Single Letter

HAM/1/10/1/21

Letter from Anna Maria Clarke to Louisa Dickenson (later Anson) and Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


Mrs. A Maria Clarke[1]
      Post Office
      Canterbury
      Nov 27th-
      1814

My dear & amiable Friend[2]

      Having yesterday had the inexpreʃsible
satisfaction of hearing from your dear Father
that there is a prospect of your being united
to a Gentleman of the most respectable Character
& distinguished Family who equally happy
in the preference you have given him & the
approbation of your excellent Parents will I
trust contribute to your happineʃs as much as
he will secure his own by being the object of
your choice accept my most cordial &
affectionate wishes for the attaiment of
all the felicity you can desire on the
approaching Event -- which I shall be
particularly interested in -- both from the
esteem and affection I have for you & my envaluablmy invaluable friend.



I have very imperfectly expreʃsed my dear Louisa
the joy & solicitude I feel respecting you
on this very interesting occasion but sensible as
you must be of my friendship for your Parents &
yourself it would be unneceʃsary were I to attempt
to add more I shall therefore with the aʃsurance
of my esteem & affection subscribe myself
                             your ever affectionate
                             & most sincere Friend
                                       Anna Maria Clarke

PS I beg you will give Mrs. Dickenson the under-
-written
& tell her I am about to write to Dr: Inglis
whom I met yesterday well in Canterbury.


My dearest friend[3]
      By a remarkable coincidence
I received dear Mr. Dickenson's kind letter in
the moment I put one from myself to you into the
letter box I am glad it has so happened as it will
aʃsure you I was solicitous respecting the state of
your health -- I & I am happy in learning that
your excursion to Ramsgate which was so condu-
cive
to my satisfaction was beneficial to your
health.
      The interesting contents of Mr Ds Letter gave me



the sincerest joy with you & her father I anticipate
dear Louisa's future happineʃs & I trust by
an alliance so respectable & desirable you
will derive all poʃsible satisfaction in the
ensuing happy Event. dear Louisa's residence
with you will be a most delightful circum
stance
& save the pang of continual absence
from a Daughter from herwhose merit & amiable
qualities render her so justly dear & ------who has been hitherto so
inseparably yours accept my dear Friend, &
Brother the most cordial congratulations I
can offer & pray let me be informed as [soon]
as the Event shall have taken place --
I imagine myself with you & participating
in your domestic happineʃs --
I also congratulate you on the reconciliation
with dear Lady W I feel how much you
are interested & that you could not have been
quite at ease when divided from a friend
so dear & estimable.
      is Mrs. Morrison still with you
remember me



With my Love & thanks to Mr. Dickenson
I conclude your ever grateful & affectionate
                                                         Anna Maria



I see a second Edition of the late Mr. Glover's
Memoirs as supposed is come out do read it
& tell me your opinion of its autheticity &
your sentiments the price is 7-6d --

MiʃsMrs. Dickenson[4]
John Dickenson's Esqr
      Devonshire Place
           Cavendish Square
                             London[5]

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


Notes


 1. Clarke's use of Mrs. rather than Miss is explained as follows by OED: ‘A title prefixed to the name of an unmarried lady or girl [...]. Now rare except as a title of courtesy applied, with or without inclusion of the first name, to elderly unmarried ladies (this use seems to have arisen in the late 18th cent.)’ (OED s.v. Mrs. n. 1, 1b).
 2. This part of the letter is addressed to Louisa Dickenson.
 3. The remainder of the letter is addressed to Mary Hamilton.
 4. Postmarks 'F [29N]O29 ' and 'CANTERBURY 56' to left of address when unfolded.
 5. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

Normalised Text


Mrs. Anna Maria Clarke
      Post Office
      Canterbury
      November 27th-
      1814

My dear & amiable Friend

      Having yesterday had the inexpressible
satisfaction of hearing from your dear Father
that there is a prospect of your being united
to a Gentleman of the most respectable Character
& distinguished Family who equally happy
in the preference you have given him & the
approbation of your excellent Parents will I
trust contribute to your happiness as much as
he will secure his own by being the object of
your choice accept my most cordial &
affectionate wishes for the attainment of
all the felicity you can desire on the
approaching Event -- which I shall be
particularly interested in -- both from the
esteem and affection I have for you & my invaluable friend.



I have very imperfectly expressed my dear Louisa
the joy & solicitude I feel respecting you
on this very interesting occasion but sensible as
you must be of my friendship for your Parents &
yourself it would be unnecessary were I to attempt
to add more I shall therefore with the assurance
of my esteem & affection subscribe myself
                             your ever affectionate
                             & most sincere Friend
                                       Anna Maria Clarke

PS I beg you will give Mrs. Dickenson the underwritten
& tell her I am about to write to Dr: Inglis
whom I met yesterday well in Canterbury.


My dearest friend
      By a remarkable coincidence
I received dear Mr. Dickenson's kind letter in
the moment I put one from myself to you into the
letter box I am glad it has so happened as it will
assure you I was solicitous respecting the state of
your health -- & I am happy in learning that
your excursion to Ramsgate which was so conducive
to my satisfaction was beneficial to your
health.
      The interesting contents of Mr Dickensons Letter gave me



the sincerest joy with you & her father I anticipate
dear Louisa's future happiness & I trust by
an alliance so respectable & desirable you
will derive all possible satisfaction in the
ensuing happy Event. dear Louisa's residence
with you will be a most delightful circumstance
& save the pang of continual absence
from a Daughter whose merit & amiable
qualities render her so justly dear & who has been hitherto so
inseparably yours accept my dear Friend, &
Brother the most cordial congratulations I
can offer & pray let me be informed as soon
as the Event shall have taken place --
I imagine myself with you & participating
in your domestic happiness --
I also congratulate you on the reconciliation
with dear Lady Wake I feel how much you
are interested & that you could not have been
quite at ease when divided from a friend
so dear & estimable.
      is Mrs. Morrison still with you
remember me



With my Love & thanks to Mr. Dickenson
I conclude your ever grateful & affectionate
                                                         Anna Maria



I see a second Edition of the late Mr. Glover's
Memoirs as supposed is come out do read it
& tell me your opinion of its authenticity &
your sentiments the price is 7-6 pence --

Miss Dickenson
John Dickenson's Esqr
      Devonshire Place
           Cavendish Square
                             London

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



 1. Clarke's use of Mrs. rather than Miss is explained as follows by OED: ‘A title prefixed to the name of an unmarried lady or girl [...]. Now rare except as a title of courtesy applied, with or without inclusion of the first name, to elderly unmarried ladies (this use seems to have arisen in the late 18th cent.)’ (OED s.v. Mrs. n. 1, 1b).
 2. This part of the letter is addressed to Louisa Dickenson.
 3. The remainder of the letter is addressed to Mary Hamilton.
 4. Postmarks 'F [29N]O29 ' and 'CANTERBURY 56' to left of address when unfolded.
 5. Moved address panel here from centre of p.3 when unfolded, written vertically.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Anna Maria Clarke to Louisa Dickenson (later Anson) and Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/1/21

Correspondence Details

Sender: Anna Maria Clarke

Place sent: Canterbury

Addressee: Louisa Frances Mary (later Anson) Dickenson and Mary Hamilton

Place received: London

Date sent: 27 November 1814

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Anna Maria Clarke to Louisa Dickenson and her mother, Mary Hamilton. Clarke first addresses Louisa, congratulating her on her engagement to Sir William Anson. She heard yesterday from Louisa's father that 'there is a prospect of your being united to a Gentleman of the most respectable Character & distinguished Family', and she expresses her 'cordial & affectionate' wishes for her happiness.
    Clarke appends a letter to 'Mrs Dickenson', i.e. Mary Hamilton. She hopes that Hamilton will derive all possible satisfaction from an alliance 'so respectable & desirable'. 'Louisa's residence with you will be a most delightful circumstance & save the pang of continual absence from a Daughter from her whose merit & amiable qualities render her so justly dear'. She also congratulates Hamilton on her reconciliation with Lady W. [Lady Mary Wake, née Fenton (d. 1823), wife of Sir William Wake, 8th Baronet (1742-1785)]. She understands how Hamilton could not be 'quite at ease' when divided from a friend 'so dear & estimable'.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 526 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo

Transliterator: Olivia Colvin, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted November 2014)

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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