Diplomatic Text
What my dearis the reason my dear Brother of your very
long silence, do you think we are not interested in the
Welfare of yr better half, more particularly in
her present situation, I can aʃsure you that my
mother & myself accuse you of neglect, not yr
wife because I am sure she is pretty well
engaged, write soon & let us know how she does,
you forget the distance we are at & the love we
bear to the person in question.
I had a letter the other day from our Dear Anna
Maria, she is pretty well, but much engaged in
settling her accounts with Mr. Jackson, I hope
before we go to Town they will be finally adjusted
it will be a heavy load taken from her,
The little Henry (Mrs Jackson youngest child) is just
recover'd from the small pox.
Our neighborhood is rather dull at present,
all the Lodger's being gone, they being most agreeable
people we miʃs them very much, the Cole's
particularly, Mrs. John Egerton & the Coln. have
taken a house here, but she is so fine a Lady
& we visit at so great a distance that I can hardly
prevail on myself to call her a neighbour,
We have one family who are most amiable people, I have
quite an affection for them, we see each other
continually, which makes the country pleasant this
very unpleasant month.
by Mr. Glover
I have not begun publishing yet,[1] as my friends
are rather dilatary, it is unpleasant but you
know one must submit where one cannot
help one's self, the work was to have been
set about the beginning of this month, to have
made its appearance in the world next Febry-
I shall be in great luck if it is set about
before Christmas, I could not myself promise
a thing without performing it, but it is
the fashion of the present times, ------------ Mr Collier's
------------------------------------------------------------fault is unsteadineʃs, an unpleasant one for me.
------------------------ , tThe expence of publishing is
enormous, I hope I shall have succeʃs, I print a
thousand Copies, the expence is £250 if they are
all sold I gain £250 & so on in proportion,
the size is the same as the Leonidas as Mr-
Cadell thought that would make it more
Saleable, 4 volumes at fourteen Shillings. --
Tell Mrs. D: I have sent this account as
I imagine it gives her pleasure to know
what I am about.
Excuse this sad scrawl, which I should not
have sent had I been in Spirits to have written
it over again, but this days post brought
us a most melancholy account of a young
Lady a school Fellow & an intimate acquaintance
of mine having been thwarted in a love
affair, having thrown herself out of a two
pr. of Stairs window.[2]
her Father is a merchant a most amiable
man, she had form'd a connexion with a merchants
------ Clerk in the neighbourhood, her father
expostulated with her on the impropriety of such
a connexion, last Friday she came down to break-
-fast but would eat nothing, the same at dinner
her Father spoke to her & beg'd her to tell
him what ail'd, her answer was “she would
rather die” he left his house to go as usual being
post night to the counting house, was sent
for home & found his only daughter senseleʃs
& motionleʃs, her arm much shatter'd & otherwise
greatly bruised, having as before related thrown
herself out of a two pr. of stairs
window, his agonies at the dreadful
spectacle isare not to be described, she is
not thought in danger, hapleʃs miserable girl
not to be able to rein in her paʃsions.
Mr Bourdieu has finally adjusted his Family
affairs, I hope to be happy, Nancy is still
with us & is to remain till we go.
My Mother is well & desires her best love to
you & our dear Miranda mine to her, & pray
present our united compts. to yr. Father & sisters
whom we hope continue well.
Adieu Dr. Mr. Dickenson believe me yr.
Sincere friend & humble Servant
Mary Glover
PS
------------ whenever
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------[3]
[4]
[7]
Miʃs Glover
Novm. 1786[8]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A minor hand clarifies above this line what publication Mary Glover refers to.
2. That is, a second-floor window.
3. The postscript, which appears to the left of the closer, has been cut away except for the word ’whenever’.
4. The remains of a Bishop mark are visible. The address is crossed to indicate postage paid.
5. Partial postmark 'Windsor' in black ink.
6. This appears to the left of ‘Derbyshire’.
7. A seal in black wax remains intact.
8. This annotation appears upside down at the bottom of the page.
Normalised Text
What is the reason my dear Brother of your very
long silence, do you think we are not interested in the
Welfare of your better half, more particularly in
her present situation, I can assure you that my
mother & myself accuse you of neglect, not your
wife because I am sure she is pretty well
engaged, write soon & let us know how she does,
you forget the distance we are at & the love we
bear to the person in question.
I had a letter the other day from our Dear Anna
Maria, she is pretty well, but much engaged in
settling her accounts with Mr. Jackson, I hope
before we go to Town they will be finally adjusted
it will be a heavy load taken from her,
The little Henry (Mrs Jackson youngest child) is just
recovered from the small pox.
Our neighbourhood is rather dull at present,
all the Lodger's being gone, they being most agreeable
people we miss them very much, the Cole's
particularly, Mrs. John Egerton & the Colonel have
taken a house here, but she is so fine a Lady
& we visit at so great a distance that I can hardly
prevail on myself to call her a neighbour,
We have one family who are most amiable people, I have
quite an affection for them, we see each other
continually, which makes the country pleasant this
very unpleasant month.
I have not begun publishing yet, as my friends
are rather dilatory, it is unpleasant but you
know one must submit where one cannot
help one's self, the work was to have been
set about the beginning of this month, to have
made its appearance in the world next February
I shall be in great luck if it is set about
before Christmas, I could not myself promise
a thing without performing it, but it is
the fashion of the present times, Mr Collier's
fault is unsteadiness, an unpleasant one for me.
, The expense of publishing is
enormous, I hope I shall have success, I print a
thousand Copies, the expense is £250 if they are
all sold I gain £250 & so on in proportion,
the size is the same as the Leonidas as Mr-
Cadell thought that would make it more
Saleable, 4 volumes at fourteen Shillings. --
Tell Mrs. Dickenson I have sent this account as
I imagine it gives her pleasure to know
what I am about.
Excuse this sad scrawl, which I should not
have sent had I been in Spirits to have written
it over again, but this days post brought
us a most melancholy account of a young
Lady a school Fellow & an intimate acquaintance
of mine having been thwarted in a love
affair, having thrown herself out of a two
pair of Stairs window.
her Father is a merchant a most amiable
man, she had formed a connexion with a merchants
Clerk in the neighbourhood, her father
expostulated with her on the impropriety of such
a connexion, last Friday she came down to breakfast
but would eat nothing, the same at dinner
her Father spoke to her & begged her to tell
him what ailed, her answer was “she would
rather die” he left his house to go as usual being
post night to the counting house, was sent
for home & found his only daughter senseless
& motionless, her arm much shattered & otherwise
greatly bruised, having as before related thrown
herself out of a two pair of stairs
window, his agonies at the dreadful
spectacle are not to be described, she is
not thought in danger, hapless miserable girl
not to be able to rein in her passions.
Mr Bourdieu has finally adjusted his Family
affairs, I hope to be happy, Nancy is still
with us & is to remain till we go.
My Mother is well & desires her best love to
you & our dear Miranda mine to her, & pray
present our united compliments to your Father & sisters
whom we hope continue well.
Adieu Dear Mr. Dickenson believe me your
Sincere friend & humble Servant
Mary Glover
PS
------------ whenever
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Taxal
near Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
single Sheet
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 John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/13/42
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Glover
Place sent: Sunninghill
Addressee: John Dickenson
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 28 November 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Glover to John Dickenson. She wishes to hear how Mary Hamilton fares, and conveys news of friends and acquaintances, including Anna Maria Clarke and her publishing project, which has been delayed. She notes that the ‘experience of publishing is enormous’ but she hopes that she will be successful. The expense is two hundred and fifty pounds and Mr Cadell has suggested that it would be more saleable if it is the same size as the Leonidas. There will be four volumes at fourteen shillings.
Glover also writes of a young woman, a school friend of one of her intimate acquaintances who was thwarted in love and who threw herself out of an upstairs window. Her father is a merchant and she formed a connection with another merchant in the area. Her father spoke to her of the inappropriateness of this and she had said that she would rather die than give him up and later threw herself from the window, smashing her arm and much bruised. Glover writes that her father’s anxiety at the ‘dreadful spectacle are not to be described, she is not thought in danger, hapless miserable girl not to be able to rein in her passions’.
Glover ends her letter with news of her family.
Dated at Sunning Hill.
Length: 1 sheet, 707 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 22 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