Diplomatic Text
29
St James's September 2d 1788
My dear Friend!
I arrived in Town this Evening & found your dear
little note, which I was happy to receive as a proof of
your existence, as well as of your recollection -- the
comfortable letter I promised you from Horton waited
for one from you, to set out how came you never to
write me even one line? however I will say nothing
more on the subject, we have nothing to reproach each other[1]
on that of our corresponding -- we are both very idle, every
body complains of you my dear & Ly Wake had already
chargéed me with a long scolding meʃsage to you, when
fortunately for you she received your letter the day before
I left Horton -- I had the pleasure of seeing her several tim[es]
during my stay there -- & dined with her on the Tuesday
before my departure -- I think her very well & in good
spirits -- entre nous I do not much like Miʃs Wake, Miʃs
Charlotte is an absolute Dwarf -- but we all like Ly Wake
more & more every time we see her, Papa is absolutely
in love with her -- I must now explain to you the reason
of my disappearing so immediatly from Richmond
after having intended to make some stay there & to
see you -- I had proposed spending my first fortnight
(for I shall not return to Horton till the 19th) at the Park
& my next at St Leonards -- but upon seeing Mrs Harcourt
at Court she told me she was to leave home to day, so that
unleʃs I went to her immediatly, I should not see her at
all -- I then determined, (having already engaged myself
to Mrs Stuart) just to go there for a day or two to see her
after her very long absence & illneʃs, & then to go on to
St Leonards -- I did so, & left Richmond I think on Monday,
I met Lady J. Penn at Church & desired her when she
saw you to give my love & to tell you I was going immed
deatly & therefore could not see you till my return --
I am now just returned, after paʃsing the pleasantest
week I almost ever remember in my life, in that
beautiful charming Place! the Owners of it I love, how
ungrateful should I be to her who has been as a Mother
to me, if I did not love her from my Soul! The society
I found there was the pleasantest poʃsible -- all the
Lennoxes -- I do not know if you are acquainted with
them -- Ly Louisa is the cleverest as well as the best
humoured & the most sensible Woman -- more true
drollery & humour than I ever saw in any person --
the Girls are as good as beautiful & as pleasing as good --
so much simplicity, with so much sence & good humou[r]
they are indeed everything that is charming & amiable
& my heart was very heavy & sad when we separated
yesterday -- Princeʃs Elisabeth is much better, she
has been very very ill again, Blisters -- all her old
Complaints -- Ly Courtown is appointed, Friend
to the Queen, with 500£ a year -- the Queen did it in
the handsomest, most flattering manner -- & inded
it is a most flattering appointment -- she asked
what she was to do for this favour -- the Queen put
out her hand & said, “be my Friend” -- So the Ducheʃs
of Kingston is dead -- 17000£ a year goes to Charles Mead,
& know not how much to Evelyn -- & she has left all
her Jewels, divided between or rather amongst, the
Pope, Ly Salisbury whom she did not know, & the
Empreʃs of Ruʃsia -- I know no further particulars
of this strang will at present --
I shall be at Ly Binnings at Richmond on Saturday
& at the Lodge on Monday for a week -- during that
time & at as early a period of it as I can, I shall call
on you, the first morning I can poʃsibly --
I go the 19th to Horton, for a fortnight, then leave it
for a Month & shall return there about the 8th or 10th of
November for two Months -- we shall be delighted
to see you any part of that time & as much of it [as]
you can -- for my part I look to your bein[g] ------
as a most comfortable & delightful Circums[tance]
adieu my dear Friend, good night, God bleʃs [you]
remember me kindly to Mr D. I hope your dear
little angel is well -- adieu once more --
[2]
To
Mrs Dickenson
Richmond[3]
Surry
Honble. Miʃs Gunning
Sepr. 1788[4]
[5]
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Part of the back of HAM/1/15/1/30(2) can be seen in the right-hand margin of the image.
2. The back of HAM/1/15/1/30(2) can be seen as well on this page.
3. A large '2' is written to the right of the address, likely indicating postage due.
4. This annotation appears on the right-hand side of the page, written vertically. The second line containing the date is not visible here but can be seen in HAM/1/15/1/30 p.3.
5. Remains of a postmark reading 'SE 3 88', indicating the date on which the letter went through the post was 3 September 1788.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
St James's September 2d 1788
My dear Friend!
I arrived in Town this Evening & found your dear
little note, which I was happy to receive as a proof of
your existence, as well as of your recollection -- the
comfortable letter I promised you from Horton waited
for one from you, to set out how came you never to
write me even one line? however I will say nothing
more on the subject, we have nothing to reproach each other
on that of our corresponding -- we are both very idle, every
body complains of you my dear & Lady Wake had already
chargéed me with a long scolding message to you, when
fortunately for you she received your letter the day before
I left Horton -- I had the pleasure of seeing her several times
during my stay there -- & dined with her on the Tuesday
before my departure -- I think her very well & in good
spirits -- entre nous I do not much like Miss Wake, Miss
Charlotte is an absolute Dwarf -- but we all like Lady Wake
more & more every time we see her, Papa is absolutely
in love with her -- I must now explain to you the reason
of my disappearing so immediately from Richmond
after having intended to make some stay there & to
see you -- I had proposed spending my first fortnight
(for I shall not return to Horton till the 19th) at the Park
& my next at St Leonards -- but upon seeing Mrs Harcourt
at Court she told me she was to leave home to day, so that
unless I went to her immediately, I should not see her at
all -- I then determined, (having already engaged myself
to Mrs Stuart) just to go there for a day or two to see her
after her very long absence & illness, & then to go on to
St Leonards -- I did so, & left Richmond I think on Monday,
I met Lady J. Penn at Church & desired her when she
saw you to give my love & to tell you I was going immediately
& therefore could not see you till my return --
I am now just returned, after passing the pleasantest
week I almost ever remember in my life, in that
beautiful charming Place! the Owners of it I love, how
ungrateful should I be to her who has been as a Mother
to me, if I did not love her from my Soul! The society
I found there was the pleasantest possible -- all the
Lennoxes -- I do not know if you are acquainted with
them -- Lady Louisa is the cleverest as well as the best
humoured & the most sensible Woman -- more true
drollery & humour than I ever saw in any person --
the Girls are as good as beautiful & as pleasing as good --
so much simplicity, with so much sense & good humour
they are indeed everything that is charming & amiable
& my heart was very heavy & sad when we separated
yesterday -- Princess Elisabeth is much better, she
has been very very ill again, Blisters -- all her old
Complaints -- Lady Courtown is appointed, Friend
to the Queen, with 500£ a year -- the Queen did it in
the handsomest, most flattering manner -- & indeed
it is a most flattering appointment -- she asked
what she was to do for this favour -- the Queen put
out her hand & said, “be my Friend” -- So the Duchess
of Kingston is dead -- 17000£ a year goes to Charles Mead,
& know not how much to Evelyn -- & she has left all
her Jewels, divided between or rather amongst, the
Pope, Lady Salisbury whom she did not know, & the
Empress of Russia -- I know no further particulars
of this strange will at present --
I shall be at Lady Binnings at Richmond on Saturday
& at the Lodge on Monday for a week -- during that
time & at as early a period of it as I can, I shall call
on you, the first morning I can possibly --
I go the 19th to Horton, for a fortnight, then leave it
for a Month & shall return there about the 8th or 10th of
November for two Months -- we shall be delighted
to see you any part of that time & as much of it as
you can -- for my part I look to your being ------
as a most comfortable & delightful Circumstance
adieu my dear Friend, good night, God bless you
remember me kindly to Mr Dickenson I hope your dear
little angel is well -- adieu once more --
To
Mrs Dickenson
Richmond
Surry
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/1/15/1/30(1)
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Richmond
Date sent: 2 September 1788
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton, dated 2 September 1788. The letter relates to friends and society including the Wakes, Lennoxes and Harcourts. Writing on the Lennoxes, she describes Lady Louisa as being the cleverest and best humoured, sensible woman she has ever met, while 'the Girls are as good as beautiful and as pleasing as good'. They have so 'much simplicity' and good humour that she was sad when they separated. The letter also talks of Princess Elizabeth and her poor health, and court gossip. Lady Courtoun has been appointed friend to the Queen and is to be paid £500 a year. The Duchess of Kingston has died and £1700 a year goes to Charles Mead. She has left her jewels 'amongst the Pope, L[ad]y Salisbury whom she did not know, & the Empress of Russia'.
Dated at St James's [London].
Length: 1 sheet, 770 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
Research assistant: Carla Seabra-Dacosta, MA student, University of Vigo
Transliterator: Anna Maguire, 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: 28 April 2023