Diplomatic Text
South Lodge
Enfield Chace Ocbr- 12th.. 1781
I fully intended my dear Miʃs Hamilton
to have written to you from Deal (from whence
I am returned within these few days) but was
confined part of the time with a bilious cholic,
and by no means well during the whole time
of my stay there. I am now however in pretty
good plight again, and if fine weather, air
and walking, will procure health I stand a
good chance for it here. I wish you cou'd
come here for a day. I am sure you wou'd
enjoy the autumnal scene, which is particularly
beautifull here, owing to the many different
sorts of trees which at this season from the
change of the leaf forms a most charming
charming variety. Are you an admirer of autumn
I confeʃs my- self, an enthusiaist to its soft
composure. I have been a long journey
since I last wrote to you. I received yours a
few days before I left Langton. How truly
respectable and amiable are the inhabitants
of that sweet retirement. They talked much
of you, with that esteem and regard so justly
your due. I am now fixed here, till the
end of next month; then go to Bath, and
propose being in Town soon after Christmas.
Do not you soon expect Lady C. F
and will not that be a material releif to
you? I am very sensible to the kind manner
in which what I writ to you on a particular
subject, was received. May you after deliberation
be able to find some plan productive of
happineʃs, is my sincere wish.
I left Mrs Carter at Deal tormented poor thing
thing as usual with her insepparable companion
the head ake. What time do you remove to
London? my reason for asking is, that perhaps
as I shall go there a few days before I set
out for Bath, perhaps I cou'd see you. If it
cou'd be so contrived, It wou'd give me great
pleasure. I am convinced beyond a doubt
that you allow me a place in your affection, &
this makes me earnestly wish we cou'd contrive
some way of being sometimes comfortably
together. Can this ever be? Adieu. Mrs
O'Keeffe is with me, & desires kind compts
to you. I desire you will beleive me
Yours
Very Affectly
M. Sharpe.
[1] [2]
To
Miʃs Hamilton
Queens Lodge
Windsor.
[3] [4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Faint stamp ‘[RE]ADING’. The words ‘Miſst [Missent] to Reading’ are written in ink above the address.
2. A large numeral ‘3’ over the address and a second scribble, possibly ‘1’ crossed out, indicate postage due.
3. Faint stamp ‘WALTHAM CRO[SS]’.
4. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
5. A bishop mark reading ‘13 OC’ indicates the letter went through the post on 13 October.
Normalised Text
South Lodge
Enfield Chace
I fully intended my dear Miss Hamilton
to have written to you from Deal (from whence
I am returned within these few days) but was
confined part of the time with a bilious cholic,
and by no means well during the whole time
of my stay there. I am now however in pretty
good plight again, and if fine weather, air
and walking, will procure health I stand a
good chance for it here. I wish you could
come here for a day. I am sure you would
enjoy the autumnal scene, which is particularly
beautiful here, owing to the many different
sorts of trees which at this season from the
change of the leaf forms a most
charming variety. Are you an admirer of autumn
I confess my- self, an enthusiast to its soft
composure. I have been a long journey
since I last wrote to you. I received yours a
few days before I left Langton. How truly
respectable and amiable are the inhabitants
of that sweet retirement. They talked much
of you, with that esteem and regard so justly
your due. I am now fixed here, till the
end of next month; then go to Bath, and
propose being in Town soon after Christmas.
Do not you soon expect Lady Charlotte Finch
and will not that be a material relief to
you? I am very sensible to the kind manner
in which what I wrote to you on a particular
subject, was received. May you after deliberation
be able to find some plan productive of
happiness, is my sincere wish.
I left Mrs Carter at Deal tormented poor
thing as usual with her inseparable companion
the head ache. What time do you remove to
London? my reason for asking is, that
as I shall go there a few days before I set
out for Bath, perhaps I could see you. If it
could be so contrived, It would give me great
pleasure. I am convinced beyond a doubt
that you allow me a place in your affection, &
this makes me earnestly wish we could contrive
some way of being sometimes comfortably
together. Can this ever be? Adieu. Mrs
O'Keeffe is with me, & desires kind compliments
to you. I desire you will believe me
Yours
Very Affectionately
Mary Sharpe.
To
Miss Hamilton
Queens Lodge
Windsor.
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/1/22/36
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Beauvoir (née Sharpe, later Douglas)
Place sent: Enfield Chase
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Windsor
Date sent: 12 October 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Sharpe to Mary Hamilton. Sharpe writes with general news including her own and on Mrs Carter's health. Sharpe asks about the possibility of seeing Hamilton soon and of her pleasure that Hamilton received in a 'kind manner' what she had advised in her last letter (HAM/1/22/35).
Dated at South Lodge.
Length: 1 sheet, 393 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
