Diplomatic Text
10. 10[1]
4553[2]
Taxal Chapel
le Frith Derbyshire
March 25th. 1789▼
I will write you a Note my dear
instead of a letter that I may have
some chance of a reply -- I want
much to know how you do after all
wch. I am certain you have suffered
during our most beloved & excellent
King's illneʃs and the Queens poignant
affliction wch. must have affected
the most insensible but deeply
wounded such a heart as yours --
God be praised our griefsadneʃs is turned
to joy! and I trust His Majesty
▼ will consider himself more than
he has done and endeavour to
preserve a life of such infinite value &
consequence. It does one good to
think of the overflowing happineʃs
our amiable & exemplary Queen and
the Princeʃses must feel -- May
they never again experience the
anguish of mind they have done!
Her Majesty was ever deserving of
the highest respect attachment & admiration, --
she must now not only be admired
respected & loved but revered as a
shining pattern of Christian piety,
for what else than a firm faith, &
reliance on he Supreme Being could
have supported her to act in the
manner she has doneid when under
the heavy preʃsure of such an affliction.
I have just now recd. a letter from Mrs-
Granville[3] with a particular acct- of
Mr. Waddington & am extremely pleased to find Mrs.
Waddington has so fair a prospect of
comfort & happineʃs; -- as I imagine
You hear oftenfrequently from her it would be
needleʃs for me to send you any
intelligence respecting her. If Mrs.
Astley is at Windsor pray remember
me very kindly to her -- What a fortunate
circumstance that our beloveddearest friend
Mrs. Delany did not live till the Kingshis Majesty's
illneʃs she certainly wd. have ------ died
------ of a broken heart long before
it pleased God he should recover.
If Mrs: Schwellenberg is at Windsor pray
ask her[4] Mrs S if she has recd. a letter from me,
I sent her one wch. I entrusted to a private
hand ye. begin̅ing of this Month -- I hope
she does not suffer so terriblycruelly in her health
as she used to do.
It will give me great pleasure to hear
that Yr. father is well -- dont fail to
remember me very cordially to him.
My love to Mr. & Mrs. Smelt wth. many
thanks to him for his friendly & ------ kind answerreply to my
letter wch. I recd. yesterday -- If Mr. Digby
is at W——the worthy Mr. Digby is wth. you do Mr. D & me ye. favor to
present our most affectionate regards to him,
do you not like Mr. Digby? he is a
Man deserving respect & love --
how rich you are to have both him
& Mr. Smelt.
Mr. D: insists upon my sending his
love to you -- he is very well as is our
little Darling -- whom I think you
will like for her own sake -- at least
I flatter myself so.
Adieu. most Affly. Yours I am ever most
Affly & faithfly Yours
M: Dickenson
I beg you will let me knowinform me if Mr. & Mrs-
Fisher are at W—— tell Mr. F Mr. D went to see him
last summer & was much disappointed not to find him at
home. I also wrote a letter to him to wch. I never recd. an ansr-
How is Mrs. de Luc? pray tell her & Mr. de Luc that I
have always ye. sincerest regard for them.
do me ye. favor to enquire of Mrs. Schwellenberg
after Genl. Freytag & Mrs. Hagerdorn.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Moved this annotation here from the right of the date.
2. Moved these four digits here from the left margin below the line ending ‘His Majesty’.
3. The letter is HAM/1/9/78.
4. Hamilton presumably intended to replace her by Mrs S., but her is not cancelled.
5. This address is written upside down.
Normalised Text
Taxal Chapel
le Frith Derbyshire
March 25th. 1789▼
I will write you a Note my dear
instead of a letter that I may have
some chance of a reply -- I want
much to know how you do after all
which I am certain you have suffered
during our beloved & excellent
King's illness and the Queens poignant
affliction which must have affected
the most insensible but deeply
wounded such a heart as yours --
God be praised our sadness is turned
to joy! and I trust His Majesty
▼ will consider himself more than
he has done and endeavour to
preserve a life of such infinite value &
consequence. It does one good to
think of the overflowing happiness
our amiable & exemplary Queen and
the Princesses must feel -- May
they never again experience the
anguish of mind they have done!
Her Majesty was ever deserving of
the highest respect attachment & admiration, --
she must now not only be admired
respected & loved but revered as a
shining pattern of Christian piety,
for what else than a firm faith, &
reliance on he Supreme Being could
have supported her to act in the
manner she did when under
the heavy pressure of such an affliction.
I have just now received a letter from Mrs-
Granville with a particular account of
Mr. Waddington & am extremely pleased to find Mrs.
Waddington has so fair a prospect of
comfort & happiness; -- as I imagine
You hear frequently from her it would be
needless for me to send you any
intelligence respecting her. If Mrs.
Astley is at Windsor pray remember
me very kindly to her -- What a fortunate
circumstance that our dearest friend
Mrs. Delany did not live till his Majesty's
illness she certainly would have died
of a broken heart long before
it pleased God he should recover.
pray
ask her Mrs Schwellenberg if she has received a letter from me,
I sent her one which I entrusted to a private
hand the beginning of this Month -- I hope
she does not suffer so cruelly in her health
as she used to do.
It will give me great pleasure to hear
that Your father is well -- don't fail to
remember me very cordially to him.
My love to Mr. & Mrs. Smelt with many
thanks to him for his friendly & kind reply to my
letter which I received yesterday -- If Mr. Digby
the worthy Mr. Digby is with you do Mr. Dickenson & me the favour to
present our most affectionate regards to him,
do you not like Mr. Digby? he is a
Man deserving respect & love --
how rich you are to have both him
& Mr. Smelt.
Mr. Dickenson insists upon my sending his
love to you -- he is very well as is our
little Darling -- whom I think you
will like for her own sake -- at least
I flatter myself so.
I am ever most
Affectionately & faithfully Yours
Mary Dickenson
I beg you will inform me if Mr. & Mrs-
Fisher are at Windsor tell Mr. Fisher Mr. Dickenson went to see him
last summer & was much disappointed not to find him at
home. I also wrote a letter to him to which I never received an answer
How is Mrs. de Luc? pray tell her & Mr. de Luc that I
have always the sincerest regard for them.
do me the favour to enquire of Mrs. Schwellenberg
after General Freytag & Mrs. Hagerdorn.
Miss Burney
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: Draft letter from Mary Hamilton to Frances Burney
Shelfmark: HAM/1/6/5/2
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Frances D'Arblay (née Burney)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 March 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Draft letter from Mary Hamilton to Fanny Burney, relating to the King's illness. The fair copy
can be seen in NYPL 526189(1).
Hamilton writes that she is certain that Burney has 'suffered during our
beloved & excellent King's illness and the Queen's progressing
affliction'. She expresses her joy at his return to health and her hopes
that he will 'preserve a life of such infinite vale & consequence.
The letter continues on the subject of the Queen and that she believes it
fortunate that Mrs Delany did not live to see the King ill [Mrs Delany
died in 1788] as she 'certainly w[oul]d of died of a broken heart long
before it pleased God'.
The draft letter continues on friends at Court such as Mr and Mrs Smelt, Mr Digby and Mr Fisher.
Dated at Taxal [Derbyshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 580 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 26 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: 27 February 2023