Single Letter

HAM/1/15/1/8

Letter from Charlotte Margaret Gunning to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


7

Horton October 2d 1785

My very dear Friend's letter which I received an hour
ago made me happier than I can expreʃs -- Had I
known how to direct to her I should not have waited
till now to have inquired after you and given you some
account of myself. Without delaying a Day longer
I avail myself of the neceʃsary information your
letter contains, to write to you, beginning with the
subject which gives me most pleasure to dwell upon,
your happineʃs -- The description you give of your
present situation, and the Characters of those amiable
People so nearly connected with you, breathes the
spirit of happineʃs and enjoyment -- Indeed my
dear
you are particularly marked amongst the
fortunate, for however truly amiable was the object
of your choice, however truly he was that of your
affections, what a mere accident chance had
you to find minds consonant to his and your
own in the other part members of his Family --
you are so certainly among the very rare instances
where so many advantages are united that I
cannot help wondering when I think of you, &
thanking God most sincerely for having thus
fixed your happineʃs where it is so well deserved
& will be so gratefully enjoyed -- To give you any



regular account of myself since we parted, I must
begin it soon after that with my going to Town
on the 17th of August -- The Day after that Drawingroom
I went down to Ly Carlisle's who is at D. Place near
Windsor -- you know it -- I spent that fortnight betwēn
her and St Leonards, but chiefly at the last place --
after the Dr. of the 1st September I went for a few
Days to Richmond Park, & stayed the rest of the
three Weeks, till the Coronation, with Ly Carlisle --
we had Company in the House both the time before
and part of the last time, during which we made
several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land --
went to Staines, Clivden, Park Place near Henley
Genrl Conway's you know, & one of the finest I ever
saw -- we paʃsed some part of every Day on the Water
which was quite delightful, then the pleasantest
warks & drives into the Forest -- the latterend
of my visit tho' was what I should have enjoyed
the most, as I was left quite alone with Lady
Carlisle
, but that my dear Bell was so unwell
that I could not be at a distance from her without
suffering infinitly from anxiety -- my own Health
however was perfectly good, and the exertions I
always make to keep up my spirits, prevented me
from receiving any other injury that that to my
feelings -- I came here on the 23d and had the



satisfaction of finding Bell infinitly better, come
down stairs, and free from some of her Complaints --
she still eats & sleeps little, but since I came her
spirits are much improved -- I shall take her away
with me on Wednesday, for a few Days to Town, &
then to pay some visits to our Friends.
Thank you a thousand times my very dear Friend
for all your expreʃsions of kinds & friendship, which
tho' perfectly uneceʃsary & superfluous to my convictio[n]
are still very pleasing & gratefully -- I should be
truly happy to see you, tho I do not want you
enough to make you leave your peaceful & happy
home -- I shall return here no more this year, m[y]
Father
leaves this on the 31st and London on [the]
15th of November -- They mean to spend the ------
------------ in France, but where they have [not]
yet fixed -- There is a trial preparing for me --
a separation from my beloved Sister and best Friend
of six Months. It will [be] of use to her, that is
my comfort, or at least my hope -- When do you
think of coming to Town? I suppose no plan
of that kind is fixed -- I shall not be a fixture
in London till after Xmaʃs -- adieu my dear
pray return my love to Mr D -- not meaning
that I do not accept of it, but that I am quite
ready to pay him in kind -- I hope he is quite
well, Bell desires her love to you & would have
written had she been well -- my F's best Compts
&c to you both -- adieu your sincere & affec
                                                         CMG——




To[1]
      Mrs Dickenson
           at Taxal
Chapel le Frith
      Derbyshire
single Sheet[2]


Honble Miʃs Gunning
Octbr. 1785[3]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. Postmark '67 NORTHAMPTON' to the left of the address.
 2. This line appears to the left of the last line in the address.
 3. This annotation is written vertically in the right margin of the page.

Normalised Text



Horton October 2d 1785

My very dear Friend's letter which I received an hour
ago made me happier than I can express -- Had I
known how to direct to her I should not have waited
till now to have inquired after you and given you some
account of myself. Without delaying a Day longer
I avail myself of the necessary information your
letter contains, to write to you, beginning with the
subject which gives me most pleasure to dwell upon,
your happiness -- The description you give of your
present situation, and the Characters of those amiable
People so nearly connected with you, breathes the
spirit of happiness and enjoyment -- Indeed my
dear you are particularly marked amongst the
fortunate, for however truly amiable was the object
of your choice, however truly he was that of your
affections, what a mere chance had
you to find minds consonant to his and your
own in the other members of his Family --
you are so certainly among the very rare instances
where so many advantages are united that I
cannot help wondering when I think of you, &
thanking God most sincerely for having thus
fixed happiness where it is so well deserved
& will be so gratefully enjoyed -- To give you any



regular account of myself since we parted, I must
begin it soon after that with my going to Town
on the 17th of August -- The Day after that Drawingroom
I went down to Lady Carlisle's who is at D. Place near
Windsor -- you know it -- I spent that fortnight between
her and St Leonards, but chiefly at the last place --
after the Drawingroom of the 1st September I went for a few
Days to Richmond Park, & stayed the rest of the
three Weeks, till the Coronation, with Lady Carlisle --
we had Company in the House both the time before
and part of the last time, during which we made
several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land --
went to Staines, Clivden, Park Place near Henley
General Conway's you know, & one of the finest I ever
saw -- we passed some part of every Day on the Water
which was quite delightful, then the pleasantest
walks & drives into the Forest -- the latter end
of my visit though was what I should have enjoyed
the most, as I was left quite alone with Lady
Carlisle, but that my dear Bell was so unwell
that I could not be at a distance from her without
suffering infinitely from anxiety -- my own Health
however was perfectly good, and the exertions I
always make to keep up my spirits, prevented me
from receiving any other injury than that to my
feelings -- I came here on the 23d and had the



satisfaction of finding Bell infinitely better, come
down stairs, and free from some of her Complaints --
she still eats & sleeps little, but since I came her
spirits are much improved -- I shall take her away
with me on Wednesday, for a few Days to Town, &
then to pay some visits to our Friends.
Thank you a thousand times my very dear Friend
for all your expressions of kindness & friendship, which
though perfectly unnecessary & superfluous to my conviction
are still very pleasing & grateful -- I should be
truly happy to see you, though I do not want you
enough to make you leave your peaceful & happy
home -- I shall return here no more this year, my
Father leaves this on the 31st and London on the
15th of November -- They mean to spend the ------
in France, but where they have not
yet fixed -- There is a trial preparing for me --
a separation from my beloved Sister and best Friend
of six Months. It will be of use to her, that is
my comfort, or at least my hope -- When do you
think of coming to Town? I suppose no plan
of that kind is fixed -- I shall not be a fixture
in London till after Christmas -- adieu my dear
pray return my love to Mr Dickenson -- not meaning
that I do not accept of it, but that I am quite
ready to pay him in kind -- I hope he is quite
well, Bell desires her love to you & would have
written had she been well -- my Father's best Compliments
&c to you both -- adieu your sincere & affectionate
                                                         Charlotte Margaret Gunning




To
      Mrs Dickenson
           at Taxal
Chapel le Frith
      Derbyshire
single Sheet


(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. Postmark '67 NORTHAMPTON' to the left of the address.
 2. This line appears to the left of the last line in the address.
 3. This annotation is written vertically in the right margin of the page.

Metadata

Library References

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

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Charlotte Margaret Gunning to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/1/8

Correspondence Details

Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)

Place sent: Horton, Northamptonshire

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith

Date sent: 2 October 1785

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to visits made to friends, including Lady Carlisle, and contains news of her family. She expresses delight in receiving a letter from Hamilton which was full of the happiness of her newly married life with John Dickenson: 'you are so certainly among the very rare instances where so many advantages are united that I cannot help wondering when I think of you, & thanking God most sincerely for having thus fixed your happiness where it is so well deserved & will be so gratefully enjoyed'.
    Gunning provides a detailed account of her activities since she and Hamilton were parted. In September she stayed at Richmond Park with Lady Carlisle [Margaret Caroline Howard, née Leveson-Gower (1753-1824), Countess of Carlisle]; 'we had Company in the House [...] during which we made several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land – went to Staines, Cliveden, Park Place near Henley Gen[e]r[a]l Conway's'. She also discusses her sister Bell's [Barbara Evelyn Isabella Gunning] health, and expresses her anxiety over the prospect of being parted from her 'beloved Sister and best Friend' for six months (see HAM/1/15/1/9).
    Dated at Horton.
    Original reference No. 7.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 745 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Jack Jones, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted November 2014)

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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