Diplomatic Text
My dearest Mrs: Dickenson
I take up my pen to make my enquiries after you,
Dear Mr.. Dickenson, your worthy Father & sisters; who I can
easily imagine are not at all sorry for that you are
return'd home again, for they must miʃs your charming
spirits & your conversation, we think of you both
very often, & not very seldom wish you one of the
party. We have had company with us the whole
time we have been in the Country excepting this last week
& to day we go to Eton to fetch Mrs.. Luxmore who
will stay some time with us; she is happy in having
a very amiable man for her husband, he is at
present absent with Lord Dalkeith in Scotland.
We are very gay here, about ten days ago we
had a publick breakfast at the Wells, their were
an hundred & forty people there, we had the
musick from the Camp, and a charming band it
it is, I danced three dances, for we made up a Country
dance for twelve couple; every body was pleased
which is saying a great deal in the favor of our entertain-
-ment, there will be another this day seven-night,
my Mother did not chuse to go, Mrs. Lenton Miʃs M——
Bourdieu & myself were the party.
Miʃs Anna Maria Bourdieu one of the sisters you
saw in Clarges Street, is return'd from Bruʃsels, very
amiable & very accomplished, upon her return home
her sisters wish'd to make her take against her
father as they had done, she refused saying he was too
good & indulgent to them to merit the treatment he
he had received, upon which she met with every ill-
treatment which malice ill-nature & hatred can devise,
she is now on a visit to Mr. Chollets, & will very
shortly come to us. --
You enquire about the Bond[1] & the printing of
my dearest Fathers work; the former is settled & I have
the money now in my poʃseʃsion, after meeting with
the vilest treatment from Mr & Mrs.. Strohoff, their is
nothing that they could say that was bad that they have not
against my dear Father, whose Charecter was too well
known thank God for it in the least to Suffer by it,
I always thought them worthleʃs people but never so
very bad a[2] they really are. In regard to the aAthenaid
every thing is settled, & it will be publish'd next Febry-
the number of Copies are one thousand; Mr. Collier thinks
they will all be sold. --
I was quite happy to read Mr. D.. praises of little Minikin
pray tell her from me that I beg to be remember'd to her
& that her little cousin is very well & as great a favorite
as ever, I never felt so interested for any one upon so short
an acquaintance as I did for Sally, I am therefore quite glad
she suits you so well. My Mother was in Town the other
day, when she saw Mrs: Hamilton who inform'd her that
Mr. Hamilton had sold his house in Bedford Square & had
purchased a most charming peice of ground at the further
end of Oxford Street opposite Hyde park & was going to build
a very good house;[3] the very next door to where they are
building athe gentleman wish'd to let his house for three
years, Mr. Hamilton has taken it, & they move into it
this week.
My Mother is very well & desires to be most
affectionately remember'd to Mr. D. & yourself
& best Compts. to the rest of your family.
Your charming old friend Mrs: Delany is very well
she has breakfasted with Mr. & Mrs. Cole several times.
Your were alarm'd no doubt when you first heard the
account of the attempt upon the King,[4] he had taken the pre-
caution of sending an expreʃs to Windsor to desire that the Queen
might not hear about it; but in the evening when he himself
arrived at Windsor, he went into the room where the Queen & princeʃses
were, & saluted them with these words, “well thank God I am
not in the least hurt” & repeated it twice over, the Queen & princeʃses
look'd at him, but did not speak, the Queen was in agonies for
some time, till at last the princeʃses burst into tears, which
reliev'd the Queen so much that tShe shed tears immediately,
The King was much hurt at his own imprudence & greatly
alarm'd for the Queen, for she hardly recover'd it the
whole evening. -- The Prince of Wales came on the Friday
to Windsor to make his enquiries, the Q.. saw him but not
the K—— & on his birthday they left Wind——r. The K. resents his ------
with Mrs. F.——[5] if it had not been for that he would have
paid all his debts. --
Pray present my best love to your excellent husband & make
my Compts. acceptable to Mr. D.[6] & your Sisters.[7] --
▼ ▼
My Dear Miʃs A Maria Clarke is gone to Margate, Mr. Jackson
Mrs. Barnard & the Children go on Thursday, I saw all the Children
at Eton. They are fine children, but your god --- daughter is
my favorite, she is a lovely lively sensible child, the dear little boy
too I saw it is a fine child, Mrs. Barnard nursed the child, & brought
him to us with tears in Her eyes. --
Ever my Dearest Mrs. D. your affectionate friend
M Glover
Mrs. Lenton
presents her best Compts-[8]
pray send us word whether you are quite well
for my Mother and self [ar]e very anxious. -- [9]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Presumably in relation to the case of Glover vs Strothoff, heard in the High Court of Chancery in 1786, in which the Strothoffs had disputed the distribution of the property of Mary Burgess, Richard Glover's sister. See Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, During the Time of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, of the Several Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, and of Lord Chancellor Loughborough, from 1778 to 1794: With an Appendix of Contemporary Cases (Brown et al. 1819), Vol 2, p.34. The Strothoffs were arguing that they were a residual legatee, presumably on the basis of Mary Glover's illegitimacy.
2. Probably meant ‘as’.
3. See HAM/1/4/2/3.
4. On 2 August 1786, George III was attacked with a dessert knife by Margaret Nicholson. He was unharmed. Nicholson was deemed insane and committed to Bethlem Royal Hospital, where she remained until her death in 1828.
5. Maria Anne Fitzherbert (née Smythe), who George Prince of Wales had secretly married in 1785, although the marriage was not recognised in English law.
6. Presumably John Dickenson, Senior.
7. This is Hamilton's sisters-in-law, Sarah and Elizabeth Dickenson.
8. This postscript appears to the left of the closer.
9. Moved postscript here from the right of the address, written vertically.
10. Moved address here from middle of page, written vertically.
11. A red wax seal survives.
12. A Bishop mark for 22 August partially survives. The address is crossed to indicate postage paid.
Normalised Text
My dearest Mrs: Dickenson
I take up my pen to make my enquiries after you,
Dear Mr.. Dickenson, your worthy Father & sisters; who I can
easily imagine are not at all sorry that you are
returned home again, for they must miss your charming
spirits & your conversation, we think of you both
very often, & not very seldom wish you one of the
party. We have had company with us the whole
time we have been in the Country excepting this last week
& to day we go to Eton to fetch Mrs.. Luxmore who
will stay some time with us; she is happy in having
a very amiable man for her husband, he is at
present absent with Lord Dalkeith in Scotland.
We are very gay here, about ten days ago we
had a public breakfast at the Wells, there were
an hundred & forty people there, we had the
music from the Camp, and a charming band
it is, I danced three dances, for we made up a Country
dance for twelve couple; every body was pleased
which is saying a great deal in the favour of our entertainment
, there will be another this day seven-night,
my Mother did not choose to go, Mrs. Lenton Miss Mary
Bourdieu & myself were the party.
Miss Anna Maria Bourdieu one of the sisters you
saw in Clarges Street, is returned from Brussels, very
amiable & very accomplished, upon her return home
her sisters wished to make her take against her
father as they had done, she refused saying he was too
good & indulgent to them to merit the treatment
he had received, upon which she met with every ill-treatment
which malice ill-nature & hatred can devise,
she is now on a visit Mr. Chollets, & will very
shortly come to us. --
You enquire about the Bond & the printing of
my dearest Fathers work; the former is settled & I have
the money now in my possession, after meeting with
the vilest treatment from Mr & Mrs.. Strothoff, there is
nothing that they could say that was bad that they have not
against my dear Father, whose Character was too well
known thank God for it in the least to Suffer by it,
I always thought them worthless people but never so
very bad a they really are. In regard to the Athenaid
every thing is settled, & it will be published next February
the number of Copies are one thousand; Mr. Collier thinks
they will all be sold. --
I was quite happy to read Mr. Dickenson praises of little Minikin
pray tell her from me that I beg to be remembered to her
& that her little cousin is very well & as great a favourite
as ever, I never felt so interested for any one upon so short
an acquaintance as I did for Sally, I am therefore quite glad
she suits you so well. My Mother was in Town the other
day, when she saw Mrs: Hamilton who informed her that
Mr. Hamilton had sold his house in Bedford Square & had
purchased a most charming piece of ground at the further
end of Oxford Street opposite Hyde park & was going to build
a very good house; the very next door to where they are
building the gentleman wished to let his house for three
years, Mr. Hamilton has taken it, & they move into it
this week.
My Mother is very well & desires to be most
affectionately remembered to Mr. Dickenson & yourself
& best Compliments to the rest of your family.
Your charming old friend Mrs: Delany is very well
she has breakfasted with Mr. & Mrs. Cole several times.
You were alarmed no doubt when you first heard the
account of the attempt upon the King, he had taken the precaution
of sending an express to Windsor to desire that the Queen
might not hear about it; but in the evening when he himself
arrived at Windsor, he went into the room where the Queen & princesses
were, & saluted them with these words, “well thank God I am
not in the least hurt” & repeated it twice over, the Queen & princesses
looked at him, but did not speak, the Queen was in agonies for
some time, till at last the princesses burst into tears, which
relieved the Queen so much that She shed tears immediately,
The King was much hurt at his own imprudence & greatly
alarmed for the Queen, for she hardly recovered it the
whole evening. -- The Prince of Wales came on the Friday
to Windsor to make his enquiries, the Queen saw him but not
the King & on his birthday they left Windsor. The King resents his
with Mrs. FitzHerbert if it had not been for that he would have
paid all his debts. --
Pray present my best love to your excellent husband & make
my Compliments acceptable to Mr. Dickenson & your Sisters. --
▼ ▼
My Dear Miss Anna Maria Clarke is gone to Margate, Mr. Jackson
Mrs. Barnard & the Children go on Thursday, I saw all the Children
at Eton. They are fine children, but your god daughter is
my favourite, she is a lovely lively sensible child, the dear little boy
too I saw it is a fine child, Mrs. Barnard nursed the child, & brought
him to us with tears in Her eyes. --
Ever my Dearest Mrs. Dickenson your affectionate friend
Mary Glover
Mrs. Lenton
presents her best Compliments
pray send us word whether you are quite well
for my Mother and self are very anxious. --
Taxal near
Chapel le frith
Derbyshire
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/1/13/40
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Glover
Place sent: Sunninghill
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 21 August 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Glover to Mary Hamilton, containing general news of friends and society including news of the attempted assassination of the King. Glover writes of the company at home and having a 'gay time'. She writes of a public breakfast about ten days previously at the Wells with a hundred people in attendance. There was music and a band and dancing and everyone seemed pleased. Another public breakfast is planned for the following week. Glover also writes of Anna Maria Bourdieu (see HAM/1/13/33) is of the party. She has just returned from Brussels and is very amiable. Her sisters are trying to turn her against her father but she refuses to do so.
Glover also writes about her continuing attempts to get her father's work published and the settlement of a bond (see HAM/1/13/39). The bond is now settled and she has the money in her possession. Her father's work the Athenaid will be published in February. A thousand copies are to be published and Mr Collier thinks that they will all be sold. Glover writes that her mother saw Hamilton's aunt, Mrs Hamilton who told her that her husband is to sell their house at Bedford Square and have purchased some land at the end of Oxford Street opposite the park. They are to build a house on the plot and are to live next door to it whilst it is being built (see HAM/1/4/1).
Glover reports that Hamilton's friend, Mrs Delany is very well and has breakfasted a number of times with Mr and Mrs Cole. Glover notes that no doubt Hamilton was alarmed when she heard about the attempt on the king's life. She notes that he 'had taken the precaution of sending an express to Windsor to desire that the Queen might not hear about it'. She continues to note that on his arrival at Windsor he himself announced to the Queen 'Well thank God I am not in the least hurt'. He repeated this twice and the Queen and the princesses looked at him but did not speak and the princesses then burst into tears and the Queen was in 'agonies'. The King was upset by his action and alarmed for the Queen. Glover writes that the Prince of Wales came to Windsor on the Friday to make his enquiry. The Queen saw him but the King did not. Glover notes that the King resents the controversy with Mrs F[itzwilliam] and 'if it had not been for that he would have paid all his debts'.
Dated at Sunning Hill.
Original reference No. 19.
Length: 1 sheet, 949 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 17 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