Diplomatic Text
I was very sorry my dear Mrs Dickenson to hear
from my Sister so indifferent an account of Mr D. Senr's
health but I sincerely[1] with Louisa's kind attention to him
& her good nursing he will soon recover I am rejoiced
to find that she continues well pray tell her with my
affte love I should have expected to have heard from
her but as her Grandpapa has been so ill I'm sure
her time has been too much taken up to think of
writing letters -- I really should not have troubled you
with this but as I know your goodneʃs I am sure
you will forgive what I am going to ask you to do
It is to beg you will write to my Aunt Anna & entreat
her not to let her abominable affairs make her so
uneasy as she really is -- I can aʃsure you my dear Mrs
Dickenson that she is more Altered than you can poʃsibly
conceive & I am really fearful that if she does not
take very great care of herself she will fall into a
dreadful state -- I had hoped that being at seaside
where they now are / would have quite restored her
health & spirits but I do not now think she will be
better in the least for it as she has taken I believe a great quantity
of papers relating to the busineʃs with her over which
she will I know be inceʃsantly pouring -- I have said
as much as I could to her and so has my Aunt Barnard
but all to no purpose indeed I am afraid she cannot
conquer the nervous state she has fallen into
Mrs Watson the person with whom she boards tells me
that my Aunt makes her quite melancholy
the night before she went to Ramsgate she never went
to Bed but was employed in counting over the boxes
papers &c (which were all packed up) & which she
meant to take with her, I cannotwill not now tell you
of all these trifling circumstances but I am very certain
that an indifferent person would say she was not in her senses
If either you or Mr Dickenson would be kind enough to write
to her upon this subject you it will be doing me a very
great favor as I really have a strong affection for my
Aunt & am very uneasy to see her in the state she
now is in & tho' I am well aware that her mind must
be much distreʃsed by the affairs I think if she wou[ld]
make a resolution not to fatigue herself in
ma[kin]g unneceʃsary calculations &c I trust
they wou'd probably be sooner settled & her health would [not]
suffer so much pray do not tell her you had this account
of her from me as it may make her suppose she
is worse than she really is, but I think any thing you
or Mr D. will say to her she will attend to if you will enclose
a letter for her to me at B --- le the Bishop's I will forward
it in a Frank to Ramsgate which will save the postage
-- I am sure you would be happy to hear so good an
account of My Sister & her little Girl she still continues
quite well & is I hear a very good Nurse I long to see
both her & the dear Baby -- but I am much afraid I shall
have that happineʃs till next year -- Mrs: H & the Bp spend the remainder
of this summer at Brighton & Hastings, when I shall go with them
they do not mean to go to St Asaph till next summer they have very kindly said
they hoped I should go with them but I shall I hope spend great part of the sum=
mer with my Sister -- we are only in Town for a few days in search
of a house which I wish we could find as London is very unpleasant
I do not know whether I do right in directing this to Birch Hall but
as I have not heard that you were returned to Leighton House
I conclude you must be there -- I understand Dr De Salis is
still at hastings where I daresay we shall meet them -- Mrs
Grote is there in a very bad state of health --
▼
Pray give my kindest love to Mr D—— & Mrs Morrison
& Believe me ever my dear Mrs Dickenson
sincerely obligd & very affty yours
M J Jackson
remember me kindly to Mr[2] & Miʃs D——
& beg Louisa to write to me soon and
send her letter enclosed to the Bishop[3]
[4]
London June Twenty Eighth 1802
Miss Dickenson[5]
Birch Hall[6]
Manchester[7]
Free
Rochester[8]
10/2[9]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A verb such as hope has been omitted here.
2. Mr Dickenson Senior may be intended here.
3. This postscript appears to the left of the salutation and signature.
4. Remains of seal, in black wax.
5. Presumably a mistake by Samuel Horsley, as the letter is addressed to Mary Hamilton, i.e. Mrs Dickenson.
6. Free frank stamp in red ink, dated 29 June 1802.
7. The address is written vertically in the middle of the page.
8. Signature of the provider of the free frank, Samuel Horsley, Bishop of Rochester, to the left of 'Manchester'.
9. This annotation is written vertically.
Normalised Text
I was very sorry my dear Mrs Dickenson to hear
from my Sister so indifferent an account of Mr Dickenson Senior's
health but I sincerely with Louisa's kind attention to him
& her good nursing he will soon recover I am rejoiced
to find that she continues well pray tell her with my
affectionate love I should have expected to have heard from
her but as her Grandpapa has been so ill I'm sure
her time has been too much taken up to think of
writing letters -- I really should not have troubled you
with this but as I know your goodness I am sure
you will forgive what I am going to ask you to do
It is to beg you will write to my Aunt Anna & entreat
her not to let her abominable affairs make her so
uneasy as she really is -- I can assure you my dear Mrs
Dickenson that she is more Altered than you can possibly
conceive & I am really fearful that if she does not
take very great care of herself she will fall into a
dreadful state -- I had hoped that being at seaside
where they now are / would have quite restored her
health & spirits but I do not now think she will be
better in the least for it as she has taken a great quantity
of papers relating to the business with her over which
she will I know be incessantly poring -- I have said
as much as I could to her and so has my Aunt Barnard
but all to no purpose indeed I am afraid she cannot
conquer the nervous state she has fallen into
Mrs Watson the person with whom she boards tells me
that my Aunt makes her quite melancholy
the night before she went to Ramsgate she never went
to Bed but was employed in counting over the boxes
papers &c (which were all packed up) & which she
meant to take with her, I will not now tell you
of all these trifling circumstances but I am very certain
that an indifferent person would say she was not in her senses
If either you or Mr Dickenson would be kind enough to write
to her upon this subject it will be doing me a very
great favour as I really have a strong affection for my
Aunt & am very uneasy to see her in the state she
now is in & though I am well aware that her mind must
be much distressed by the affairs I think if she would
make a resolution not to fatigue herself in
making unnecessary calculations &c I trust
they would probably be sooner settled & her health would not
suffer so much pray do not tell her you had this account
of her from me as it may make her suppose she
is worse than she really is, but I think any thing you
or Mr Dickenson will say to her she will attend to if you will enclose
a letter for her to me at the Bishop's I will forward
it in a Frank to Ramsgate which will save the postage
-- I am sure you would be happy to hear so good an
account of My Sister & her little Girl she still continues
quite well & is I hear a very good Nurse I long to see
both her & the dear Baby -- but I am much afraid I shall
have that happiness till next year -- Mrs: Horsley & the Bishop spend the remainder
of this summer at Brighton & Hastings, I shall go with them
they do not mean to go to St Asaph till next summer they have very kindly said
they hoped I should go with them but I shall I hope spend great part of the summer
with my Sister -- we are only in Town for a few days in search
of a house which I wish we could find as London is very unpleasant
I do not know whether I do right in directing this to Birch Hall but
as I have not heard that you were returned to Leighton House
I conclude you must be there -- I understand Dr De Salis is
still at hastings where I daresay we shall meet them -- Mrs
Grote is there in a very bad state of health --
▼
Pray give my kindest love to Mr Dickenson & Mrs Morrison
& Believe me ever my dear Mrs Dickenson
sincerely obliged & very affectionately yours
Mary Johanna Jackson
remember me kindly to Mr & Miss Dickenson
& beg Louisa to write to me soon and
send her letter enclosed to the Bishop
London June Twenty Eighth 1802
Miss Dickenson
Birch Hall
Manchester
Free
Rochester
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 Mary Jackson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/2/13
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Johanna Jackson
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Rusholme, near Manchester
Date sent: 27 June 1802
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary J. Jackson to Mary Hamilton, relating to the ill health
of Jackson's Aunt Anna. Jackson entreats Hamilton to write to her on the
subject of her health and spirits and on some 'business' that she is
involved in that is causing her some distress. Jackson is worried that if
she does not start taking care of herself that she will be in a 'dreadful
state'. Mrs Watson, the woman with whom she lodges, has said that her
aunt makes her feel 'quite melancholy' and notes that before she went to
Ramsgate her aunt 'never went to Bed but was employed in counting over
the boxes Papers etc which were all packed up & which she meant to
take with her'. Jackson is certain that an 'indifferent person' would
believe that her aunt is 'out of her senses'.
Original reference No. 14.
Length: 1 sheet, 795 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 24 September 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