Single Letter

HAM/1/13/27

Letter from Mary Glover to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


12.

15th. Decbr 1785
Albemarle Str London

My dearest Mrs.. Dickenson

      Your kind letter to my dearest Mother
made us both weep, how soothing & affectionate; indeed our
loʃs is irreparable, but when we reflect on his character
& many virtues, & know that he is happier than this
world ever made him, it rather reconciles one the
better to his loʃs, he bore his long & tedious illneʃs
with the greatest fortitude & resignation, & I have
reason to think, that he had for a length of time
apprehended himself in danger, & Docr: Brocklesby &
Mr Devaynes both thought so, oOwing to the laudanum
which he took, his senses quite forsook him for
three weeks before he died, he seldom knew my
mother
or me, the Friday fortnight before we loʃs't
him he came to his senses for two hours, knowing
that you will be interrested to know what paʃs'd
I will copy a written paper which I have in my
pocket book & which I wrote down half an hour
after he said it.



“On Friday the 11th.. of Novr: my dearest Father who had been rather delirious
“for Some days, on this day awoke, sitting in his chair, out of a good
“sleep, with my mother sitting by him; in great diʃtreʃs calling for his
“child
, (meaning me) I went to him, he look'd at me in tears, grasp'd my
“hand, & said my own my dearest child, he addreʃs'd himself to Virtue, & said
“Oh virtue virtue, God can only say who is truly virtuous, he had always
walkd in her paths, & said to me, live my sweet child & be the admiration
“of the world. -- After a pause he addreʃs'd himself to my mother
“& told her he had ever reason to approve of her conduct, that she had
“always been the same from the first day he knew her to that
“hour. -- He spoke of truth, & calld on God & looking
“upwards, with his hands clasp'd, said he should meet his maker
“face to face. He ask'd my mother whether she had ever mistrust-
“-ed
him, she asur'd him she had not, he said he had done justice
“to every one, even to those that had injured him; After this he
“was very composed & desired no one might be permitted to come
“into the room but his son coming in rather abruptly he
“said Richd., Richd.., you are come to complain; his son ask'd him
“to explain himself, he answer'd you know my mind has been
“in a state of great perterbation, but if he wish'd him to
“explain himself, he had spoke from his feeling; Richd.. left
“the room, & he was my Dr. Father went to bed; from that day
“his faculties quite forsook him. --
      You my dearest friend will weep as you read
the above, but you can have no Idea, of what a scene it
was to us, his countenance, his tears, & his words are deep-
-ly
engrav'd on my heart, once he said “he should have
a few womens tears, but it must be so.”
      The dear Anna Maria was the greatest comfort
to us, by her constant & kind attention. --



He has provided amply for Richd.., & left him his
library, which he has already disposed, I fear he is
very much in debt; I am miʃstress of six thousand
pounds, & what is far more valuable to me, than money,
are his manuscripts, that is to me, the greatest
proof to me of his affection; my excellent mother
is amply provided for, & I trust that she will have
£800 a year, every thing at her own disposal the
      plate excepted which is only hers for life,
      & then goes to Richard. I have mention'd £800
      a year, but perhaps when every thing is settl'd
it may be more. I believe Richd.. comes in for
£11.000, but his behaviour during the whole time
of my dearest Father's illneʃs was very faulty, I may
almost say shocking. Pray give my most affectionate
love to Mr Dickenson, & tell him how much we
were flatter'd by his kind expreʃsions of esteem
for us. I remain my dearest Mrs. Dickenson
                             your sincere & Affectionate friend
                                                         Mary Glover.
P.S. my Father has
left Mrs.. Lenton £200..
she desires her best Compts.[1]



I am now with our dearest Anna Maria, who is very
busy putting up some books, she looks remarkably well,
& is well; She desires he best love to you & Mr. D——

Mrs.. Dickenson[2]


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Notes


 1. This postscript appears to the left of the signature.
 2. The address line is written vertically in the middle of the page.

Normalised Text



15th. December 1785
Albemarle Street London

My dearest Mrs.. Dickenson

      Your kind letter to my dearest Mother
made us both weep, how soothing & affectionate; indeed our
loss is irreparable, but when we reflect on his character
& many virtues, & know that he is happier than this
world ever made him, it rather reconciles one the
better to his loss, he bore his long & tedious illness
with the greatest fortitude & resignation, & I have
reason to think, that he had for a length of time
apprehended himself in danger, & Docr: Brocklesby &
Mr Devaynes both thought so, Owing to the laudanum
which he took, his senses quite forsook him for
three weeks before he died, he seldom knew my
mother or me, the Friday fortnight before we lost
him he came to his senses for two hours, knowing
that you will be interested to know what passed
I will copy a written paper which I have in my
pocket book & which I wrote down half an hour
after he said it.



“On Friday the 11th.. of November my dearest Father who had been rather delirious
“for Some days, on this day awoke, sitting in his chair, out of a good
“sleep, with my mother sitting by him; in great distress calling for his
“child, (meaning me) I went to him, he looked at me in tears, grasped my
“hand, & said my own my dearest child, he addressed himself to Virtue, & said
“Oh virtue virtue, God can only say who is truly virtuous, he had always
walked in her paths, & said to me, live my sweet child & be the admiration
“of the world. -- After a pause he addressed himself to my mother
“& told her he had ever reason to approve of her conduct, that she had
“always been the same from the first day he knew her to that
“hour. -- He spoke of truth, & called on God & looking
“upwards, with his hands clasped, said he should meet his maker
“face to face. He asked my mother whether she had ever mistrusted
him, she assured him she had not, he said he had done justice
“to every one, even to those that had injured him; After this he
“was very composed & desired no one might be permitted to come
“into the room but his son coming in rather abruptly he
“said Richard, Richard, you are come to complain; his son asked him
“to explain himself, he answered you know my mind has been
“in a state of great perturbation, but if he wished him to
“explain himself, he had spoken from his feeling; Richard left
“the room, & my Dear Father went to bed; from that day
“his faculties quite forsook him. --
      You my dearest friend will weep as you read
the above, but you can have no Idea, of what a scene it
was to us, his countenance, his tears, & his words are deeply
engraved on my heart, once he said “he should have
a few womens tears, but it must be so.”
      The dear Anna Maria was the greatest comfort
to us, by her constant & kind attention. --



He has provided amply for Richard, & left him his
library, which he has already disposed, I fear he is
very much in debt; I am mistress of six thousand
pounds, & what is far more valuable to me, than money,
are his manuscripts, that is to me, the greatest
proof to me of his affection; my excellent mother
is amply provided for, & I trust that she will have
£800 a year, every thing at her own disposal the
      plate excepted which is only hers for life,
      & then goes to Richard. I have mentioned £800
      a year, but perhaps when every thing is settled
it may be more. I believe Richard comes in for
£11.000, but his behaviour during the whole time
of my dearest Father's illness was very faulty, I may
almost say shocking. Pray give my most affectionate
love to Mr Dickenson, & tell him how much we
were flattered by his kind expressions of esteem
for us. I remain my dearest Mrs. Dickenson
                             your sincere & Affectionate friend
                                                         Mary Glover.
P.S. my Father has
left Mrs.. Lenton £200..
she desires her best Compliments



I am now with our dearest Anna Maria, who is very
busy putting up some books, she looks remarkably well,
& is well; She desires he best love to you & Mr. Dickenson

Mrs.. Dickenson


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quotations,
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 1. This postscript appears to the left of the signature.
 2. The address line is written vertically in the middle of the page.

Metadata

Library References

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

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Mary Glover to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/13/27

Correspondence Details

Sender: Mary Glover

Place sent: London

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 15 December 1785

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Glover to Mary Hamilton, relating to the death of her father, Richard Glover. Knowing that Hamilton would be interested to know all of her father’s last words, Glover writes that she copies from a paper she has in her pocket book what she had written down a half hour after her father had said it. She knows that Hamilton will be in tears when she reads it and she writes that her father’s own tears and words are ‘engraved’ on her heart. She continues that her father has provided well for her brother Richard. He has left him his library ‘which he has already dispersed’. She fears her brother is in debt. Glover is now ‘mistress’ of six thousand pounds and of some of her father’s manuscripts which she notes is of more value to her than the money. She writes that this is ‘the greatest proof to me of his affection’. Her mother is also well provided for and will have eight hundred per year and everything ‘at her own disposal’. Glover continues on how much her brother has been left and her disappointment at how her brother acted during her father’s illness which she describes as ‘shocking’.
    Dated at Albemarle Street [London].
    Original reference No. 12.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 756 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 25 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

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