Diplomatic Text
April 9th -- 1785
My dear Miʃs Hamilton
I did not doubt but that you would
feel very sincerely for the heavy Stroke
that it has pleas'd God to Strike
with us with -- but more particularly
for the Unhappy Parents of the most
Lovely Child that ever Parents were
bleʃs'd with -- Dr & Mrs de Salis. &
my Mother & I are all very sensible
of yr goodneʃs & Compaʃsion --
Dr de Salis has not been well for
some time & Suffers very dreadfully from
a Rhumatism in his Face & teeth --
he however Exerts himself for the
sake of his Afflicted Wife beyond what
I thought human nature Capable of. & I must
Acknowledge the high Sense I have of
his merit by the Constant restraint he
puts upon himself when I have been for
5 years a Witneʃs to his affection &
tenderneʃs towards his dear little Girl
who was of a disposition to attach all
those who liv'd with her. beyond what I
could have conceiv'd -- my Mother is better
this day in health than she has been --
I was much alarm'd for the Consequences
of such a Calamity at her Advanc'd Age.
& she Grieves beyond what one sd expect
at her time of life when the feelings are
Seldom so quick -- & for my self I can
only add that I lov'd that sweet Child
as much as I am capable of loving any
thing in this World -- but I do not put
my self in Competition with her Parents
her poor Mother is now forc'd to Sleep
by Opiates every Night. & whilst the effect
Continues she is Stupefy'd but as soon as
it goes off. then she is so miserable as
makes me despair of her getting over it.
if we did not know that he who has
inflicted the Wound is mighty to
heal -- the only human Consolation we can
ever receive is a Melancholy one -- but
we are aʃsur'd by two Skilful Physi
chians that the poor lovely creature
could never have been scar'd -- that
this disorder was caus'd by some unseen
defect, which is inexplicable -- & so far
we must be thankful that she is gone
in her State of Innocence -- & if she
had Continued as promising as she was
3 Months ago -- the Stroke wd have
been still more heavy -- I am ever my
dear Miʃs Hamilton yr ever Affect
& oblig'd Friend
DBloʃset --
Bloʃset Apr—— 1785
[2]
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Normalised Text
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April 9th --
My dear Miss Hamilton
I did not doubt but that you would
feel very sincerely for the heavy Stroke
that it has pleased God to Strike
us with -- but more particularly
for the Unhappy Parents of the most
Lovely Child that ever Parents were
blessed with -- Dr & Mrs de Salis. &
my Mother & I are all very sensible
of your goodness & Compassion --
Dr de Salis has not been well for
some time & Suffers very dreadfully from
a Rheumatism in his Face & teeth --
he however Exerts himself for the
sake of his Afflicted Wife beyond what
I thought human nature Capable of. & I must
Acknowledge the high Sense I have of
his merit by the Constant restraint he
puts upon himself when I have been for
5 years a Witness to his affection &
tenderness towards his dear little Girl
who was of a disposition to attach all
those who lived with her. beyond what I
could have conceived -- my Mother is better
this day in health than she has been --
I was much alarmed for the Consequences
of such a Calamity at her Advanced Age.
& she Grieves beyond what one should expect
at her time of life when the feelings are
Seldom so quick -- & for my self I can
only add that I loved that sweet Child
as much as I am capable of loving any
thing in this World -- but I do not put
my self in Competition with her Parents
her poor Mother is now forced to Sleep
by Opiates every Night. & whilst the effect
Continues she is Stupefied but as soon as
it goes off. then she is so miserable as
makes me despair of her getting over it.
if we did not know that he who has
inflicted the Wound is mighty to
heal -- the only human Consolation we can
ever receive is a Melancholy one -- but
we are assured by two Skilful Physicians
that the poor lovely creature
could never have been scared -- that
this disorder was caused by some unseen
defect, which is inexplicable -- & so far
we must be thankful that she is gone
in her State of Innocence -- & if she
had Continued as promising as she was
3 Months ago -- the Stroke would have
been still more heavy -- I am ever my
dear Miss Hamilton your ever Affectionate
& obliged Friend
Dorothy Blosset --
Clarges Street --
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 Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/8/2/10
Correspondence Details
Sender: Dorothy Blosset
Place sent: London (certainty: high)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 9 April 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton. She discusses the death of
Henrietta de Salis [(1779-1785), child of Henry Jerome De Salis and his
wife Julia Henrietta Blosset, grand-daughter of Mrs Blosset].
Length: 1 sheet, 407 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 14 December 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