HAM/1/8/2/18
Letters from Julia Henrietta de Salis (née Blosset) and Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
230th. Decbr. 1799
a thousand thanks my dear for your kind and entertaining
note, I am glad to hear you are all so well, and have
been so merry. I return you the delectable manuscript.
poor dears, I daresay you made them all very truly happy,
I have ever had my fears that those poor dear W: girls
were ill fated mortals. the only chance and salvation
for them is the eldest girl marrying well into some
respectable connexion of her own religion. I foresaw
they would get into the vortex of the great world
the moment they got to Town. unhappily without a
proper introduction into it. but I was asked by several the
short time I was in Town to introduce them to Miʃs W- &
whom they heard they said, sung so delightfully, and Lady
Clarges, with many others such, were running mad after
Mrs. Fn: and her. they are so young and so unknowing
that one pity's rather than blames their misdoings.
Harry P. is much flattered by your kind invitations, he
begs much to see you, and is at all events determined
to make another attempt before he leaves us, he says
he will if he poʃsibly can breakfast with you at your house
on Wednesday. but he begs if he is not with you to the
fraction of a moment, that you will not wait for him.
for it is more than he will undertake to answer for, the
being able to get up in time to be with you at that hour
but he will exert himself to the utmost, and that is all
he can promise. the lady P. is bent upon picking up a
visit in a certain quarter. I am convinced of that. and by
Hook or Crook she'll do it.
I am grievously disapointed to day, I sent ------
chaise and the Postillion on horseback to attend
Mr. de S: from Hoccliffe home.[1] I prepared the fatted
Calf for his reception, and just as dinner time
arrived John returns with a small parcel which
was left at Hoccliffe last night by the liverpool
mail with particular directions to have it sent
over to me immediatly by a special Meʃsenger,
instead of which they kept it till four o'clock
before they gave it to John who had been waiting
there all the morning. the moment he got it, he
rode home, and was to ride back again with orders
for the chaise, the parcel contained a note to say
that he had so bad a cold, that Dr Pearson was dis-
pleased at finding him out of bed, nor no leʃs would he
suffer him to go out. I cannot describe to you how this
has vexed and disapointed me. tho' I had a fatal foreboding
that something would disapoint me; but I will not go
on now the croaking humour is begun.
love and Compts. to both.
Affecly ever Yrs. &c JH. de Salis
thurdy morning
My dear Friend. With your good sense & having lived
in a Court so long, it may be presumptuous in me
to advise -- but I do advise -- think no more of these
unfortunate Girls -- my opinion of the HL family -- I have
often told you -- I also know something of their Great Protector
from that knowledge. & from knowing Breaks's Connexion
I am sure that all the poor Mother could Confide to him
during her Life -- Lord T-ble wd undo as soon as those Eyes
were clos'd -- your good Heart makes you feel all the
anxiety so natural to such a Heart -- but I have had
Experience sufficient to make me Cold to the trubles
of those [I] am not in friendship with -- these people
are new [ac]quaintances to you -- therefore leave them to[2]
their fate. & do not create uneasineʃs to your self -- &
with my sincere wishes for a return of many happy years
to you & yrs -- I remain yrs truly affect
DBloʃset --
Mrs Dickenson
Leighton House
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
30th. December 1799
a thousand thanks my dear for your kind and entertaining
note, I am glad to hear you are all so well, and have
been so merry. I return you the delectable manuscript.
poor dears, I daresay you made them all very truly happy,
I have ever had my fears that those poor dear W: girls
were ill fated mortals. the only chance and salvation
for them is the eldest girl marrying well into some
respectable connexion of her own religion. I foresaw
they would get into the vortex of the great world
the moment they got to Town. unhappily without a
proper introduction into it. but I was asked by several the
short time I was in Town to introduce them to Miss W- &
whom they heard they said, sang so delightfully, and Lady
Clarges, with many others such, were running mad after
Mrs. Fn: and her. they are so young and so unknowing
that one pity's rather than blames their misdoings.
Harry Peckwell is much flattered by your kind invitations, he
begs much to see you, and is at all events determined
to make another attempt before he leaves us, he says
he will if he possibly can breakfast with you at your house
on Wednesday. but he begs if he is not with you to the
fraction of a moment, that you will not wait for him.
for it is more than he will undertake to answer for, the
being able to get up in time to be with you at that hour
but he will exert himself to the utmost, and that is all
he can promise. the lady P. is bent upon picking up a
visit in a certain quarter. I am convinced of that. and by
Hook or Crook she'll do it.
I am grievously disappointed to day, I sent ------
chaise and the Postillion on horseback to attend
Mr. de Salis from Hoccliffe home. I prepared the fatted
Calf for his reception, and just as dinner time
arrived John returns with a small parcel which
was left at Hoccliffe last night by the liverpool
mail with particular directions to have it sent
over to me immediately by a special Messenger,
instead of which they kept it till four o'clock
before they gave it to John who had been waiting
there all the morning. the moment he got it, he
rode home, and was to ride back again with orders
for the chaise, the parcel contained a note to say
that he had so bad a cold, that Dr Pearson was displeased
at finding him out of bed, nor no less would he
suffer him to go out. I cannot describe to you how this
has vexed and disappointed me. though I had a fatal foreboding
that something would disappoint me; but I will not go
on now the croaking humour is begun.
love and Compliments to both.
Affectionately ever Yours &c Julia Henrietta de Salis
thursday morning
My dear Friend. With your good sense & having lived
in a Court so long, it may be presumptuous in me
to advise -- but I do advise -- think no more of these
unfortunate Girls -- my opinion of the HL family -- I have
often told you -- I also know something of their Great Protector
from that knowledge. & from knowing Breaks's Connexion
I am sure that all the poor Mother could Confide to him
during her Life -- Lord T-ble would undo as soon as those Eyes
were closed -- your good Heart makes you feel all the
anxiety so natural to such a Heart -- but I have had
Experience sufficient to make me Cold to the troubles
of those I am not in friendship with -- these people
are new acquaintances to you -- therefore leave them to
their fate. & do not create uneasiness to your self -- &
with my sincere wishes for a return of many happy years
to you & yours -- I remain yours truly affectionate
Dorothy Blosset --
Mrs Dickenson
Leighton House
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: Letters from Julia Henrietta de Salis (née Blosset) and Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/8/2/18
Correspondence Details
Sender: Julia Henrietta De Salis (née Blosset) and Dorothy Blosset
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 30 December 1799
Letter Description
Summary: Letters from Julia Henrietta de Salis and Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton. Julia de Salis tells Hamilton about a family of daughters whose 'only chance ... is the eldest girl marrying well into some respectable connexion of her own religion'. Mr de Salis has not returned from Liverpool because of a cold. Dorothy Blosset writes to wish Hamilton a happy new year, and to advise her not to trouble herself with the family her sister mentioned, as 'these people are new acquaintances to you'.
Length: 1 sheet, 667 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 19 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: 3 October 2023