Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

HAM/1/8/2/16

Letter from Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


▼
                                                         Wing -- Leighton
                                                         Buzzard -- May 10th- 1797

My dearest Mrs Dickenson

We are all much obliged to you, for the kind Letter
you wrote to us. & are very impatient for a repetition
of the same treat. but I have now a great favor to
beg of you. & that is -- as you see a great deal of
Lord & Lady Cremorne. you will get them to inform you
of the real state of Ireland. the Accounts in the
Publick papers are tremendous. on the other hand
some people say that they hope matters will not come to
extremities, & that Government will get the better --
I am afraid to write again -- so are my Sisters, for
this reason -- we might hazard an opinion -- or they might
interpret something -- into an opinion -- we have no reason to
doubt the integrity of our Agent. & he has employments
under Government. besides being an Army Agent. so that we
are in no fear of his writing -- but it will be a great ease


to my mind if I can be relieved from this suspense. if it is
ever so bad. let me know the worst -- my dear sister dare
brook worse than any  ------  in the Neighbourhood -- they both
absolutely sent me to bed last Night in such an agitation of
mind, that in spite of Camphire Julep.[1] I could not sleep for
hours. the accounts in the Sun of this 2d Mutiny, [2] was so
very alarming, that and also in its Influence, upon some terrible
people within 4 Miles of this place that they sunk my spirits almost to
despair -- I culd not have suppos'd that a Mutiny on board the
fleet, could have afforded satisfaction to any ones Soul. but
the report that Tho Baily brought from Market was -- that
the Baptists were all hiʃsing together in the street. & Concluding
that a Revolution was very near if not already begun -- but of
this take no Notice in yr Answer to me -- this morg my servant
told me that the discontents at these taxes are very alarming --
and that a very respectable Partner in the Neighbourhood came
here this morg to breakfast, who mention'd his apprehensions
that the People were ready for revolt. his uneasineʃs proceeded
from the falling of the Stocks. where he has a very good Property
I have sent him some Consolation respecting the subject of his
particular truble -- but this Man who attends all Fairs & Markets
is too good an evidence. of the dispositions of the common
                                                         people --


we had letters from London yesterday full of the Princeʃs
Royal & her Wedding. & a pattern of the fashionable Silk for Gowns --
her future Consort slept at Aylsbury one Night last Week
he eat Mutton Chops very heartily -- & gave the people at the
George[3] great comfort for as they observed he had an Excellent
appetite -- also yr Cousin Mansfields approaching Marriage
at 19 was announc'd. I find these Events occupy the
Gay part of the World. Dr de Salis goes to London the
latter end of this Month to wait at St. James's
he takes the first week or fortnight, & will be down
the middle of June -- I hope yr visit will not be postpon'd
till after I am obliged to go to my Aunt. who is so kind to
me. that notwithstanding my reluctance. to move -- makes it
absolutely neceʃsary for me to go. indeed I have reason to dread
the interview. I have already made Ireland my excuse, for staying
so long -- your account of Ly Holderneʃs is very extraordinary
but the Operation[4] does not surprise me so much. as her
waiting at St. James's before it took place --
Adieu my dearest Mrs. & Mr. Dickenson. Accept our United
& most affect. good wishes to you both. & for the Health &
prosperity of dear Louisa -- remember us to every body. & believe me
                             yr ever Affect. & obliged Friend DBloʃset --

NB. pray never mind a Frank -- I will give you timely Notice
of the Charges, if Ireland sd. make it
neceʃsary for me to beg -- I have only
about £400 out of that Country -- but let me know the worst
[5]


[6]
[7]

                                                         Single
                             Mrs. Dickinson
                                58 Lower Brook Street
                                     Bond Street
                             [8]             London

[9]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. ‘A sweet drink prepared in different ways; often, simply a liquid sweetened with syrup or sugar, and used as a vehicle for medicine; sometimes, a medicated drink used as a demulcent, “comforting”, or gently stimulating mixture’ (OED s.v. julep n. 1a. Accessed 27-11-2020).
 2. The Sun was a daily newspaper founded in 1792. Further developments in the Spithead mutiny had been reported in newspapers leading up to the date of this letter (see the Evening Mail and the Times for 8-10 May 1797).
 3. Probably The George on Market Street, Aylesbury, which closed in 1936.
 4. In a letter to John Holroyd, Lord Sheffield on 24 April 1797, Thomas Pelham writes that Lady Holdernesse has had a breast removed (East Sussex Record Office, AMS 5440/294).
 5. This postscript moved here from the top of p.1.
 6. Bishop mark in brown ink, dated 11 May 1797.
 7. Postmark ‘LEIGHTON BUZZARD’ in black ink.
 8. A large number 5 in manuscript is written to the left of the address, 3 lines deep, denoting postage due.
 9. Seal, in black wax.

Normalised Text


▼
                                                         Wing -- Leighton
                                                         Buzzard -- May 10th-

My dearest Mrs Dickenson

We are all much obliged to you, for the kind Letter
you wrote to us. & are very impatient for a repetition
of the same treat. but I have now a great favour to
beg of you. & that is -- as you see a great deal of
Lord & Lady Cremorne. you will get them to inform you
of the real state of Ireland. the Accounts in the
Public papers are tremendous. on the other hand
some people say that they hope matters will not come to
extremities, & that Government will get the better --
I am afraid to write again -- so are my Sisters, for
this reason -- we might hazard an opinion -- or they might
interpret something -- into an opinion -- we have no reason to
doubt the integrity of our Agent. & he has employments
under Government. besides being an Army Agent. so that we
are in no fear of his writing -- but it will be a great ease


to my mind if I can be relieved from this suspense. if it is
ever so bad. let me know the worst -- my dear sister dare
brook worse than any  ------  in the Neighbourhood -- they both
absolutely sent me to bed last Night in such an agitation of
mind, that in spite of Camphor Julep. I could not sleep for
hours. the accounts in the Sun of this 2d Mutiny, was so
very alarming, and also in its Influence, upon some terrible
people within 4 Miles of this place that they sank my spirits almost to
despair -- I could not have supposed that a Mutiny on board the
fleet, could have afforded satisfaction to any ones Soul. but
the report that Thomas Baily brought from Market was -- that
the Baptists were all hissing together in the street. & Concluding
that a Revolution was very near if not already begun -- but of
this take no Notice in your Answer to me -- this morning my servant
told me that the discontents at these taxes are very alarming --
and that a very respectable Partner in the Neighbourhood came
here this morning to breakfast, who mentioned his apprehensions
that the People were ready for revolt. his uneasiness proceeded
from the falling of the Stocks. where he has a very good Property
I have sent him some Consolation respecting the subject of his
particular trouble -- but this Man who attends all Fairs & Markets
is too good an evidence. of the dispositions of the common
                                                         people --


we had letters from London yesterday full of the Princess
Royal & her Wedding. & a pattern of the fashionable Silk for Gowns --
her future Consort slept at Aylsbury one Night last Week
he ate Mutton Chops very heartily -- & gave the people at the
George great comfort as they observed he had an Excellent
appetite -- also your Cousin Mansfields approaching Marriage
at 19 was announced. I find these Events occupy the
Gay part of the World. Dr de Salis goes to London the
latter end of this Month to wait at St. James's
he takes the first week or fortnight, & will be down
the middle of June -- I hope your visit will not be postponed
till after I am obliged to go to my Aunt. who is so kind to
me. that notwithstanding my reluctance. to move -- makes it
absolutely necessary for me to go. indeed I have reason to dread
the interview. I have already made Ireland my excuse, for staying
so long -- your account of Lady Holderness is very extraordinary
but the Operation does not surprise me so much. as her
waiting at St. James's before it took place --
Adieu my dearest Mrs. & Mr. Dickenson. Accept our United
& most affectionate good wishes to you both. & for the Health &
prosperity of dear Louisa -- remember us to every body. & believe me
                             your ever Affectionate & obliged Friend Dorothy Blosset --

NB. pray never mind a Frank -- I will give you timely Notice
of the Charges, if Ireland should make it
necessary for me to beg -- I have only
about £400 out of that Country -- but let me know the worst






                                                         Single
                             Mrs. Dickinson
                                58 Lower Brook Street
                                     Bond Street
                                         London

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. ‘A sweet drink prepared in different ways; often, simply a liquid sweetened with syrup or sugar, and used as a vehicle for medicine; sometimes, a medicated drink used as a demulcent, “comforting”, or gently stimulating mixture’ (OED s.v. julep n. 1a. Accessed 27-11-2020).
 2. The Sun was a daily newspaper founded in 1792. Further developments in the Spithead mutiny had been reported in newspapers leading up to the date of this letter (see the Evening Mail and the Times for 8-10 May 1797).
 3. Probably The George on Market Street, Aylesbury, which closed in 1936.
 4. In a letter to John Holroyd, Lord Sheffield on 24 April 1797, Thomas Pelham writes that Lady Holdernesse has had a breast removed (East Sussex Record Office, AMS 5440/294).
 5. This postscript moved here from the top of p.1.
 6. Bishop mark in brown ink, dated 11 May 1797.
 7. Postmark ‘LEIGHTON BUZZARD’ in black ink.
 8. A large number 5 in manuscript is written to the left of the address, 3 lines deep, denoting postage due.
 9. Seal, in black wax.

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/1/8/2/16

Correspondence Details

Sender: Dorothy Blosset

Place sent: Leighton Buzzard

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: London

Date sent: 10 May 1797

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton. She writes on mutinies in the British Fleet [possibly the Spithead mutinies by sailors in the Royal Navy]. Blosset writes to ask a favour from Hamilton. She knows that Hamilton sees a great deal of Lord and Lady Cremorne and request her to ask them to inform her on the 'real state of affairs in Ireland'. She has tried to get news from Ireland herself and had not received an answer to her letter and is afraid to write again. She has heard and read various reports and is in suspense and writes that she 'cannot sleep' and that the 'accounts of the 2d mutiny was so very alarming and also is its influence'.
    Dated at Leighton Buzzard [Bedfordshire].
   

Length: 1 sheet, 705 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 17 November 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

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