Diplomatic Text
17
St James's November 2d
1786
If you were not grown the very worst of Correspondants
from being the best, my dear Friend; I should be
alarmed at your frequent and long Silences -- but
by experience I know that they do not imply ill
Health, and still leʃs oubli or indifference, to one
you have long loved, and who loves you much, and
sincerely -- It is therefore determined that I must
neither be uneasy, nor angry -- the latter I am
sure I never could nor can be with those Friends
I have tried, & am sure of -- it seems to me & allways
has done so, the most unatural & unworthy mark
of Friendships, to expreʃs doubts, suspicion, mistrust
& anger! yet some People hold these affections to be
inseparable from true regard!
I shall only say that when you can and do write, I
shall be sincerely happy and rejoiced to hear from
you -- You have received no doubt my letter from
Farmborough, which tho' not on a folio sheet, was
filled & promised you another soon -- this was written
around the 26th of September, & properly directed -- I
went from thence to St Leonards for a Week, where
as I always do, I spent my time in the Manner mos[t]
agreeable to myself -- the Place I doat upon -- the Inhabit[ants]
I love -- the Visitors are pleasant -- I but the Charm
of the place is that I am considered as a tame Cat
& allowed, to rise, walk, go to bed, when I please -- &
am never questioned or inquired for, whatever I do
or wherever I go, but allowed to rove for hours in the
Forest by myself, and indulge my own thoughts
without molestation -- I came to Town for the Drawingr[oom]
with Gen: & Mrs Harcourt -- she received that Day an
account of Miʃs Danby's Death -- this Event had been
so long & constantly expected, and from Miʃs Danby's
sufferings, was become so desirable, that the account
of it was a relief, instead of shock to Mrs Harcourt --
I went to Horton after the Drawingroom and had
the mortification to find my dear Sister in a very
uncomfortable state of Health, nearly in the same
way that she has been for these two last Autumns.
she has entirely lost her appetite -- literally so -- for
she could not bear a bit of bread or a drop of Broth with[out]
great pain -- yet Dr Kerr says there is nothing doing
in her case, & has not even ordered her any Medicine, but
a great deal of exercise, warm cloathing and change
of air -- my anxiety, which notwithstanding Dr Kerrs
aʃsurances, was very great, prevented me from writing
to you my dear Friend, or attending to anything
during my Stay at Horton -- we left it together
on the 18th of October -- stayed two or three Days in London
& then went to Richmond Park, where we had some
delightful weather, of which we profited most comple[tely]
my Sister rode, I walked 3 or 4 Miles every day
& was much the better for it, tho' I can hardly be better
than in perfect Health, ------ a bleʃsing I can boast
of at this minute, and for which I am very thankfu[l]
I left the Park last Thursday for Farmborough, where
I promised to return, to celebrate Mr and Mrs Wilmots
Wedding Day, on which we had a very pleasant
dance -- I went from thence to Ld Lothian's -- to see
the Ly Kerrs who are charming Girls -- I had the
delight of being in the House with Mrs Bates
& of enjoying her singing in so comfortable a way
from morning to night, without the constraint of a London
Concert, where you are fixed on one chair for 4 hours
together in a hot room.
I came to Town Monday, having some little busine[ʃs]
here before the Drawingroom -- I have been ------------
room ever since without moving even to Din[ner] ------
and have found occupation enough, from 8 to 11
without any society -- I believe theirre are People in
Town, but I have not enquired, & should be sorry to
have been interrupted -- Pʃs Emily has left Lord
Pelham and Besborough Executors -- 4000£ a piece
to the two Ly Waldegraves -- other Legacies, but the
Bulk of her fortune to the Prince of Heʃse --
I go to morrow to Richmond, & next week to St Leond
with BEIG -- she & my Father go to Bath at the end
of this Month -- adieu my dear Friend -- Cara mi[a]
write soon -- God bleʃs you -- remember me kindly
to Mr D -- God bleʃs you -- CMG --
[2]
Octer. 1786[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Postmark '2 NO' above address when unfolded, indicating that the letter went through the post on 2 November 1786.
2. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
3. This annotation is written upside down at the bottom of the page. 'October' here may refer to the bulk of the period covered by the letter, but the postmark confirms Gunning's dateline of November.
Normalised Text
St James's November 2d
If you were not grown the very worst of Correspondents
from being the best, my dear Friend; I should be
alarmed at your frequent and long Silences -- but
by experience I know that they do not imply ill
Health, and still less oubli or indifference, to one
you have long loved, and who loves you much, and
sincerely -- It is therefore determined that I must
neither be uneasy, nor angry -- the latter I am
sure I never could nor can be with those Friends
I have tried, & am sure of -- it seems to me & always
has done so, the most unnatural & unworthy mark
of Friendships, to express doubts, suspicion, mistrust
& anger! yet some People hold these affections to be
inseparable from true regard!
I shall only say that when you can and do write, I
shall be sincerely happy and rejoiced to hear from
you -- You have received no doubt my letter from
Farmborough, which though not on a folio sheet, was
filled & promised you another soon -- this was written
around the 26th of September, & properly directed -- I
went from thence to St Leonards for a Week, where
as I always do, I spent my time in the Manner most
agreeable to myself -- the Place I dote upon -- the Inhabitants
I love -- the Visitors are pleasant -- but the Charm
of the place is that I am considered as a tame Cat
& allowed, to rise, walk, go to bed, when I please -- &
am never questioned or inquired for, whatever I do
or wherever I go, but allowed to rove for hours in the
Forest by myself, and indulge my own thoughts
without molestation -- I came to Town for the Drawingroom
with General & Mrs Harcourt -- she received that Day an
account of Miss Danby's Death -- this Event had been
so long & constantly expected, and from Miss Danby's
sufferings, was become so desirable, that the account
of it was a relief, instead of shock to Mrs Harcourt --
I went to Horton after the Drawingroom and had
the mortification to find my dear Sister in a very
uncomfortable state of Health, nearly in the same
way that she has been for these two last Autumns.
she has entirely lost her appetite -- literally so -- for
she could not bear a bit of bread or a drop of Broth without
great pain -- yet Dr Kerr says there is nothing doing
in her case, & has not even ordered her any Medicine, but
a great deal of exercise, warm clothing and change
of air -- my anxiety, which notwithstanding Dr Kerrs
assurances, was very great, prevented me from writing
to you my dear Friend, or attending to anything
during my Stay at Horton -- we left it together
on the 18th of October -- stayed two or three Days in London
& then went to Richmond Park, where we had some
delightful weather, of which we profited most completely
my Sister rode, I walked 3 or 4 Miles every day
& was much the better for it, though I can hardly be better
than in perfect Health, a blessing I can boast
of at this minute, and for which I am very thankful
I left the Park last Thursday for Farmborough, where
I promised to return, to celebrate Mr and Mrs Wilmots
Wedding Day, on which we had a very pleasant
dance -- I went from thence to Lord Lothian's -- to see
the Lady Kerrs who are charming Girls -- I had the
delight of being in the House with Mrs Bates
& of enjoying her singing in so comfortable a way
from morning to night, without the constraint of a London
Concert, where you are fixed on one chair for 4 hours
together in a hot room.
I came to Town Monday, having some little business
here before the Drawingroom -- I have been ------------
room ever since without moving even to Dinner ------
and have found occupation enough, from 8 to 11
without any society -- I believe there are People in
Town, but I have not enquired, & should be sorry to
have been interrupted -- Princess Emily has left Lord
Pelham and Bessborough Executors -- 4000£ a piece
to the two Lady Waldegraves -- other Legacies, but the
Bulk of her fortune to the Prince of Hesse --
I go to morrow to Richmond, & next week to St Leonards
with BEIG -- she & my Father go to Bath at the end
of this Month -- adieu my dear Friend -- Cara mia
write soon -- God bless you -- remember me kindly
to Mr Dickenson -- God bless you -- Charlotte Margaret Gunning --
Mrs Dickenson
Taxal
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 Charlotte Margaret Gunning to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/1/16
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 2 November 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton. She writes on the health of her sister, news of friends and the death of Miss Danby. She reports that her own health has improved, and that while on a visit to Richmond Park she walked 3 or 4 miles each day.
Dated at St James's [London].
Original reference No. 17.
Length: 1 sheet, 774 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: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Rosie Pendrey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2016)
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