Diplomatic Text
[1]
24th. Novbr. 1783
Queen's Lower Lodge
Windsor
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
Miʃs Goldsworthy desires me to return her
thanks to You, for Your obliging Note, and it
gives her great pleasure to hear You are well
and happy -- she at present is in one of
her Old attacks on her Chest, and put on
a second blister last Night, which quite
disables her from writing -- but cou'd not
hear the Dutcheʃs of Portland was to be here
to day without giving you this inteligence.
I must must now beg to say a word or two
on my own account -- which is to say how
much real pleasure it gives me to hear
You are Well and happy, in the society of those
friends -- of Kindred Merit with Your own,
who know how to distinguish it in You,
and cherish it for thier own, and Your
sake likewise --
how very unpleasant must have
been your sensations, to be under the same Roof
with people You once loved (and will always
I dare say) with so much fondneʃs, and not to
see them -- I own I felt for you on hearing
it -- but such are the changes of this life --
I very much wish to see You. Your dear
Pʃs Sophia -- is taking her leʃson of Music --
and looks like a little Angel, with her attentive
sensible countenance -- she does not know I
am writing to You -- I asked her just now
if she remembered You “O yes / indeed she
said” and coloured quite scarlet -- “pray
give my love to hammy if ever You see
her again” -- there is never any news
here, You know -- but Pʃs Amilia is the very
sweetest creature that ever was seen --
We are to have an Air Balloon let off
in the Garden this Morning at one oclock --
it is to be but a small one -- You see
we are creeping in the fashion --
Adieu my dear Miʃs Hamilton I wish
I had any other inteligence worth communicating
but you are in the center of inteligence and
information, and we in the Faubourg[2] of
sameneʃs, which has continued (among other
good th[i]ngs) the same sentiments of
aff[ectio]n and esteem I ever felt for
you, and hope Your more brilliant
and pleasurable situation, has not effaced from
Your memory a person You was always kind
and obliging too when here, I am with perfect
Esteem My dear Miʃs Hamiltons
obliged Friend and humble Svt
L Cheveley
Lower Lodge
24th Novr -- [3]
Miʃs Hamilton
at the Dutcheʃs of
Portlands --
Bulstrode
[4]
Chevelyey
Cheveley[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Hamilton notes receipt of this letter in her diary (HAM/2/5 p.38).
2. ‘A portion of a town or city, lying outside the gates; a suburb’ (OED s.v. faubourg. Accessed 08-11-2022).
3. This dateline appears to the left of the signature.
4. Remains of a seal in red wax.
5. This annotation is written vertically in the right-hand margin.
Normalised Text
My Dear Miss Hamilton
Miss Goldsworthy desires me to return her
thanks to You, for Your obliging Note, and it
gives her great pleasure to hear You are well
and happy -- she at present is in one of
her Old attacks on her Chest, and put on
a second blister last Night, which quite
disables her from writing -- but could not
hear the Duchess of Portland was to be here
to day without giving you this intelligence.
I must must now beg a word or two
on my own account -- which is to say how
much real pleasure it gives me to hear
You are Well and happy, in the society of those
friends -- of Kindred Merit with Your own,
who know how to distinguish it in You,
and cherish it for their own, and Your
sake likewise --
how very unpleasant must have
been your sensations, to be under the same Roof
with people You once loved (and will always
I dare say) with so much fondness, and not to
see them -- I own I felt for you on hearing
it -- but such are the changes of this life --
I very much wish to see You. Your dear
Princess Sophia -- is taking her lesson of Music --
and looks like a little Angel, with her attentive
sensible countenance -- she does not know I
am writing to You -- I asked her just now
if she remembered You “O yes indeed she
said” and coloured quite scarlet -- “pray
give my love to hammy if ever You see
her again” -- there is never any news
here, You know -- but Princess Amilia is the very
sweetest creature that ever was seen --
We are to have an Air Balloon let off
in the Garden this Morning at one o'clock --
it is to be but a small one -- You see
we are creeping in the fashion --
Adieu my dear Miss Hamilton I wish
I had any other intelligence worth communicating
but you are in the centre of intelligence and
information, and we in the Faubourg of
sameness, which has continued (among other
good things) the same sentiments of
affection and esteem I ever felt for
you, and hope Your more brilliant
and pleasurable situation, has not effaced from
Your memory a person You was always kind
and obliging to when here, I am with perfect
Esteem My dear Miss Hamiltons
obliged Friend and humble Servant
Louisa Cheveley
Lower Lodge
24th November --
Miss Hamilton
at the Duchess of
Portlands --
Bulstrode
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 Louisa Cheveley to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/7/2/20
Correspondence Details
Sender: Louisa Laetitia Cheveley (née Nevin)
Place sent: Windsor
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Gerrards Cross
Date sent: 24 November 1783
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Louisa Cheveley to Mary Hamilton, relating to news of friends and the Royal Family. Cheveley writes that Miss Goldsworthy sends her thanks for her Hamilton's note but is unable to write at present as she is suffering from 'one of her old attacks on her chest'. A 'second blister was put on her last night which quite disables her from writing' but asks that Cheveley inform her that the Duchess of Portland is to visit the Queen's Lodge today.
Cheveley is delighted to hear that Hamilton is well and in the society of 'friends of Kindred Merit with your own'. She reports that Princess Sophia is taking her music lesson and looks a 'little angel' as she concentrates. Cheveley asked the Princess if she remembers Hamilton and she blushed and replied that she did and asked Cheveley to give her love to 'Hammy'. Princess Amelia is described as the 'sweetest creature that ever was'.
Cheveley also reports that an air balloon is to be let off in the Garden that morning, 'you see we are creeping in the fashions'. Cheveley wishes she had greater intelligence to communicate to Hamilton but notes that Hamilton is in the centre of intelligence rather than her.
Dated at the Lower Lodge, [Windsor].
Length: 1 sheet, 412 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: Francesca Criscuolo, MA student, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) (submitted 15 August 2022)
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 8 November 2022)
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 December 2022