HAM/1/15/2/5
Incomplete letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Diplomatic Text
Eastbourne Monday
19th. June 1780
This is the first moment I have
had my Dearest friend to tell you
I am well & happy -- pleased --
infinitely pleased wth. my present
situation -- delighted with our society,
wch. consists of Ldy. C Finch -- whom
(you know I love wth. ye. same tenderneʃs
as oif she was my Mother) Mr. Bruyeres
-- Mr. Farrel, -- Mr. Fisher, -- the two
latter are but the acquaintance
of a very few days, but they appear
in an advantageous light from their
conversation & manner, & I cannot
help thinking from the countenance
of each, that they have good minds
-- Mr Bruyeres if poʃsible improves
upon acquaintance; now I have
told you of our society I must
inform you that our Journey was
extremely pleasant -- the roads the
whole way perfectly good -- the
views charming, particularly after
we quitted East Grinstead to Ucfield
-- from thence till within 7 or 8 miles
of this place the prospect was
not so extensive -- the scene became
more domestic -- fields of beautiful
verdure enclosed bywth fine Hedge rows.
as we approach'd nearer ye. Sea
the Country was open but flat
uncultivated & barren. Nothing
cld. equal the testimonies of loyalty
& affection wch. the People of every
Town, Village, & Hamlet by wch.
we paʃs'd shew'd ye. R. Children --
Bells ringing -- firing -- & the poor
Women & children running out to
strew flowers & rushes -- when we
stop'd at an Inn we were cover'd
wth. flowers wch. ye. honest folks
shook over us as a mark of
respect -- large nosegays were thrown
continually into ye. windows of the
carriages & often saluted us wth- a
pretty smart blow up on ye. cheek.
P. Edwards Govenor took upon him
to reward their loyalty by throwing
silver from time to time among ym.
& giving money to ye. Bell-ringers
&c. about 8 miles from East-
Bourne we were met by a party
of Men on Horseback some wth-
their Wives & Childrendaughters behind
ym., after giving us three Cheers
they turn'd their Horses & escorted
us to our habitation -- Small
Cannon were planted by the Sailors
& fishermen before our Windows,
wch. were fired off at intervals the
whole Eveg., & they Hoisted all
their ------ flags on ye. Beach.
A large Cask of Beer was order'd
wch. was soon emptied in healths to[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Eastbourne Monday
19th. June 1780
This is the first moment I have
had my Dearest friend to tell you
I am well & happy -- pleased --
infinitely pleased with my present
situation -- delighted with our society,
which consists of Lady Charlotte Finch -- whom
(you know I love with the same tenderness
as if she was my Mother) Mr. Bruyeres
-- Mr. Farrel, -- Mr. Fisher, -- the two
latter are but the acquaintance
of a very few days, but they appear
in an advantageous light from their
conversation & manner, & I cannot
help thinking from the countenance
of each, that they have good minds
-- Mr Bruyeres if possible improves
upon acquaintance; now I have
told you of our society I must
inform you that our Journey was
extremely pleasant -- the roads the
whole way perfectly good -- the
views charming, particularly after
we quitted East Grinstead to Ucfield
-- from thence till within 7 or 8 miles
of this place the prospect was
not so extensive -- the scene became
more domestic -- fields of beautiful
verdure enclosed with fine Hedge rows.
as we approached nearer the Sea
the Country was open but flat
uncultivated & barren. Nothing
could equal the testimonies of loyalty
& affection which the People of every
Town, Village, & Hamlet by which
we passed showed the Royal Children --
Bells ringing -- firing -- & the poor
Women & children running out to
strew flowers & rushes -- when we
stopped at an Inn we were covered
with flowers which the honest folks
shook over us as a mark of
respect -- large nosegays were thrown
continually into the windows of the
carriages & often saluted us with a
pretty smart blow up on the cheek.
Prince Edwards Governor took upon him
to reward their loyalty by throwing
silver from time to time among them
& giving money to the Bell-ringers
&c. about 8 miles from East-
Bourne we were met by a party
of Men on Horseback some with
their Wives & daughters behind
them, after giving us three Cheers
they turned their Horses & escorted
us to our habitation -- Small
Cannon were planted by the Sailors
& fishermen before our Windows,
which were fired off at intervals the
whole Evening, & they Hoisted all
their flags on the Beach.
A large Cask of Beer was ordered
which was soon emptied in healths to
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: Incomplete letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/2/5
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Eastbourne
Addressee: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 19 June 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Incomplete letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Gunning. She writes of her visit
to Eastbourne with members of the Royal household. She notes that she is
well and is delighted with her society which includes Lady Finch. It also
includes Mr Farhill and Mr Fisher who she has known only for a few days
(Hamilton is referring to Mr Farhill (see HAM/1/7/4) and John Fisher (see
HAM/1/7/6) but is very pleased with their conversation and manner. She
details the travel down to Eastbourne and of the loyalty and affection
shown by the people in towns, villages and hamlets towards the royal
children. Bells were rung & the poor women & children running out
to' throw flowers as they passed. When they stopped at an Inn they were
covered with flowers. Large 'nosegays' were continually thrown into the
'windows of the carriages & often saluted us w[i]th a pretty smart
blow on the cheek'. Hamilton notes that Prince Edwards Governor took it
upon himself to throw silver to the people who gave flowers and to the
bell-ringers as a reward for their show of loyalty. The party was met by
a group of men on horseback about 8 miles before they reached Eastbourne.
Some of the men had brought their wives and daughters. The royal party
were given three cheers by the horsemen who then escorted the carriages
to their accommodation. Small cannons were placed by the windows of their
house by fishermen and sailors and were fired at intervals the whole of
the evening. A cask of beer was then ordered for the men and was soon
emptied in toasting the health of the royals.
Dated at Eastbourne.
Length: 1 sheet, 388 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: 30 September 2023