Diplomatic Text
[1]
Kew 19th. Septr
1782
My dear Madam
I think myself very much
obliged by the favor of your Letter & the
elegant little Copy of verses enclosd; they are
neat and feminine; one Stanza particularly
strikes me for its simplicity & tenderneʃs.
I am sorry to find that a subject which I
esteemd innocent, is by you considerd as
of so black a nature as to sully the
purity of your Paper. I however think your
Judgement is hardly fair; the materials on
which it was formd, were very imperfect
and ill arrangd. If I denied a Lady the
bodyily strength of a Lion or the mental
Power of a Newton, I still considerd
her as endued[2] with Qualities of
equal Estimation & in her Sphere of
much greater Consequence. I never pre
sum'd to warn your Sex against a Flight
to Parnaʃsus, altho I think you must
allow that a Lady flutt'ring in the air
woud be no very comely sight -- I wishd
merely to detain her on Earth with a
Liberty of ranging wherever she pleasd on
English Ground; & do you really then
think the Limit too narrow? I desird
you to suspend your Opinion till you
saw a correct Copy, which I shall now
be happy to shew you : my other Verses
are not yet proper for inspection, in
truth they are scarcely to be calld my
own since the Subject is borrowd : I
am not satisfied with the imitation,
such as it is however, it shall always
be at your Service -- I am myself
ever pleasd to know how a Friend
thought at any period of time, I wishd
therefore to have received some Produc
tion of Miʃs H instead of Mrs
Sheridans Verses, whatever may be their merit.
Mr Fisher has represented to me your Situa
tion at Windsor ; it requires very great Stea
dineʃs of mind to be content & great Health
of Body to endure the fatigue of it : If it
is poʃsible for any one to be content, you
are, I think, that Person -- but I fear you
are not sufficiently careful of your health;
dont huff me & Ill be silent on this Subject
Indeed my dear Miʃs Hamilton [I] did not[3]
[4]
------ Lodge
[Wind]sor
[5]
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter is here placed in its correct chronological position with other letters by Farhill, differing from the catalogue sequence, which reflects an earlier uncertainty about its authorship and a slight association with John Fisher.
2. ‘To invest with a power or quality, a spiritual gift, etc. Often in passive to be endued with = to be possessed of (a certain quality)’ (OED s.v. endue | indue v. 9a. Accessed 21-01-2021).
3. The rest of this page has been cut away.
4. The left-hand side of the page has been cut away, removing part of the address.
5. The address is crossed to indicate postage due.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Kew 19th. September
1782
My dear Madam
I think myself very much
obliged by the favour of your Letter & the
elegant little Copy of verses enclosed; they are
neat and feminine; one Stanza particularly
strikes me for its simplicity & tenderness.
I am sorry to find that a subject which I
esteemed innocent, is by you considered
of so black a nature as to sully the
purity of your Paper. I however think your
Judgement is hardly fair; the materials on
which it was formed, were very imperfect
and ill arranged. If I denied a Lady the
bodily strength of a Lion or the mental
Power of a Newton, I still considered
her as endued with Qualities of
equal Estimation & in her Sphere of
much greater Consequence. I never presumed
to warn your Sex against a Flight
to Parnassus, although I think you must
allow that a Lady fluttering in the air
would be no very comely sight -- I wished
merely to detain her on Earth with a
Liberty of ranging wherever she pleased on
English Ground; & do you really then
think the Limit too narrow? I desired
you to suspend your Opinion till you
saw a correct Copy, which I shall now
be happy to show you : my other Verses
are not yet proper for inspection, in
truth they are scarcely to be called my
own since the Subject is borrowed : I
am not satisfied with the imitation,
such as it is however, it shall always
be at your Service -- I am myself
ever pleased to know how a Friend
thought at any period of time, I wished
therefore to have received some Production
of Miss Hamilton instead of Mrs
Sheridans Verses, whatever may be their merit.
Mr Fisher has represented to me your Situation
at Windsor ; it requires very great Steadiness
of mind to be content & great Health
of Body to endure the fatigue of it : If it
is possible for any one to be content, you
are, I think, that Person -- but I fear you
are not sufficiently careful of your health;
don't huff me & I'll be silent on this Subject
Indeed my dear Miss Hamilton I did not
------ 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/1/7/6/11
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Farhill
Place sent: Kew
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Windsor
Date sent: 19 September 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from John Farhill to Mary Hamilton. The writer is certainly Farhill (HAM/1/7/4), though the signature has been removed. The letter relates to poetry. Farhill thanks Hamilton for her letter
and for her 'elegant little copy of verse'. He describes the verses as
'neat and feminine' and details one verse that particularly interests
him. He notes his differing views to Hamilton on the subject of women and
writes that 'If I denied a Lady the bodily strength of a Lion or the
mental powers of a Newton, I still considered her as endeared with
qualities of equal estimation & in her sphere of much greater
Consequence'.
Farhill mentions that Mr Fisher has told him of Hamilton's position at
Windsor and notes that 'it takes very great strength of mind to be
content & great Health of Body, to endure the fatigue of it'.
Length: 1 sheet, 369 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: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 28 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: 7 February 2022