Diplomatic Text
Bullstrode
Novbr. 24th. 1784
Again I will not delay shewing Dr. Burney
how willing & pleased I am to have an opportunity
of obliging him, So notwithstanding your sage
Caution I run the risque of the encroachments
You point out, but as I have but a few moments
before ye.. post goes out I must not endulge myself
in scribbling to you -- I will however tell you that
our dear friend is well & was delighted with
Your letter, & I was charm'd with the one
I recd., You are a saucy Girl & I willshall have my
revenge, I hope. Mrs.. Delanys Brother lived
at Calwich in Staffordshire, & was stil'd Barnard
Granville Esqr.. I shall remain here till the
Ducheʃs Dr. of Portland & Mrs. D: go to Town wch. will
be abt. ye. 18 or 20th. of next Month -- I have
much to say to you & regret that I am obliged
to bid You Adieu. as I love You very sincerely
I will not like some folks add ye.
formal “Obdt. Humble. Servt.,” but wth. truth yt.
I am Yours very Afftly. Mary Hamilton[1]
I suppose You
will go soon to ye.
Veseys, they are in town,
if Miʃs A Clarke is there ask her abt. me[2]
[3]
[4]
Miʃs Burney[5]
St. Martin's Street
Leicester Square[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The stroke above ‘Hamilton’ has been provisionally interpreted as the usual flourish after the signature, displaced for lack of space.
2. The postscript appears to the left of the closing salutation.
3. This page is blank.
4. This page is blank, apart from the remains of a seal in red wax.
5. A large figure 3 is written to the right of the address, denoting postage due.
6. The address is written at right angles to the text of the letter.
7. Remains of a seal, in red wax, and of two postmarks, one reading '[GERR]ARD[S] CROSS'.
Normalised Text
Bullstrode
November 24th. 1784
I will not delay showing Dr. Burney
how willing & pleased I am to have an opportunity
of obliging him, So notwithstanding your sage
Caution I run the risk of the encroachments
You point out, but as I have but a few moments
before the post goes out I must not indulge myself
in scribbling to you -- I will however tell you that
our dear friend is well & was delighted with
Your letter, & I was charmed with the one
I received, You are a saucy Girl & I shall have my
revenge, I hope. Mrs.. Delanys Brother lived
at Calwich in Staffordshire, & was styled Barnard
Granville Esqr.. I shall remain here till the
Duchess Dowager of Portland & Mrs. Delany go to Town which will
be about the 18 or 20th. of next Month -- I have
much to say to you & regret that I am obliged
to bid You Adieu. as I love You very sincerely
I will not like some folks add the
formal “Obedient Humble Servant,” but with truth that
I am Yours very Affectionately Mary Hamilton
I suppose You
will go soon to the
Veseys, they are in town,
if Miss A Clarke is there ask her about me
Miss Burney
St. Martin's Street
Leicester Square
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library
Archive: Frances Burney d'Arblay collection of papers
Item title: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Frances Burney
Shelfmark: NYPL 526199(2)
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Gerrards Cross
Addressee: Frances D'Arblay (née Burney)
Place received: London
Date sent: 24 November 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Frances Burney, November 1784.
Length: 1 sheet, 217 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: Sophie Coulombeau (submitted 5 October 2022)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 26 December 2025
