Diplomatic Text
25th. June 1778
My deareʃt Miranda.
After the loʃs of that thurʃday, which I was
under the neceʃsity of reʃigning to Lord Dartrey
upon his recovery, believe me, that I had fix'd
upon five mornings to viʃit you, but was
regularly diʃappointed by some notice over
night, requiring my attendance in another
quarter; I thought, that I could not have been
depriv'd of yeʃterday morning, much leʃs of
this: but the same inauʃpicious demons interpoʃ'd
with the same irreʃiʃtible obʃtruction, &
compell'd me to pour out my affection upon
paper, never with reluctance before; as it was my
earneʃt deʃire of addreʃsing Miranda with
my perʃon, & not with my pen after so
long an abʃence. You have friends here, who
knowing, as eye witneʃses, how much I have been
in want of conʃolation, moʃt kindly gave it,
and ʃuggeʃted my full juʃtification out of
the Pilgrim's progreʃs from that paʃsage,
where Chriʃtian's companion after many dis-
appointments, difficulties & delays arriv'd at
laʃt to his long wiʃh'd-for object, still Faithf[ul]
as ever. You may compare Mrs. Glover to
Chriʃtian himʃelf in a ʃtate of deʃpondency at
one time with a violent cold, at another with
relaxation from ye late intenʃe heat of the weather,
nor wanting her share of buʃineʃs, which I
leave her to explain, when she meets you again
with more ardour, than can be contain'd in
a salutation by letter. Though I flatter my-
self in the expected succeʃs of my apology,
I remain vex'd to the soul, that I could not
come to tell you inʃtead of writing, how much
I am Miranda's
Moʃt faithful
& affectionate
R Glover
Typed
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
25th. June 1778
My dearest Miranda.
After the loss of that thursday, which I was
under the necessity of resigning to Lord Dartrey
upon his recovery, believe me, that I had fixed
upon five mornings to visit you, but was
regularly disappointed by some notice over
night, requiring my attendance in another
quarter; I thought, that I could not have been
deprived of yesterday morning, much less of
this: but the same inauspicious demons interposed
with the same irresistible obstruction, &
compelled me to pour out my affection upon
paper, never with reluctance before; as it was my
earnest desire of addressing Miranda with
my person, & not with my pen after so
long an absence. You have friends here, who
knowing, as eye witnesses, how much I have been
in want of consolation, most kindly gave it,
and suggested my full justification out of
the Pilgrim's progress from that passage,
where Christian's companion after many disappointments
, difficulties & delays arrived at
last to his long wished-for object, still Faithful
as ever. You may compare Mrs. Glover to
Christian himself in a state of despondency at
one time with a violent cold, at another with
relaxation from the late intense heat of the weather,
nor wanting her share of business, which I
leave her to explain, when she meets you again
with more ardour, than can be contained in
a salutation by letter. Though I flatter myself
in the expected success of my apology,
I remain vexed to the soul, that I could not
come to tell you instead of writing, how much
I am Miranda's
Most faithful
& affectionate
Richard Glover
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letter from Richard Glover to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/13/3
Correspondence Details
Sender: Richard Glover
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 June 1778
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Richard Glover to Mary Hamilton. He writes that he would have much preferred to address Hamilton in person rather than by pen but that circumstances have prevented him from visiting her. He continues on his need for consolation and refers to the Pilgrim's Progress, the passage where 'Christian's companion after many disappointments, difficulties & delays arrived at last to his long wish[e]d for object' and suggests that his wife can be compared to Christian as she is despondent at times with a cold and at others with the heat. He continues that he will leave his wife to explain when she sees her.
Dated at James Street, Westminster.
Length: 1 sheet, 275 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 June 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