Diplomatic Text
Weymouth November 13th 1790
My dear Friend!
It gave me great pleasure to receive your letter
yesterday which I did on my return from Carne, Mr
Li: Damers where I had been for a few days, & to
hear that you & yours were well -- I never have
received the long letter you mention in answer
to my last, & have often wondered why you did
not write -- indeed I should have written to you
again to have inquired the Cause & to have inquired
after you, but I really have led so unsettled & wandering
a life ever since June that I have had but just
time to write to Mr Digby & my Sister when they
were absent & have been a most miserable corresponde[nt]
& obliged to throw myself on the mercy of all my
Friends -- I am sincerely rejoiced to hear of your health
happineʃs & comfort which seems to have been pretty
well established ever since you married -- Mr Dickens[on]s
health was the only circumstance wanting to
compleat it, & little Louisa must indeed be a
continual source of pleasure and delight -- I am
glad your House is become & becoming a comfortable
one -- you say nothing of coming to Town this
winter or spring, have you no thoughts of it?
Now I must give you some account of myself --
I spent the beginning of the Summer at Horton
tho' not constantly there, then came into the west
where we have been visiting about from place
to place even as far as Devonshire till the
beginning of October -- I never was better or looked
better in my life -- certainly never was happier,
certainly never so happy -- & thank God, I can
put my hand on my heart & looking up to Heaven
acknowledge with gratitude and delight that
I have not a wish, but for the continuance
of the bleʃsings I enjoy -- change of air & place
always agrees with me & I was grown quite fat
& rosy -- we came here the 9th to pay a visit to
my Father & Bell who were come for her's & my
Brother's bathing & meant to stay about a
fortnight -- I was unfortunately taken ill the
day after I arrived & confined 3 weeks, it was
then thought that bathing would be good for
me, & I am still here & shall remain near
a week longer -- I have bathed 11 times & it
agrees with me exceʃsivly -- my F. & Bell left
me on Tuesday, are gone to pay some visits
at Mr Buckley's Ld Digby's & Lord Ilchesters in
their way to Bath where they will be next week
& where my Father is to drink the waters & bathe
in hopes of[1] a fit of Gout, for he has been very
indifferent lately with flying gouty & rheumatic
pains which we hope Bath will remove --
My Brother is very well, I left him at Carne but
expect him here to day, he leaves me on Tuesda[y]
& is going to make some visits in this part
of the world till Xmas -- we go from hence
to Kingston (Mrs I. Pitts), where I shall meet the
M. Pitts & Cholmondely's, then to Ly G. Buckleys
then to Sherbourne & Redlynch (Ld Ilchester) &
do not mean to be in Town till the beginning
of January, & nothing but the wish of seeing
my Sister & Mr D's duty should induce us to go
so soon, for I hate London as a place & am so
well & so happy in the Country, & Mr D. prefers
it so infinitly, that I look forward to the time
of our being settled there entirely with infinite
pleasure. I shall receive your souvenir my dear
Friend with great pleasure, & shall send you my
first attempt in the painting way by the first
opportunity, but I hardly think it worth your
acceptance, it certainly is not so but as a remembr[ance]
I have done very little this Summer, but continu[e]
to like it & am improved -- adieu my dear
Friend -- Mr D. is absent for some days or would I
am sure send his love -- remember me very
kindly to Mr Dickenson & believe me ever your
affec: & sincere C.M. Digby --
[2]
Mrs Dickenson[3]
Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire[4]
[5]
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Perhaps omission of 'relief from' or similar.
2. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
3. Postmarks 'WEYMOUTH' to left and 'NO 15 90' split to left and right of address when unfolded.
4. This address appears written vertically in the middle of the page when unfolded.
5. There are a number of scribbled characters written over the address.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Weymouth November 13th 1790
My dear Friend!
It gave me great pleasure to receive your letter
yesterday which I did on my return from Carne, Mr
Lionel Damers where I had been for a few days, & to
hear that you & yours were well -- I never have
received the long letter you mention in answer
to my last, & have often wondered why you did
not write -- indeed I should have written to you
again to have inquired the Cause & to have inquired
after you, but I really have led so unsettled & wandering
a life ever since June that I have had but just
time to write to Mr Digby & my Sister when they
were absent & have been a most miserable correspondent
& obliged to throw myself on the mercy of all my
Friends -- I am sincerely rejoiced to hear of your health
happiness & comfort which seems to have been pretty
well established ever since you married -- Mr Dickensons
health was the only circumstance wanting to
complete it, & little Louisa must indeed be a
continual source of pleasure and delight -- I am
glad your House is become & becoming a comfortable
one -- you say nothing of coming to Town this
winter or spring, have you no thoughts of it?
Now I must give you some account of myself --
I spent the beginning of the Summer at Horton
though not constantly there, then came into the west
where we have been visiting about from place
to place even as far as Devonshire till the
beginning of October -- I never was better or looked
better in my life -- certainly never was happier,
certainly never so happy -- & thank God, I can
put my hand on my heart & looking up to Heaven
acknowledge with gratitude and delight that
I have not a wish, but for the continuance
of the blessings I enjoy -- change of air & place
always agrees with me & I was grown quite fat
& rosy -- we came here the 9th to pay a visit to
my Father & Bell who were come for her's & my
Brother's bathing & meant to stay about a
fortnight -- I was unfortunately taken ill the
day after I arrived & confined 3 weeks, it was
then thought that bathing would be good for
me, & I am still here & shall remain near
a week longer -- I have bathed 11 times & it
agrees with me excessively -- my Father & Bell left
me on Tuesday, are gone to pay some visits
at Mr Buckley's Lord Digby's & Lord Ilchesters in
their way to Bath where they will be next week
& where my Father is to drink the waters & bathe
in hopes of a fit of Gout, for he has been very
indifferent lately with flying gouty & rheumatic
pains which we hope Bath will remove --
My Brother is very well, I left him at Carne but
expect him here to day, he leaves me on Tuesday
& is going to make some visits in this part
of the world till Christmas -- we go from hence
to Kingston (Mrs I. Pitts), where I shall meet the
M. Pitts & Cholmondeley's, then to Lady G. Buckleys
then to Sherbourne & Redlynch (Lord Ilchester) &
do not mean to be in Town till the beginning
of January, & nothing but the wish of seeing
my Sister & Mr Digby's duty should induce us to go
so soon, for I hate London as a place & am so
well & so happy in the Country, & Mr Digby prefers
it so infinitely, that I look forward to the time
of our being settled there entirely with infinite
pleasure. I shall receive your souvenir my dear
Friend with great pleasure, & shall send you my
first attempt in the painting way by the first
opportunity, but I hardly think it worth your
acceptance, it certainly is not so but as a remembrance
I have done very little this Summer, but continue
to like it & am improved -- adieu my dear
Friend -- Mr Digby is absent for some days or would I
am sure send his love -- remember me very
kindly to Mr Dickenson & believe me ever your
affectionate & sincere Charlotte Margaret Digby --
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/1/15/1/40
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: Weymouth
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 15 November 1790
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton, containing general news of her activities. She spent the beginning of the summer at Horton, and then travelled from place to place, 'even as far as Devonshire', until the beginning of October. She was taken ill after arriving at Weymouth, and it was thought that she would benefit from sea-bathing. 'I have bathed 11 times & it agrees with me excessivly [sic]'. Her father and sister have set off for Bath, where her father will bathe and take the waters for his gout and rheumatism. She expresses her hatred of London 'as a place' and her longing to reside permanently in the country.
Dated at Weymouth.
Original reference No. 37.
Length: 1 sheet, 723 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: Stephanie James, 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