Diplomatic Text
My Dearest Love -- ! before I came from Louvre[1] this
Eveg. I got your note -- thank you, thank you for
the it -- I should have been disappointed not to have
heard from you to day & yet there was no probability
of your being able to write -- It was my night
in waiting below -- play'd at 3 handed cribbage --
they are now undreʃsing to go to Bed -- Rheathe Queen
was more than usually Kind & we had a long
conversation -- quite friendly -- I tell you this
because I know every thing yt. gives Miranda satis-
faction affords pleasure to her Astrea --
The Country you describe is charming -- I had
the same sensations -- & admired it equally wth. you --
Tomorrow I write for ye. last time
O how I anticipate Monday -- the
Evening of yt. day we shall meet --
No news from —— to day -- if I do not see
------ tomorrow Morng. I shall conclude she
[h]as taken me at my word. -- Mr. S——[2] continues
[to] torment me -- sent me a present, yesterday
[whi]ch I return'd -- December Adieu my Dear ------------------
[3]
December
[4]
Honble
Miʃs Gunning [5]
Melsom Street
Bath
Free
James Stuart[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A place at court, probably St. James.
2. This must be the (married!) Mr Edwin Francis Stanhope, who is frequently mentioned in the diaries and described in 1784 as 'a singular Character' who 'has a place at Court' and 'has tormented me for ye. last 6 years [...] with his civilities -- he is ye. only person I ever was obliged to seem rude to -- but he never wd.. take offence -- he is a tiresome, good creature for he means extremely well' (HAM/2/8 pp.89-90).
3. There is currently no image of the back of the note due to how it has been pasted onto the sheet. It has however been checked when viewing the document in person (25-10-2021).
4. Remains of a postmark on which the number 1 and the letters DE are still visible, indicating the period in which the document went through the post was between 10 and 19 December.
5. Remains of a frank, reading 'FREE'.
6. This is possibly James Archibald Stuart (later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie), who was MP for Buteshire at the time of writing.
7. Remains of a postmark on which the number 5 is still visible, indicating that, in combination with the information from the other postmark on this page, the date on which the document went through the post was 15 December.
Normalised Text
My Dearest Love -- ! before I came from Louvre this
Evening I got your note -- thank you, thank you for
it -- I should have been disappointed not to have
heard from you to day & yet there was no probability
of your being able to write -- It was my night
in waiting below -- played at 3 handed cribbage --
they are now undressing to go to Bed -- the Queen
was more than usually Kind & we had a long
conversation -- quite friendly -- I tell you this
because I know every thing that gives Miranda satisfaction
affords pleasure to her Astrea --
The Country you describe is charming -- I had
the same sensations -- & admired it equally with you --
Tomorrow I write for the last time
O how I anticipate Monday -- the
Evening of that day we shall meet --
No news from —— to day -- if I do not see
------ tomorrow Morning I shall conclude she
has taken me at my word. -- Mr. Stanhope continues
to torment me -- sent me a present, yesterday
which I returned -- Adieu my Dear ------------------
December
Honourable
Miss Gunning
Melsom Street
Bath
Free
James Stuart
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: Note from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/2/4(2)
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: between 10 and 15 December 1779
notAfter 15 December 1779 (precision: medium)
notBefore 10 December 1779 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: This note is dated December 1779. Hamilton writes that it was her duty
to wait (upon the Royal Family) and that the Queen was more 'than usually
kind'. She also notes that a 'Mr S' continues to torment her and has sent
her a present which she has returned.
Original reference No. 4.
Length: 1 sheet, 185 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: 28 April 2023