Diplomatic Text
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
I cannot look at your three interesting Letters without
longing to thank you for them, & aʃsuring you of the pleasure they give
me; but I feel I am punishing instead of rewarding your kind-
-neʃs, by intruding on your time without a probability of saying one
word that can either interest or amuse you. Dear Mrs Carter I have
just been with to condole with her on the Loʃs of her Friend Mrs
Pulteney, wch. She is much hurt about, I told her I shd. write to you to-
-day, & she desired her Love. Her Conversation & Friendship is aare
delightful Circumstances in my Situation, & the former such an
Appendage to Deal Castle, as I think no other in ye Kingdom can boast;
as to the latter, thank God, that can not be confined to ------ place
or time, ------------ but looks ever to Eternity, for virtuous Friendship surely
outlives the Grave. I am glad you recd. the Letter I meant to meet
you at your return from Windsor, but am sorry it found you so
unwell, I suppose from this Influenza, that has turn'd every
place into an Hospital. thank God we have escaped here, thō many
have been ill at Deal. My Son's Arrival was indeed a most joyful
Event to me, I am glad he is thought to look well, he seem'd
eʃsentially so, thō he was not quite free from Cold, his Stay was
short here, but he says he will visit me again. I am afraid poor
Made. de la Fite does not gain ground, it really will be unfor-
-tunate for the Summer Studies, if she shd. remain an Inva-
-lid, & very distreʃsing to herself, as She will be situated. My
Spanish Reading is the same I fancy as the Queen's in
French, if so, tis very entertaining & interesting. I have had
Visits to day from some of our great Sea Commanders that are
return'd from blocking up the Dutch in the Texel,[1] a great Event
to me such Visitors, who literally know not a Soul in this
place but Mrs Carter & Mrs Drake, & the latter has been long
confined with Illneʃs. If ever you hear our Names here
mention'd let me know, & in what manner our Stay is talk'd
of. I rather suppose yr. Ansr. will be that you hear nothing abt.
us. The Child certainly mends, therefore I conclude they will con-
-tinue him here. Adieu my dear Miʃs Hamilton, how I have run
on (just as I shd. have talk'd) to the 2d Side of my Paper. I need not
use many more words toI hope to convince you how unwillingly I quit
you even when I am without a poʃsibility of a Word in return. Yrs. ever
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The Rede van Texel, off the Island of Texel, was a key roadstead for Dutch shipping. During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1781-1784), the Texel was blockaded as many Dutch naval fleets were anchored here and it was also a main route for the contested Dutch trade with France, with whom Britain was at war from 1778 to 1783 (and whose continued trade with the Dutch was one basis of the conflict).
Normalised Text
My Dear Miss Hamilton
I cannot look at your three interesting Letters without
longing to thank you for them, & assuring you of the pleasure they give
me; but I feel I am punishing instead of rewarding your kindness
, by intruding on your time without a probability of saying one
word that can either interest or amuse you. Dear Mrs Carter I have
just been with to condole with her on the Loss of her Friend Mrs
Pulteney, which She is much hurt about, I told her I should write to you today
, & she desired her Love. Her Conversation & Friendship are
delightful Circumstances in my Situation, & the former such an
Appendage to Deal Castle, as I think no other in the Kingdom can boast;
as to the latter, thank God, that can not be confined to place
or time, but looks ever to Eternity, for virtuous Friendship surely
outlives the Grave. I am glad you received the Letter I meant to meet
you at your return from Windsor, but am sorry it found you so
unwell, I suppose from this Influenza, that has turned every
place into an Hospital. thank God we have escaped here, though many
have been ill at Deal. My Son's Arrival was indeed a most joyful
Event to me, I am glad he is thought to look well, he seemed
essentially so, though he was not quite free from Cold, his Stay was
short here, but he says he will visit me again. I am afraid poor
Madame de la Fite does not gain ground, it really will be unfortunate
for the Summer Studies, if she should remain an Invalid
, & very distressing to herself, as She will be situated. My
Spanish Reading is the same I fancy as the Queen's in
French, if so, tis very entertaining & interesting. I have had
Visits to day from some of our great Sea Commanders that are
returned from blocking up the Dutch in the Texel, a great Event
to me such Visitors, who literally know not a Soul in this
place but Mrs Carter & Mrs Drake, & the latter has been long
confined with Illness. If ever you hear our Names here
mentioned let me know, & in what manner our Stay is talked
of. I rather suppose your Answer will be that you hear nothing about
us. The Child certainly mends, therefore I conclude they will continue
him here. Adieu my dear Miss Hamilton, how I have run
on (just as I should have talked) to the 2d Side of my Paper. I need not
use many more words I hope to convince you how unwillingly I quit
you even when I am without a possibility of a Word in return. Yours ever
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 Charlotte Finch to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/40
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 5 June 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Finch to Mary Hamilton. She has just been with Mrs Carter to condole with her on the death of her friend, Mrs Pultney ‘which she is much hurt about’. Finch writes of enjoying the conversation and friendship of Mrs Carter.
Finch is saddened to hear that Hamilton is not well and assumes that she is suffering from influenza which seems to have ‘turn[e]d every place into an Hospital’. The letter continues on her son and her reading Spanish.
Length: 1 sheet, 464 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: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 5 May 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