Diplomatic Text
Suʃsex
I must my Astrea beg leave to wave the
ungrateful subject, ofI cannot makinge comments upon the
conduct of people from whom I receive civilities, &
with whom I live in friendship -- I had rather be a
dupe than condemn without having sure grounds for
objection -- yet do not imagine I can approve the
wrong -- or reject the right -- but I suffer always so
exquisitely from finding myself deceived in a *Lady S——[1] character
that I dread when once I have form'd a good opinion,
to find I have err'd in judgement. -- do not my
Dear friend get into a habit of listening & giving
credit to common report -- Lord Stormonts inattention
at any other time wd. deserve the severe epithets ofmy
Astrea makes use of -- viz. arrogance -- inhumanity -- pride
& insolence -- a few moments reflection upon the distrest
state of his mind both on his Uncles & his own account
ought besides the situation of public affairs wch- as a
Minister he was deeply interested in, -- ought to make
one more charitable. -- notwithstanding I do not hold
his Lordship excused, for it wd. have been most natural
to have treated wth. hospitality those to whom he owed
protection -- I hope therefore this has been falsely
represented. -- What would I not give to have you
here -- the environs are charming -- every day we
take different airings & are more & more delighted
with the country -- You wd. be pleased too with our
stile of life, & our little society is just what we
could wish -- you know Mr. Bruyeres, -- you would
be [equally] pleas'd wth. Mr. Farhill & Mr. Fisher --
their manner and conversation is perfectly to my
taste -- when I have seen more of ym. I will endeavour
to give You their characters -- nothing affords one a
better opportunity than living with people in a
domestic way. Lady C Finch desires her Compts-
to you -- she is quite well & in better spirits than
I have seen her in for some time. she is quite like a parent to me. -- why did you
tell me you were going to Petersham -- yet why should
I regret it -- that place will recall me oftener to
your mind -- you will remember the little excursions
you took last year to Kew -- you will remember
that ye. first mark of your confidence -- the strict
tie of our friendship takes its date from that time
& place. -- Pray tell Sir R. that I hope never
to lose his good opinion -- & that I am sensibly
pleased with his expreʃsions in my favor -- my
love to Bell -- Adieu my Dear Dear friend --
I am happy you are so well -- get franks &
send me some for you. I shall write again on Monday
-- my Compts. to Mrs. Walshingham. Adieu Adieu
June 24th
1780
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This addition, later cancelled, appears in the top-left margin of p.1, denoted by an asterisk.
Normalised Text
Sussex
I must my Astrea beg leave to wave the
ungrateful subject, I cannot make comments upon the
conduct of people from whom I receive civilities, &
with whom I live in friendship -- I had rather be a
dupe than condemn without having sure grounds for
objection -- yet do not imagine I can approve the
wrong -- or reject the right -- but I suffer always so
exquisitely from finding myself deceived in a * character
that I dread when once I have formed a good opinion,
to find I have erred in judgment. -- do not my
Dear friend get into a habit of listening & giving
credit to common report -- Lord Stormonts inattention
at any other time would deserve the severe epithets my
Astrea makes use of -- viz. arrogance -- inhumanity -- pride
& insolence -- a few moments reflection upon the distressed
state of his mind both on his Uncles & his own account
besides the situation of public affairs which as a
Minister he was deeply interested in, -- ought to make
one more charitable. -- notwithstanding I do not hold
his Lordship excused, for it would have been most natural
to have treated with hospitality those to whom he owed
protection -- I hope therefore this has been falsely
represented. -- What would I not give to have you
here -- the environs are charming -- every day we
take different airings & are more & more delighted
with the country -- You would be pleased too with our
style of life, & our little society is just what we
could wish -- you know Mr. B, -- you would
be pleased with Mr. Farhill & Mr. Fisher --
their manner and conversation is perfectly to my
taste -- when I have seen more of them I will endeavour
to give You their characters -- nothing affords one a
better opportunity than living with people in a
domestic way. Lady Charlotte Finch desires her Compliments
to you -- she is quite well & in better spirits than
I have seen her in for some time. she is quite like a parent to me. -- why did you
tell me you were going to Petersham -- yet why should
I regret it -- that place will recall me oftener to
your mind -- you will remember the little excursions
you took last year to Kew -- you will remember
that the first mark of your confidence -- the strict
tie of our friendship takes its date from that time
& place. -- Pray tell Sir Robert that I hope never
to lose his good opinion -- & that I am sensibly
pleased with his expressions in my favour -- my
love to Bell -- Adieu my Dear Dear friend --
I am happy you are so well -- get franks &
send me some for you. I shall write again on Monday
-- my Compliments to Mrs. Walsingham. Adieu Adieu
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 Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/2/6
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Eastbourne
Addressee: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 24 June 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Charlotte Gunning. She writes of her trust
of people and that she would 'rather be a dupe than condemn without
having some grounds for objection'. She notes that she always suffers
'exquisitely from finding myself deceived in a character that I dread
when once I have form[e]d a good opinion, to find I have err[e]d in
judgement'. She advises Gunning not to get into the habit of listening to
common reports of people. Hamilton refers to Lord Stormont and notes that
his actions at any other time would have been deemed as arrogant but if
one reflects on his current 'state of mind both on his uncles & his
own account' and his role as a minister then we should be more
charitable. She nevertheless does not excuse his actions as he should
have treated those he offers protection to with hospitality and she hopes
that he has just been 'misrepresented'. [Details as to the what incident
this relates to are not given.]
Hamilton also writes of her time at Eastbourne and of Lady Finch and her other companions.
Dated at Eastbourne.
Original reference No. 5.
Length: 1 sheet, 466 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: Tino Oudesluijs, 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