Single Letter

HAM/1/15/2/2

Letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning

Diplomatic Text


2

                                                         Leuctra Satry. 13th. Novbr. 1779
      I am grieved to ye.Soul my Beloved------Friend to
think yt. so many days have paʃs'd away & yt. I should
not have had it in my power to write to you -- the last
date being the 8th- -- my time has been indispensably occupied
-- Perfecta is absent, & ye. others have been Ill -- last Thursday
I spent in nursing Agnés; -- all ye. time I was with
her I could not help thinking yt. if common humanity
could make me so attentive -- how I should feel &
how I should act was I with any one to whom I was as
tenderly attach'd as to my Astreayourself ------------
for you -- ------------------------ -- Ill yourself and
requiring every tender attention -- & to be in danger of
being separated -- & by Illneʃs too from I—— & yor. F——
-- poor man how I pity him!
Saty. Eve.g. I had wrote thus far very early this Morng. at
9 I went Elise was indisposed wth. a bad Cold. at 1 o'Clock
the Post brought me your dear letter -- ------------
------ I
dare not read it through till I came home -- but I just comforted
myself wth. ye. account of your Health & Is—— thank
God You are both better --



they are gone as usual to Babel -- Elise, Agnés & the 3 --
& on Monday, P.W & F k——---g for the last time this Year
-- I shall send what I write to night unfinish'd that
I may not lose another post, & so continue to'morrow
& send by Mondays post --
I recd. your letters my love as likewise ye. packets
safe -- I wish I could procure franks, I think
tomorrow I will venture to send to the Bishop for one
or two, & then send send ------------as I promised by Monday nights
Post. -- Melsom Street! perhaps you are lodged
in ye. very House MirandaI was was in 3 or 4 Years ago --
I forget ye. name of ye. Landlord -- How such little
circumstances my Astrea touch sensibly upon
------------------------the secret impulses of the mind -- I think one may style
them friendly fallacies.
Indeed my Dear I blushed as I read ye. praises you
so liberally bestow'd upon me -- knowing that you
never wld. write to Mirandame what you did not think,
& feeling so conscious that I do not merit so great
a character -- it will however make me ambitious
of endeavouring to deserve it -- that you may not



have to retract your opinion --
Let no presentiments disturb ye. veracity of your
mind -- it is wrong very wrong to indulge such a
disposition -- the past & present are but too amplye
fill'd with circumstances to exercise & keep alive
our sensibility without ye. addition of presentiment
for my sake, for your own do not, O do no[t]
suffer yourself to be led away by it any more. --
      Adieu my Astrea for to night.
      May the Almighty preserve
      You & take you under his protection and
Oh may you & I deserve the felicity promised
in another life, & procured by the ever bleʃsed
& adored redeemer of Mankind
      “To Him, to Him, 'tis given,
“Paʃsion & care & Anguish to destroy,
Thro' Him soft Peace & Plentitude of Joy
“Perpetual o'er ye. World redeem'd shall flow.

                                                         Prior's Solomon
let us with all our best endeavours cultivate ye. love of God
for it is only by yt. means our path of duty can be
made straight. Adieu Adieu Adieu Mary Hamilton
I ------------------------------------
------------------------------



13th November
1779


[1]
Honble. Miʃs Gunning
Melsom Street[2]
Bath -- [3]


[4]

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


Notes


 1. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
 2. The word 'Street' is crossed by a large hand-written number 3; charge mark denoting postage due.
 3. This address is written vertically in the middle of the sheet.
 4. Bishop mark in black ink, dated 13 November.

Normalised Text



                                                         Leuctra Saturday 13th. November 1779
      I am grieved to theSoul my BelovedFriend to
think that so many days have passed away & that I should
not have had it in my power to write to you -- the last
date being the 8th- -- my time has been indispensably occupied
-- Perfecta is absent, & the others have been Ill -- last Thursday
I spent in nursing Agnés; -- all the time I was with
her I could not help thinking that if common humanity
could make me so attentive -- how I should feel &
how I should act was I with any one to whom I was as
tenderly attached as to yourself
-- Ill yourself and
requiring every tender attention -- & to be in danger of
being separated -- & by Illness too from I—— & your F——
-- poor man how I pity him!
Saturday Evening I had written thus far very early this Morning at
9 I went Elise was indisposed with a bad Cold. at 1 o'Clock
the Post brought me your dear letter --
I
dare not read it through till I came home -- but I just comforted
myself with the account of your Health & Is—— thank
God You are both better --



they are gone as usual to Babel -- Elise, Agnés & the 3 --
& on M, Prince Wales & F k—— for the last time this Year
-- I shall send what I write to night that
I may not lose another post, & so continue tomorrow
& send by Mondays post --
I received your letters my love as likewise the packets
safe -- I wish I could procure franks, I think
tomorrow I will venture to send to the Bishop for one
or two, & then send as I promised by Monday nights
Post. -- Melsom Street! perhaps you are lodged
in the very House I was in 3 or 4 Years ago --
I forget the name of the Landlord -- How such little
circumstances my Astrea touch sensibly upon
the secret impulses of the mind -- I think one may style
them friendly fallacies.
Indeed my Dear I blushed as I read the praises you
so liberally bestowed upon me -- knowing that you
never would write to me what you did not think,
& feeling so conscious that I do not merit so great
a character -- it will however make me ambitious
of endeavouring to deserve it -- that you may not



have to retract your opinion --
Let no presentiments disturb the veracity of your
mind -- it is wrong very wrong to indulge such a
disposition -- the past & present are but too ample
filled with circumstances to exercise & keep alive
our sensibility without the addition of presentiment
for my sake, for your own do not, O do not
suffer yourself to be led away by it any more. --
      Adieu my Astrea for to night.
      May the Almighty preserve
      You & take you under his protection and
Oh may you & I deserve the felicity promised
in another life, & procured by the ever blessed
& adored redeemer of Mankind
      “To Him, to Him, 'tis given,
“Passion & care & Anguish to destroy,
Through Him soft Peace & Plentitude of Joy
“Perpetual o'er the World redeem'd shall flow.

                                                         Prior's Solomon
let us with all our best endeavours cultivate the love of God
for it is only by that means our path of duty can be
made straight. Adieu Adieu Adieu








Honourable Miss Gunning
Melsom Street
Bath --




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quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
 2. The word 'Street' is crossed by a large hand-written number 3; charge mark denoting postage due.
 3. This address is written vertically in the middle of the sheet.
 4. Bishop mark in black ink, dated 13 November.

Metadata

Library References

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

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning

Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/2/2

Correspondence Details

Sender: Mary Hamilton

Place sent: to be determined

Addressee: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)

Place received: Bath

Date sent: 13 November 1779

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Gunning. She writes about how she has been nursing 'Agnés' and on her feelings on the 'danger of being separated' from a loved one by illness. Hamilton writes of the praise that Gunning has written about her and notes that she will endeavour to deserve it and advises her not to dwell on 'presentiments' that could 'disturb the serenity of [...] [her] mind'.
    Original reference No. 2.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 574 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: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 6 October 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: 20 December 2021

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