiters
any where out of Clargis Street -- the bulk
of the Company here are as much unknown
to me as if I was at the Cape -- there is
certainly the beautiful nymphs & a great Show of
Carriages & you wou'd soon know every
lodg worth knowing -- the Dowgr Portland
was a great loʃs indeed but I am rejoiced
to hear she has received so much benefit
there are a few however whose Company I like much



we have a good House with a large Room & window
that look over buildings to the Au Sea -- I
dare saybelieve you have often said how happy
are the Veseys howenjoying the cool Breeze
wafted from Ireland -- alas poor Veseys
were panting for breath & one of them I
believe will never recover it the Glaʃs
at jamaica height & the learned said Barometer
& Thermometer gakept equal pace which
was the mark that preceded the Sicilian
Earth Quakes[3] which I may venture to tell
you as chilling cold has now taken place
I thank Heaven Mr Vesey is well I believe
I may flatter myself he will not have any more
illnes the warm Sea bath he is obliged to --
the Place I think very Picturesque a
high Beech over the Sea were many Timber
Yards give Benches where the Contemplative
might be lull'd by the dashing of the
Tyde & you might uninterupted indulge
your reveries -- you wou'd réve Reve & I



& I shou'd Sleep for the Sea has never
but one Story to tell except when it is
visited by Shiprack & Storm -- the airing
Grounds are is thein the most beautiful State
of Culivation the Garden Colours of
Purple & yellow without a Weed not a
hibisk[4] lost -- the Sea washing the Coast
Kingsgate which is a vast up pretended
Ruin of Monastic & Gothic buildings & Towers
are scaterd over a & is a receʃs upon
a Concave Beech in every plot Shelterd
from the Winds -- very pretty Villages
& tufts of Wood the Town of craʃy Streets
which do not promise any thing has
numberles Coffe's Houseses Bookseller Shops
& Balconys that project of over the
Sea -- Mrs Handcock has not been so well
as I wish -- fare well for to night adieu
my Dr Miʃs Hamilton ever y- obliged
                             Affe Vesey

Recd. 15th. August 1783 in
Eʃsex





                            

To
      Miʃs Hamilton[5]

[6]
                             Vesey

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


Notes


 1. This line is written vertically at the top left of p.1.
 2. Mary Hamilton refers to the Veseys as 'our Vis a Vis Neighbours' in both HAM/2/9 p.90 and HAM/2/10 p.21.
 3. Probably a reference to destructive earthquakes earlier that year (see ‘1783 Calabrian earthquakes’, Wikipedia).
 4. Possibly a version of hibiscus.
 5. This is written vertically in the middle of the page.
 6. Remains of seal, in red wax.

Normalised Text


                                                        



      Though I have out lived the use of Pen & Ink
I can not refuse myself the pleasure of
thanking my Dear Miss Hamilton for Her
most obliging agreeable Letter -- & kind remembrance
of Her wandering Friends, -- I feel also a great
deal that you & your sweet Companions hate
the deserted Vis a Vis, was I in London I
should never open the Blinds here I see
for ever Families dislodging & Strangers
taking their Place without ever enquiring
who they are very well convinced that I
shall never match the midnight Visitors
any where out of Clargis Street -- the bulk
of the Company here are as much unknown
to me as if I was at the Cape -- there is
certainly beautiful nymphs & a great Show of
Carriages & you would soon know every
lodge worth knowing -- the Dowager Portland
was a great loss indeed but I am rejoiced
to hear she has received so much benefit
there are a few however whose Company I like much



we have a good House with a large Room & window
that look over buildings to the Sea -- I
dare believe you have often said how happy
are the Veseys enjoying the cool Breeze
wafted from Ireland -- alas poor Veseys
were panting for breath & one of them I
believe will never recover it the Glass
at jamaica height & the learned said Barometer
& Thermometer kept equal pace which
was the mark that preceded the Sicilian
Earth Quakes which I may venture to tell
you as chilling cold has now taken place
I thank Heaven Mr Vesey is well I believe
I may flatter myself he will not have any more
illness the warm Sea bath he is obliged to --
the Place I think very Picturesque a
high Beach over the Sea where many Timber
Yards give Benches the Contemplative
might be lulled by the dashing of the
Tide & you might uninterrupted indulge
your reveries -- you would Reve



& I should Sleep for the Sea has never
but one Story to tell except when it is
visited by Shipwreck & Storm -- the airing
Grounds are in the most beautiful State
of Cultivation the Garden Colours of
Purple & yellow without a Weed not a
hibisk lost -- the Sea washing the Coast
Kingsgate which is a vast pretended
Ruin of Monastic & Gothic buildings & Towers
scattered over a recess upon
a Concave Beach in every plot Sheltered
from the Winds -- very pretty Villages
& tufts of Wood the Town of crazy Streets
which do not promise any thing has
numberless Coffee Houses Bookseller Shops
& Balconies that project over the
Sea -- Mrs Handcock has not been so well
as I wish -- fare well for to night adieu
my Dear Miss Hamilton ever your obliged
                             Affectionate Vesey






                            

To
      Miss Hamilton


                            

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. This line is written vertically at the top left of p.1.
 2. Mary Hamilton refers to the Veseys as 'our Vis a Vis Neighbours' in both HAM/2/9 p.90 and HAM/2/10 p.21.
 3. Probably a reference to destructive earthquakes earlier that year (see ‘1783 Calabrian earthquakes’, Wikipedia).
 4. Possibly a version of hibiscus.
 5. This is written vertically in the middle of the page.
 6. Remains of seal, in red wax.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Elizabeth Vesey to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/6/2/5

Correspondence Details

Sender: Elizabeth Vesey (née Vesey, later Handcock)

Place sent: Margate

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 15 August 1783

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Vesey to Mary Hamilton. She writes that there is so much coming and going in Margate that she is forever seeing families moving away and 'Strangers taking their Place without even enquiring who they are'. If she were in 'deserted' London, she notes, 'I shou[l]d never open the Blinds'.
    Original reference No. 5.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 470 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 2016/17 provided by The John Rylands Research Institute.

Research assistant: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester

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

Transliterator: Andrew Gott, dissertation student, University of Manchester (submitted June 2012)

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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