Diplomatic Text
South Lodge[1]
June 28.. 1781
I am very truly concerned my dear for
the very uncomfortable state of your health &
spirits. The idea of your being left in so forlorn
a state, when ill, goes to my heart, wou'd it was as
much in my power as my will, to give you any
comfort. Alas the wish is vain, & I can only feel
for you which I do very deeply. I shall certainly
keep to myself what you say in “confidence”
Will you pardon one word of advice from a person
well versed in the magick of ill health, & low
spirits. I presume not to dictate what your resolution
shou'd be; a perfect knowledge of your own affairs
makes you certainly the best judge of that but
but whatever it be, let me entreat you my dear never
to take it finally, except at some moment when you
are quite free from illneʃs, & lowneʃs. If you allow
their facinating power to biaʃs you, you may with returning
health, regret a resolution not to be recalled; in
which had it been the effect of cool unbiaʃsed judgement,
you might have been happy. Will you forgive this
hint. Sure you will. I doubt not your prudence in
this, or any other case, but I know the influence of
a present strong impulse, & how different things
appear when that strong impulse subsides. Some
day my love when you are quite well, & calmly
chearfull, reflect seriously on every advantage &
disadvantage of your situation, then decide
what to your cool unprejudiced reason seems most
(taking in every consideration) for your own happineʃs.
Once more forgive me. I know you will be
be glad to hear I am in some respects much better,
tho' my side still grumbles on. Time may cure me,
nothing but that can. I long very much to hear
how you are, pray indulge me soon. How cordially
I join in your wish about the Tour.
God bleʃs you my love, & direct you to what will
be happiest for you is the earnest wish of
Yr
Very Sincerely Affect Friend
M. Sharpe.
[2]
Miʃs Hamilton
St Jamess Palace.
Miʃs Sh:[3]
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The South Lodge belongs to Enfield Chase, which has a complex history of subdivision and ownership. Pullin (2021: 126) says that Sharpe's family estate was there.
2. A bishop mark reading ‘29 IV’ indicates the letter went through the post on 29 June.
3. This annotation appears in the right margin, written vertically.
4. Seal, in red wax, and stamp reading ‘WALTHM’ below the address as unfolded.
Normalised Text
South Lodge
June 28.. 1781
I am very truly concerned my dear for
the very uncomfortable state of your health &
spirits. The idea of your being left in so forlorn
a state, when ill, goes to my heart, would it was as
much in my power as my will, to give you any
comfort. Alas the wish is vain, & I can only feel
for you which I do very deeply. I shall certainly
keep to myself what you say in “confidence”
Will you pardon one word of advice from a person
well versed in the magic of ill health, & low
spirits. I presume not to dictate what your resolution
should be; a perfect knowledge of your own affairs
makes you certainly the best judge of that
but whatever it be, let me entreat you my dear never
to take it finally, except at some moment when you
are quite free from illness, & lowness. If you allow
their fascinating power to bias you, you may with returning
health, regret a resolution not to be recalled; in
which had it been the effect of cool unbiassed judgement,
you might have been happy. Will you forgive this
hint. Sure you will. I doubt not your prudence in
this, or any other case, but I know the influence of
a present strong impulse, & how different things
appear when that strong impulse subsides. Some
day my love when you are quite well, & calmly
cheerful, reflect seriously on every advantage &
disadvantage of your situation, then decide
what to your cool unprejudiced reason seems most
(taking in every consideration) for your own happiness.
Once more forgive me. I know you will
be glad to hear I am in some respects much better,
though my side still grumbles on. Time may cure me,
nothing but that can. I long very much to hear
how you are, pray indulge me soon. How cordially
I join in your wish about the Tour.
God bless you my love, & direct you to what will
be happiest for you is the earnest wish of
Your
Very Sincerely Affectionate Friend
Mary Sharpe.
Miss Hamilton
St Jamess Palace.
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/1/22/35
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Beauvoir (née Sharpe, later Douglas)
Place sent: Enfield Chase
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 28 June 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Sharpe to Mary Hamilton. Sharpe writes with her concern for Hamilton's poor state of health and spirits. She will keep what Hamilton has written to her in confidence but offers her advice. She does not wish to 'dictate' what Hamilton's decision should be, as she is the best judge of her own affairs, but she should make her decision [Hamilton's wish to resign from her Court position] when her health has returned. 'If you allow' the fascinating power of illness and lowness 'to bias you, you may with returning health, regret a resolution not to be recalled'. When she is well again, she will be able to see the advantages and disadvantages of her situation and then be best able to decide.
Dated at South Lodge.
Length: 1 sheet, 361 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
