Diplomatic Text
Hampton 25 Janry:
1786
My dear Friend
The sole reason why I have
[n]ot sooner thanked for your kind letter is, that being
quite isolée at Hampton, I know nothing of the
world or its ways; and I wished to defer writing
till I had gone to Town, and looked up a little
[a]musement and goʃsip for you among our friends.
But ------ I find we shall not stir this fortnight,
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------ -- I came here early in December.
Mrs. Garrick and I spent the Christmas fortnight
[a]t Mrs. Walsingham's. We had no other
company except Lord Walsingham, for a day
or two at one time, and Mr. Pepys for a
couple of days at another time. I frequently
read to them (I mean Mrs. W. and her daughter) while
they painted, and if it is any comfort to you, you
were often affectionately remember'd, and kindly talked of.
The little time they wou'd spare me to myself I
employ'd in finishing a little Tale which will see
the light in a few days. I have ventured to glance
pretty strongly at the manners of our fine Men;
the gluttony, rudeneʃs, ignorance, and indolence of modern
Ton. I had fully resolved to have brought it out
without my name, but was over-ruled by the only
two friends to whom I ever named it. They also
insisted on my adding Bas bleu, which else, woud
probably have made its way into some Magazine
from the numerous copies that are got abroad.
Mr. Walpole, is I hear, better and Mrs. Vesey tolerable.
I have seen neither of those dear friends: nor indeed any
one else, but Mrs. Boscawen, Montagu, and Carter, the
latter only for 5 Minutes; she seemed not quite well.
I know you will honour my fortitude when I
tell you that I this day resisted a very agreeable
temptation. We had a letter from Mrs. Walsingham to ask
us to the annual dinner of the Warton's &c. You know
full well how pleasant it is, and how delightful they
are; but an account of the dangerous illneʃs of my
Mother, left not my Spirits in tune for this sweet
Musick. -- I hope your amiable friend Lady Wake
has somewhat recovered the severe shock her feelings
experienced.[1] You are a good creature to go and
administer the consolations of friendship to her
affliction. That affords the best human help I know of.
I wish it were in my power to suggest any
thing which might be serviceable to your worthy
Clergyman; but tho' rich in will I am poor in power.
You cant imagine how I shall miʃs You when
I paʃs by the dear old house! -- but I ought to
fortify Your virtue, instead of weakning it by such
rememberances. Yet how little is what You have
re[no]unced compared with the solid and substantial
happineʃs you have secured by your union with
an amiable and virtuous Man! You deserve your
happineʃs because You are sensible of it. I doubt
not his affairs will go on prosperously now that
he has taken them into his own hands. -- I asked
Mrs. G. if she wou'd not write; she said no, You must
not have too many good things at once. In truth as
we had but little to say we cou'd not both afford to
speak at the same time. -- She sends her kind love
to both. -- I have not only no frank, but what
is a ridiculous kind of poverty, I am not worth
a folio Sheet of Paper, or you shoud not have come
off so easily. -- I rejoyce that that sweet Miʃs
Murray is so agreeably married.[2] I fell quite
in love with when I was at Ken Wood[3] . -- As
to the Narrative about Louisa, There are some
▼
[4]things which stagger me very much. At first I saw
no great reason to believe in the identity of the two
persons; but I was desired to examine her head, as
marks of violence were said to be on that of the foreigner,
I had her head shaved, and found the very scars: there
are several other strong circumstances.[5] I wou'd I had more
room; but if I had, I cou'd never tell You how much I am Yr. faithful
H. More
[6]
[10]
[11]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Lady Wake's husband, Sir William, had died at the end of October 1785.
2. Elizabeth Mary Murray had married George Finch-Hatton on 10 December 1785.
3. Also known as Caen Wood, an estate and the seat of the Earl of Mansfield in Hampstead, London.
4. This passage is written below the address.
5. See also Henry Thompson, The Life of Hannah More with Notices of Her Sisters (London, 1838), p.53.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
7. Remains of a stamp, reading ‘ISLEWORTH’.
8. A large ‘5’ and ‘2’ have been written across and to the right of the address, likely indicating postage due.
9. Moved address here from middle of page, written vertically.
10. Remains of a stamp, reading ‘27 JA’, indicating that the letter went through the post on 27 January 1786.
11. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Hampton 25 January
My dear Friend
The sole reason why I have
not sooner thanked for your kind letter is, that being
quite isolée at Hampton, I know nothing of the
world or its ways; and I wished to defer writing
till I had gone to Town, and looked up a little
amusement and gossip for you among our friends.
But I find we shall not stir this fortnight,
-- I came here early in December.
Mrs. Garrick and I spent the Christmas fortnight
at Mrs. Walsingham's. We had no other
company except Lord Walsingham, for a day
or two at one time, and Mr. Pepys for a
couple of days at another time. I frequently
read to them (I mean Mrs. Walsingham and her daughter) while
they painted, and if it is any comfort to you, you
were often affectionately remembered, and kindly talked of.
The little time they would spare me to myself I
employed in finishing a little Tale which will see
the light in a few days. I have ventured to glance
pretty strongly at the manners of our fine Men;
the gluttony, rudeness, ignorance, and indolence of modern
Ton. I had fully resolved to have brought it out
without my name, but was over-ruled by the only
two friends to whom I ever named it. They also
insisted on my adding Bas bleu, which else, would
probably have made its way into some Magazine
from the numerous copies that are got abroad.
Mr. Walpole, is I hear, better and Mrs. Vesey tolerable.
I have seen neither of those dear friends: nor indeed any
one else, but Mrs. Boscawen, Montagu, and Carter, the
latter only for 5 Minutes; she seemed not quite well.
I know you will honour my fortitude when I
tell you that I this day resisted a very agreeable
temptation. We had a letter from Mrs. Walsingham to ask
us to the annual dinner of the Warton's &c. You know
full well how pleasant it is, and how delightful they
are; but an account of the dangerous illness of my
Mother, left not my Spirits in tune for this sweet
Music. -- I hope your amiable friend Lady Wake
has somewhat recovered the severe shock her feelings
experienced. You are a good creature to go and
administer the consolations of friendship to her
affliction. That affords the best human help I know of.
I wish it were in my power to suggest any
thing which might be serviceable to your worthy
Clergyman; but though rich in will I am poor in power.
You can't imagine how I shall miss You when
I pass by the dear old house! -- but I ought to
fortify Your virtue, instead of weakening it by such
remembrances. Yet how little is what You have
renounced compared with the solid and substantial
happiness you have secured by your union with
an amiable and virtuous Man! You deserve your
happiness because You are sensible of it. I doubt
not his affairs will go on prosperously now that
he has taken them into his own hands. -- I asked
Mrs. Garrick if she would not write; she said no, You must
not have too many good things at once. In truth as
we had but little to say we could not both afford to
speak at the same time. -- She sends her kind love
to both. -- I have not only no frank, but what
is a ridiculous kind of poverty, I am not worth
a folio Sheet of Paper, or you should not have come
off so easily. -- I rejoice that that sweet Miss
Murray is so agreeably married. I fell quite
in love with when I was at Ken Wood . -- As
to the Narrative about Louisa, There are some
▼
things which stagger me very much. At first I saw
no great reason to believe in the identity of the two
persons; but I was desired to examine her head, as
marks of violence were said to be on that of the foreigner,
I had her head shaved, and found the very scars: there
are several other strong circumstances. I would I had more
room; but if I had, I could never tell You how much I am Your faithful
Hannah More
Mrs. Dickenson
at Sir William Wake's Baronet
Courteen Hall
near Northampton
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Houghton Library Repository, Harvard University
Archive: Elizabeth Carter and Hannah More letters to Mary Hamilton
Item title: Letter from Hannah More to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 171
Correspondence Details
Sender: Hannah More
Place sent: Hampton
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Courteenhall, near Northampton
Date sent: 25 January 1786
Letter Description
Summary: More, Hannah, 1745-1833. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Hampton, 1786 January 25.
Length: 1 sheet, 720 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First transcribed for the project 'The Collected Letters of Hannah More' (Kerri Andrews & others) and incorporated 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: Kerri Andrews, Senior Lecturer, Edge Hill University (submitted 11 August 2020)
Cataloguer: Bonnie B. Salt, Archivist, Houghton Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 26 October 2022