Diplomatic Text
Deal
Septr 20= 1780.
Indeed my dear Miʃs Hamilton
if you felt yourself very much disposed to
be angry with me, I must own appearances
wou'd entirely justify you. But believe me
I have been too much disapointed at losing
my visit to East Bourne, not to have avoided
that mortification, if I cou'd have followed
my inclination. Want of health forbiad
that, and has also constrained me to a longer
silence than has been at all agreeable to my
wishes. At the time I was to have gone
to East Bourne, I was so ill with a pain
in my side which has long tormented me
me, that I found travelling with any degree
of ease was impracticable. especially as the
motion of a coach very much encreased it, &
to go to you with a prospect of being confined
by illneʃs at East Bourne, wou'd not have
answered the purpose of my visit, which
was merely to enjoy your company. I therefore
returned here & have tried no exercise but riding
on horseback, which all the physical people
say is absolutely neceʃsary for me. I think
in time I shall find the good effects of it,
as I am always better after riding than at
any other time. I hope after this justification
of my- self you will not harbour any ideas
prejudicial to the sincerity of my wishes
to see you. Where do you go when you leave
East Bourne? If to London I may stand a
a chance to see you, as I shall be at Mill
Hill all October, if I am well enough to follow
my intentions. It is a very comfortable idea
to me, that you have spent your summer
in a manner agreeable to you, not only as
I rejoyce in your present pleasure, but hope
it will have a good effect on your health
and spirits for some time.
Our dear Mrs Carter is tormented as usual
with her tiresome head ake. She desires
her kind love to you, & joins in regrets
at not visiting East Bourne with
Yrs. Most Affectly
M. Sharpe.
[1] [2]
To
Miʃs Hamilton
East Bourne
Suʃsex
Ms. S.[3]
[4] [5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A seal in red wax.
2. A bishop mark reading ‘22 SE’ indicates the letter went through the post on 22 September.
3. This annotation appears in the right margin, written vertically.
4. A cancelled numeral ‘3’ to the right of the address, then ‘6’ and the phrase ‘In all’ are written below the address in brown ink, representing postage due.
5. Postmark ‘DEAL’ below address.
Normalised Text
Deal
September 20= 1780.
Indeed my dear Miss Hamilton
if you felt yourself very much disposed to
be angry with me, I must own appearances
would entirely justify you. But believe me
I have been too much disappointed at losing
my visit to East Bourne, not to have avoided
that mortification, if I could have followed
my inclination. Want of health forbade
that, and has also constrained me to a longer
silence than has been at all agreeable to my
wishes. At the time I was to have gone
to East Bourne, I was so ill with a pain
in my side which has long tormented
me, that I found travelling with any degree
of ease was impracticable. especially as the
motion of a coach very much increased it, &
to go to you with a prospect of being confined
by illness at East Bourne, would not have
answered the purpose of my visit, which
was merely to enjoy your company. I therefore
returned here & have tried no exercise but riding
on horseback, which all the physical people
say is absolutely necessary for me. I think
in time I shall find the good effects of it,
as I am always better after riding than at
any other time. I hope after this justification
of my- self you will not harbour any ideas
prejudicial to the sincerity of my wishes
to see you. Where do you go when you leave
East Bourne? If to London I may stand
a chance to see you, as I shall be at Mill
Hill all October, if I am well enough to follow
my intentions. It is a very comfortable idea
to me, that you have spent your summer
in a manner agreeable to you, not only as
I rejoice in your present pleasure, but hope
it will have a good effect on your health
and spirits for some time.
Our dear Mrs Carter is tormented as usual
with her tiresome head ache. She desires
her kind love to you, & joins in regrets
at not visiting East Bourne with
Yours Most Affectionately
Mary Sharpe.
To
Miss Hamilton
East Bourne
Sussex
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 Sharpe (later Beauvoir) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/22/29
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Beauvoir (née Sharpe, later Douglas)
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Eastbourne
Date sent: 20 September 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Sharpe to Mary Hamilton. The letter is concerned with Sharpe's cancelled trip to Eastbourne. Sharpe writes that she has been ill with a pain in her side and was unable to travel, as a coach journey would have exacerbated the pain and the prospect of being 'confined by illness at East bourne, would not have answered the purpose of my visit', which was to enjoy Hamilton's company.
Sharpe has been advised to take exercise, especially horse-riding, which she has been told is 'absolutely necessary'. Sharpe feels better after she has ridden so she is in hopes that she will soon the 'good effects of it'. The letter continues with general news on Mrs Carter and Hamilton's plans after she leaves Eastbourne.
Dated at Deal, [Kent].
Length: 1 sheet, 357 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: XML version first created without transcription as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1. Transcription added after the funded period under the supervision of David Denison and Nuria Yáñez-Bouza.
Transliterator: Pete Morris, Artificial Intelligence and Ideas Adoption (AIIA), The University of Manchester Library (Plain text transliteration submitted 22 May 2025)
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: 7 April 2026
