Diplomatic Text
My dear Mrs.. Dickenson
I am well pleased, indeed, to hear that
you like Sarah Barrow[3] I was in great hopes
that she would suit you, she is very diffident
& a sweet temper, which are two great qualities
in a servant what who is in the capacity of a
ladies maid. I cannot tell the true meaning
of Mr Collier's verses,[4] but the first time I
see him I will ask him. I saw the Provost
of Eton[5] the other day, who was so good as
to recommend a printer to me, a very sensible
honest man a Mr.. Hughes, I mean to imploy him
the Provost was to write to him for me.
Your Old ------ Friend & Lover Mr: Bourdieu
has been in france for these last nine
months, I should not be surprized if he was
to continue there, he has been so shamefully
treated by his children,[6] I think I told
you before you left Town that he kept
a woman, his daughters Phillipa & Hariot
sent spies to find the woman out, & told
him that he was an old wretch & abused
him so much that Bourdieu threaten'd to
bring her home, his sons attack'd him, even
James, who is really a sensible young man, but
led away in this instance by his sister's, I believe
he is sorry now that matters went so far; his
son John reproach'd him with living with
their mother before he married her, he put
his father into such a rage that he threw
a glaʃs of wine at him, & he swore he
would disenherit them all, meaning James & John
Phillipa & Hariot, Nancy is out of the scrape
for she has been abroad near two years &
my Mothers godchild Mary is still at Miʃs
Duttons she is a very sensible girl, my Mother
intends writing to Mr.. Bourdieu to request his
permiʃsion to let her be with us during
the holiydays, if she goes home her morals
will be quite corrupted, for my dear Mary
wants steadineʃs, she has naturally a sweet
disposition, Mr Bourdieu himself wants
steadineʃs, if he had had any he never would
have suffer'd his children to have behav'd in
the manner they have.
Miʃs Hamilton has not been well, she went
to Kemble's benefit, (the only time she saw Mrs-
Siddons this season) & caught a cold in her
head, after that left her, every night between
six & seven she was seized with a hoarseneʃs
& a disagreeable short cough, Mr. & Mrs. Hamilton
have been uneasiey about her, Mrs: H.. drank tea
with us this day seven-night, Mr: H—— was so
unhappy about her that he could not leave her,
I saw Miʃs H: on Sunday & thought her better,
but she was still a little hoarse, she thought
herself too much better, --- I think her much
improved this winter. --
I inclose a few lines for Mr.. D: to thank
him for his kind epistle to me. My Mother
is very well & desires her best love to you.
You may remember that last year my
dear Father gave me a thousand pounds, which
was a debt that Mrs: Burges ow'd him, in
his will he very particularly mentions it as
giving it to me with five thousand more, Since
his death the bond which Mrs: Burges gave him
is miʃsing, in short I can find it no where; the
first visit Mr & Mrs. Strothoff paid us this winter
my mother mentioned the bond which Mr. Strothoff
acknowledged, still I received no interest from him
though half a year was due last Lady day, about
a fortnight ago Mr. Blake who is our solicitor & our
my trustee, call'd upon them & mention'd that
I was in want of the interest upon the bond,
Mrs.. S.. said their was nothing to show for the
Money & that indeed she should not pay it. --
she told Mr. McKonochie the same, Mr. Blake
said if that was the case he should file a bill
in chancery against her, but however they both
go to her on thursday to talk with her upon
the subject, I always thought her a weak woman but
did not think her a bad one, I now think her
both, we shall visit no more, some time ago we call --- [7]
& she told us to our faces that it was my poor Father
who was the occasion of the will going into chancery
that the executors had told her so, I took her
up very short, (for I was really angry) they have
then used us very ill Madam, since they all
agreed that they could not act as the will
then stood, finding me very positive she said
you mistook me, I did not say so. I thought it
beneath either my mother or myself to say any
thing further on the subject, we took our leaves
& I then told my Mother that nothing should ever
tempt me to go within their door again.
Richd Glover is very much alter'd we never see
meet, surely their never was such a family, he has
I think as bad a disposition as I ever heard of.
Mrs. Lenton presents her best Compts. pray
give my Mother's Compts. to Lady Wake with
mine Adieu my dear Mrs.. D——
& believe me your very Affectionate
M Glover
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The top-right corner of the page has been cut away, possibly to censor something as part of the writing remains.
2. This appears at the top-right corner.
3. In other letters often referred to as 'Sally'.
4. See HAM/2/15/3 p.31.
5. William Hayward Roberts was the provost of Eton College from 1781 until 1791.
6. James Bourdieu had ten children with Phillipa Berney. We know nine of them by name: James Berney, John Berney, William, Peregrine Berney, Anna Maria (a.k.a. Nancy), Harriott, Mary, Charlotte, and Philippa.
7. Probably ‘call'd’.
Normalised Text
My dear Mrs.. Dickenson
I am well pleased, indeed, to hear that
you like Sarah Barrow I was in great hopes
that she would suit you, she is very diffident
& a sweet temper, which are two great qualities
in a servant who is in the capacity of a
ladies maid. I cannot tell the true meaning
of Mr Collier's verses, but the first time I
see him I will ask him. I saw the Provost
of Eton the other day, who was so good as
to recommend a printer to me, a very sensible
honest man a Mr.. Hughes, I mean to employ him
the Provost was to write to him for me.
Your Old Friend & Lover Mr: Bourdieu
has been in france for these last nine
months, I should not be surprised if he was
to continue there, he has been so shamefully
treated by his children, I think I told
you before you left Town that he kept
a woman, his daughters Phillipa & Hariot
sent spies to find the woman out, & told
him that he was an old wretch & abused
him so much that Bourdieu threatened to
bring her home, his sons attacked him, even
James, who is really a sensible young man, but
led away in this instance by his sister's, I believe
he is sorry now that matters went so far; his
son John reproached him with living with
their mother before he married her, he put
his father into such a rage that he threw
a glass of wine at him, & he swore he
would disinherit them all, meaning James & John
Phillipa & Hariot, Nancy is out of the scrape
for she has been abroad near two years &
my Mothers godchild Mary is still at Miss
Duttons she is a very sensible girl, my Mother
intends writing to Mr.. Bourdieu to request his
permission to let her be with us during
the holidays, if she goes home her morals
will be quite corrupted, for my dear Mary
wants steadiness, she has naturally a sweet
disposition, Mr Bourdieu himself wants
steadiness, if he had had any he never would
have suffered his children to have behaved in
the manner they have.
Miss Hamilton has not been well, she went
to Kemble's benefit, (the only time she saw Mrs-
Siddons this season) & caught a cold in her
head, after that left her, every night between
six & seven she was seized with a hoarseness
& a disagreeable short cough, Mr. & Mrs. Hamilton
have been uneasy about her, Mrs: Hamilton drank tea
with us this day seven-night, Mr: Hamilton was so
unhappy about her that he could not leave her,
I saw Miss Hamilton on Sunday & thought her better,
but she was still a little hoarse, she thought
herself too much better, I think her much
improved this winter. --
I enclose a few lines for Mr.. Dickenson to thank
him for his kind epistle to me. My Mother
is very well & desires her best love to you.
You may remember that last year my
dear Father gave me a thousand pounds, which
was a debt that Mrs: Burges owed him, in
his will he very particularly mentions it as
giving it to me with five thousand more, Since
his death the bond which Mrs: Burges gave him
is missing, in short I can find it no where; the
first visit Mr & Mrs. Strothoff paid us this winter
my mother mentioned the bond which Mr. Strothoff
acknowledged, still I received no interest from him
though half a year was due last Lady day, about
a fortnight ago Mr. Blake who is our solicitor &
my trustee, called upon them & mentioned that
I was in want of the interest upon the bond,
Mrs.. Strothoff said there was nothing to show for the
Money & that indeed she should not pay it. --
she told Mr. McKonochie the same, Mr. Blake
said if that was the case he should file a bill
in chancery against her, but however they both
go to her on thursday to talk with her upon
the subject, I always thought her a weak woman but
did not think her a bad one, I now think her
both, we shall visit no more, some time ago we call ---
& she told us to our faces that it was my poor Father
who was the occasion of the will going into chancery
that the executors had told her so, I took her
up very short, (for I was really angry) they have
then used us very ill Madam, since they all
agreed that they could not act as the will
then stood, finding me very positive she said
you mistook me, I did not say so. I thought it
beneath either my mother or myself to say any
thing further on the subject, we took our leaves
& I then told my Mother that nothing should ever
tempt me to go within their door again.
Richard Glover is very much altered we never
meet, surely there never was such a family, he has
I think as bad a disposition as I ever heard of.
Mrs. Lenton presents her best Compliments pray
give my Mother's Compliments to Lady Wake with
mine Adieu my dear Mrs.. Dickenson
& believe me your very Affectionate
Mary Glover
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 Glover to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/13/37
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Glover
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 2 May 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Glover to Mary Hamilton. She writes of Sarah [Sally] Barrow, a servant that she had recommended to her. Glover is pleased that Hamilton likes her. Barrow has a 'sweet temper' a quality which Glover considers positive for a ladies maid.
Glover also writes on her attempts at getting her father’s works published and on Hamilton's 'old friend & lover Mr Bourdieu' who has been in town for the past nine months. She notes that he has been 'shamefully treated by his children'. Glover notes that he had kept a woman and his two daughters sent 'spies' to find the woman out and told their father that he 'was an old wretch & abused him so much that Bourdieu threatened to bring her home' and his sons attacked him. One of his sons also admonished his father for living with his mother before their marriage. Bourdieu was so angry he threw a glass of wine at him and threatened to disinherit them all. His daughter Mary has been abroad for two years and Glover's mother may write to Bourdieu to see if she can stay with them during the holidays [Mary was Mrs Glover's godchild]. She is worried that if she goes home her morals will be 'corrupted'.
Glover also writes of Mary’s cousin Miss Hamilton [see HAM/1/4/3] who has not been well but went to 'Kemble’s benefit' and that this was the only time she saw Mrs Siddons [the actress] this season. Miss Hamilton caught a cold and cough and her parents have been worried for her.
The letter ends on the subject of Glover's fathers' will and a bond that is owed to her.
Dated at Albemarle Street [London].
Original reference No. 16.
Length: 1 sheet, 903 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 29 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: 21 October 2023