HAM/1/11/6
Letter from Lady Dartrey (later Lady Cremorne) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
1781
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
This is the first moment I
have had, to tell you, that after the hottest, & most
dusty of all Journeys, we are arrived, I bleʃs God,
safe and well, at this beautiful & delicious Spot.
I do not wonder that Mr: Brown call'd it the Garden
of England;[1] -- it appears to me more beautiful than
ever, as I never happened to be here, just at this
Season. I am lodged quite to my hearts' content
in a quiet retired Spot; I have a House (thanks to
my Indulgent & generous Husband,) quite to myself
it is shaded on one side by Trees, belonging, to a
PlaceHouse built by Sir Wm: Draper (of these Trees perhaps
I shall tell you more presently;) & on the other side
there are Hay Fields, where we spent some hours in
the Evening, when we do not take the Air upon the
Downs[2]; & nothing can be more delightful. Julia --
who was sadly heated by the Journey (but as patient
as a little Gellert.) seems quite refreshed, & to have regained
her spirits -- patient little Creature! she had two Blisters
with the violent heat upon her Lip; & she never once
made a Complaint 'till we came to Bath, & when the
Coach stopp'd; She looked up, with her cheeks quite scarlet, & beg'd
to know whether she might be laid down to ------ sleep upon
a Bed -- there is no describing her moving Face, &
pathetic tones of Voice -- pray forgive me for this
Anecdote; I think you will do so, without my asking
it: my cough is better today; but I still cough at
times -- but I trust this fine air, & quiet will soon
set me quite up. I am so happy as not to have any
acquaintance here, to hinder my perfect enjoyment
of my Children, & myself -- I have one Friend (who is
worth all the Acquaintance I sd: be likely to have here) in
Mrs: Quin, the Sister of my Dearest Husband. She is here for
her health; butand I do not think her well at all: She has great
strength of mind; an uncommonly good Understanding,
& an affectionate warm heart, without making half the
profeʃsions, that people who feel little often do. -- She has
none of the gentle, manners; or tender feelings of her
Brother; but is as nobly generous, & as warmly liberal,
as he is. I was interrupted here, & upon returning,
I [can]not[3] help smiling to see what an Eloge I have
[wri]tten[4] upon my Husband -- it is well I am
writing to a Friend. pray let me hear from
you soon; & write me a long Letter; I took
this morng: to write to you, that I am prevented taking the
Waters, as it is not right, to hold down the head long after
drinking them -- so you must only expect Scraps for
the future. As I write to you with my heart in my
hand (as Mrs: Burrows[5] says Mrs: J. Pitt talks,) I must now
tell you, that the sweet Trees I mentioned, are thickly
planted round a Monument, raised by Sr: Wm: Draper
to the memory of the Officers who fell in Asia 1760[6] -- we
have to this House a Porch (an old fashioned seat at the Door
where I indulge myself every Evening sitting, & overlooking
this beautiful & melancholy spot, & thinking of my sweet
dr: dr: Richard -- I paʃs in my mind, as quickly over as
I can, the sad hours I watched him, when he was here
declining day after Day -- & endeavour to raise my mind
to what I trust he now is, an Angel -- a bleʃsed Spirit, out of the
reach of Sin & Sorrow; & you cannot imagine how much
good this seems to do me -- & I trust it will -- [7]
I have If you hear any thing of Dr: Ly.- C. Finch & Lord W. pray let me
know; I sent the last account I had to Miʃs Goldsworthy -- I sendt
you a verbal Meʃsage, as I really had not time to write -- I hope
Her Majesty does not suffer by the hot weather, & that the Princeʃses
are well -- If they ever mention me, pray present my duty. & tell them how
sensible I am of their gracious attention to me. Adieu my D: Miʃs H. I expect a
long Letter in answer to this immediately -- Yrs: sincerely PD --
June 6th: I hear from Mrs: Hattons a tolerable acct: their ------------ me from Lisbon[8] -- I have had no Letters --
▼ ▼ ▼
June 5th- 1781
Direct to me at Clifton near Bristol
I heard from Lord D from Holy=
=head -- I hope to he[ar] from Dublin
soon -- [10]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This is probably Launcelot 'Capability' Brown, landscape architect, c.1715/16-1783. Kent is commonly referred to as 'The Garden of England' whereas PHD writers from Clifton (now part of modern-day Bristol). The idea that the phrase originates from Brown seems to be apocryphal.
2. Clifton Down and Durdham Down, an area of limestown Downland in Bristol.
3. A piece of the sheet has been torn away (possibly because of the seal), cutting the word 'cannot' in two, but the piece is still present on the right-hand side of the sheet.
4. Similar to 'cannot' in the line above, 'written' has been cut in half due to a torn-away piece.
5. This could refer to either Maria Burrows (née Smith), the wife of Rev. dr. John Burrows (a.k.a. 'The Bluestocking Boswell'), or one of the latter's sisters, since, for example, his sister Amy was at times referred to with Mrs rather than Miss (by for example Hester Chapone and Mary Delany, who referred to her as Mrs Amy Burrows. See also LWL Mss Vol. 75(85)).
6. Possibly the Battle of Wandiwash, a major British victory during the Third Carnatic War (part of the Seven Years' War).
7. The section of this paragraph on this page is written on the bottom third of the page.
8. This probably refers to the ongoing Siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish, one of a number of Anglo-Spanish conflicts related to the American War of Independence, in which Spain had allied with France against the British.
9. The address is written vertically in the middle of the page.
10. This is written vertically on the left-hand side of the page.
Normalised Text
1781
My Dear Miss Hamilton
This is the first moment I
have had, to tell you, that after the hottest, & most
dusty of all Journeys, we are arrived, I bless God,
safe and well, at this beautiful & delicious Spot.
I do not wonder that Mr: Brown called it the Garden
of England; -- it appears to me more beautiful than
ever, as I never happened to be here, just at this
Season. I am lodged quite to my hearts' content
in a quiet retired Spot; I have a House (thanks to
my Indulgent & generous Husband,) quite to myself
it is shaded on one side by Trees, belonging, to a
House built by Sir William Draper (of these Trees perhaps
I shall tell you more presently;) & on the other side
there are Hay Fields, where we spent some hours in
the Evening, when we do not take the Air upon the
Downs; & nothing can be more delightful. Julia --
who was sadly heated by the Journey (but as patient
as a little Gellert.) seems quite refreshed, & to have regained
her spirits -- patient little Creature! she had two Blisters
with the violent heat upon her Lip; & she never once
made a Complaint till we came to Bath, & when the
Coach stopped; She looked up, with her cheeks quite scarlet, & begged
to know whether she might be laid down to sleep upon
a Bed -- there is no describing her moving Face, &
pathetic tones of Voice -- pray forgive me for this
Anecdote; I think you will do so, without my asking
it: my cough is better today; but I still cough at
times -- but I trust this fine air, & quiet will soon
set me quite up. I am so happy as not to have any
acquaintance here, to hinder my perfect enjoyment
of my Children, & myself -- I have one Friend (who is
worth all the Acquaintance I should be likely to have here) in
Mrs: Quin, the Sister of my Dearest Husband. She is here for
her health; and I do not think her well at all: She has great
strength of mind; an uncommonly good Understanding,
& an affectionate warm heart, without making half the
professions, that people who feel little often do. -- She has
none of the gentle, manners; or tender feelings of her
Brother; but is as nobly generous, & as warmly liberal,
as he is. I was interrupted here, & upon returning,
I cannot help smiling to see what an Eloge I have
written upon my Husband -- it is well I am
writing to a Friend. pray let me hear from
you soon; & write me a long Letter; I took
this morning to write to you, that I am prevented taking the
Waters, as it is not right, to hold down the head long after
drinking them -- so you must only expect Scraps for
the future. As I write to you with my heart in my
hand (as Mrs: Burrows says Mrs: John Pitt talks,) I must now
tell you, that the sweet Trees I mentioned, are thickly
planted round a Monument, raised by Sir William Draper
to the memory of the Officers who fell in Asia 1760 -- we
have to this House a Porch (an old fashioned seat at the Door
where I indulge myself every Evening sitting, & overlooking
this beautiful & melancholy spot, & thinking of my sweet
dear dear Richard -- I pass in my mind, as quickly over as
I can, the sad hours I watched him, when he was here
declining day after Day -- & endeavour to raise my mind
to what I trust he now is, an Angel -- a blessed Spirit, out of the
reach of Sin & Sorrow; & you cannot imagine how much
good this seems to do me -- & I trust it will --
If you hear any thing of Dear Lady Charlotte Finch & Lord W. pray let me
know; I sent the last account I had to Miss Goldsworthy -- I sent
you a verbal Message, as I really had no time to write -- I hope
Her Majesty does not suffer by the hot weather, & that the Princesses
are well -- If they ever mention me, pray present my duty. & tell them how
sensible I am of their gracious attention to me. Adieu my Dear Miss Hamilton I expect a
long Letter in answer to this immediately -- Yours sincerely Philadelphia Dartrey --
June 6th: I hear from Mrs: Hattons a tolerable account their ------------ me from Lisbon -- I have had no Letters --
▼ ▼ ▼
June 5th- 1781
Miss Hamilton
at the Queen's Lodge
Windsor
Direct to me at Clifton near Bristol
I heard from Lord Dartrey from Holyhead
-- I hope to hear from Dublin
soon --
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 Lady Dartrey (later Lady Cremorne) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/11/6
Correspondence Details
Sender: Philadelphia Hannah, Baroness Cremorne Dawson (née Freame)
Place sent: Clifton, near Bristol
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Windsor
Date sent: 5 June 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Lady Dartrey to Mary Hamilton. She writes that after one of the 'hottest, & most dusty of journeys' that she has finally arrived at Clifton which she describes as a 'beautiful & delicious spot'. She has a house to herself which is shaded by trees on one side and fields on the other. The house has a porch, which she describes to Hamilton as 'an old fashioned seat at the Door' where she sits each evening and thinks of 'Richard' [probably her son]. She thinks of how she watched him declining each day and that now he has died notes that he is not 'out of reach of sin & sorrow which gives her some comfort. Her daughter, Julia was 'heated by the journey' but has since regained her spirits. Dartrey writes that Julia has had two blisters on her legs due to the 'violent heat' and that she did not complain of them until they got to Bath and the coach had stopped. Only then asking if she might get a bed so she could sleep. Dartrey continues on her own health and on her hopes that the air and the quiet of her surroundings will improve her cough. She is happy to have no friends with her so that she can have the 'perfect enjoyment of [...] [her] children'.
The letter ends on the subject of Court. She asks for news of Lady Finch and hopes the Queen is not suffering from the hot weather and that the princesses are all well.
Dated at Clifton.
Length: 1 sheet, 796 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 March 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