HAM/1/16/26
Letter from Lady Frances Harpur (née Greville) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Dear Miʃs Hamilton
I should be very Happy If It was
in my Power to Accomodate you for the
26th. But I Believe It quite Impoʃsible; in
the first Place; My Ticket Is for the
last Day -- the 29th. -- as I only wish to
Hear the Meʃsiah; -- In the next
Place; I am with Lady Caroline Peachy
to go in Lord Exeters Box; The two
Tickets He gave to us; compleatly
filled His Places; as I Believe every
Manager; has such a Number to
Oblige their Friends -- I believe only 10;
If I dont go, I may give My Ticket
Away -- which will Serve for any
Other Place in the Abbey -- but I
could not give My Seat; in Lord
Exeters Box; to any Friend -- But
must Inform Him If I dont go; so that
I am afraid I cannot be of the least
Use to you; -- I will come to you Saturday
Morning -- If It will suit you; but I cannot
see you sooner; -- & I am afraid It Is not
in My Power to fix on any Evening,
as I may be engaged the Beginning
of the Week; & I am not sure if I shall
not go to Putney for a few Days -- I have
not seen Charles, but have Made up
your Franks, I will get them directed
the first Opportunity -- I am dear
Miʃs Hamilton Yrs. Most Affecly --
Frances Harpur
Wednesday 19th. May 1784
Harpur[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Dear Miss Hamilton
I should be very Happy If It was
in my Power to Accommodate you for the
26th. But I Believe It quite Impossible; in
the first Place; My Ticket Is for the
last Day -- the 29th. -- as I only wish to
Hear the Messiah; -- In the next
Place; I am with Lady Caroline Peachy
to go in Lord Exeters Box; The two
Tickets He gave to us; completely
filled His Places; as I Believe every
Manager; has such a Number to
Oblige their Friends -- I believe only 10;
If I don't go, I may give My Ticket
Away -- which will Serve for any
Other Place in the Abbey -- but I
could not give My Seat; in Lord
Exeters Box; to any Friend -- But
must Inform Him If I don't go; so that
I am afraid I cannot be of the least
Use to you; -- I will come to you Saturday
Morning -- If It will suit you; but I cannot
see you sooner; -- & I am afraid It Is not
in My Power to fix on any Evening,
as I may be engaged the Beginning
of the Week; & I am not sure if I shall
not go to Putney for a few Days -- I have
not seen Charles, but have Made up
your Franks, I will get them directed
the first Opportunity -- I am dear
Miss Hamilton Yours Most Affectionately --
Frances Harpur
Wednesday
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 Lady Frances Harpur (née Greville) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/16/26
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frances Elizabeth Harpur (née Greville)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 19 May 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Lady Frances Harpur to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to the performance of Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey. Harpur writes that she will not be able to 'accommodate' Hamilton on the 26th as she has a ticket for the last day only and she only wishes to hear [Handel's] Messiah. Lord Exeter had given her two tickets for his box and she is to attend with Lady Caroline Peachy. If she decides not to attend she may give her ticket away 'which will serve for any other place in the Abbey' but she will not be able to give the seat in Lord Exeter's box away.
Length: 1 sheet, 236 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: Alice Gagliardi Granato, MA student, Uppsala University (submitted 12 July 2022)
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 November 2022