Diplomatic Text
Mr. Farhill &
Bishop Fisher of Exeter
22d Janry- 1781
I have just finished
Julia de Roubigné:[1] I am delighted
with it beyond measure; the second
volume is I think far preferable to
the first; this may however arise
from my Love of Episode: the Incidents
however are more numerous & more
interesting -- I coud scarcely help
giving a Tear to Yambu[2] & the
Catastrophe made my heart palpitate
as much as if I had been
concerned in the Tragedy. The end
Conclusion is a natural one
in short I think it a delightful
Novel. I gave your Watch to Mr.
Miller, he said it coud not be
ready for you in leʃs than a
fortnight. I told him you wanted
it in a Week. his Reply was that
the Impatience of the Ladies pre
vented them from ever having good
watches: He thought you had been
an exception to the general Rule.
I told him a Fortnight woud do.
I hear nothing, I see nothing
I mean to pay my respects to
Ld Napier tomorrow morn. Adieu
believe me most sincerely your's
I aʃsist the Philosopher in his
most abstruse Studies & yet I am to
be seen in every place of public
amusement and diʃsipation. The Charms
of the Woman of Fashion are heightened
by my presence & I am of advantage
[a]nd comfort to the lowest orders. of
[m]ankind. My Existence is in general
short duration & my decay proforml
to the Benefit which others received from
me. With me the Statesman consults for
the good of his Country & the Divine
for the honor of Religion, with me who
am in every Scene of nocturnal
Riot and Debauchery. Notwithstanding
this I am very frequently admitted even
to your Private Parties & I may without
vanity aʃsert that whenever I leave
them your Smiles immediately dis
appear.[3]
Miʃs Hamilton
Queen's Lodge[4]
Windsor
[5]
[6]
▼
x Mr Farhills letters[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Henry Mackenzie (1777) Julia de Roubigné: A Sentimental Novel. In A Series of Letters.
2. In Julia de Roubigné, Yambu is an enslaved African prince who the hero, Savillon, encounters on his uncle's plantation in Martinique.
3. A riddle, suggesting several possible answers, of which the most obvious is 'candle'.
4. The address is crossed by a large manuscript number 2 in black ink, denoting postage due.
5. Bishop mark in black ink, dated 22 January.
6. Tear from a seal or gummed wafer.
7. This annotation is written vertically in the left margin.
Normalised Text
22d January
I have just finished
Julia de Roubigné: I am delighted
with it beyond measure; the second
volume is I think far preferable to
the first; this may however arise
from my Love of Episode: the Incidents
however are more numerous & more
interesting -- I could scarcely help
giving a Tear to Yambu & the
Catastrophe made my heart palpitate
as much as if I had been
concerned in the Tragedy. The
Conclusion is a natural one
in short I think it a delightful
Novel. I gave your Watch to Mr.
Miller, he said it could not be
ready for you in less than a
fortnight. I told him you wanted
it in a Week. his Reply was that
the Impatience of the Ladies prevented
them from ever having good
watches: He thought you had been
an exception to the general Rule.
I told him a Fortnight would do.
I hear nothing, I see nothing
I mean to pay my respects to
Lord Napier tomorrow morning Adieu
believe me most sincerely your's
I assist the Philosopher in his
most abstruse Studies & yet I am to
be seen in every place of public
amusement and dissipation. The Charms
of the Woman of Fashion are heightened
by my presence & I am of advantage
and comfort to the lowest orders. of
mankind. My Existence is in general
short duration & my decay proforml
to the Benefit which others received from
me. With me the Statesman consults for
the good of his Country & the Divine
for the honour of Religion, with me who
am in every Scene of nocturnal
Riot and Debauchery. Notwithstanding
this I am very frequently admitted even
to your Private Parties & I may without
vanity assert that whenever I leave
them your Smiles immediately disappear
.
Miss Hamilton
Queen's Lodge
Windsor
▼
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 John Farhill to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/7/4/3
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Farhill
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Windsor
Date sent: 22 January 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from John Farhill to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to a book
Farhill is reading and general news on repairing a watch and planning a
visit to Lord Napier.
Length: 1 sheet, 304 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 27 October 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