LWL Mss Vol. 75(44)
Note from Anne Astley, letter on behalf of Mary Delany and note from Margaret Cavendish Bentinck to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
[1]
Bulstrode Dem 23. 1784
Happy as I am with the
kind rememberances I have received from my Dear
Miʃs Hamilton -- made doubly precious to me by being
united with those of our Dear and inestimable
Friend -- MD must speak a word or two for
Her Self -- most sensibly have I miʃsed my
amiable morning Companion. my works have gone
on slow and Sad -- till the inlivening Hour of
a Summons to the Drawing room -- and there
I meet with a check from the sympathising
Lamentations at the board of Croʃs stitch --
and the Table of dilligence: where is Miʃs
Hamilton and Her Manuscripts? says our Dear
Dutcheʃs -- : I have now no hopes of Exaltation
says. Mr Lightfoot! but I will shift the
subject of regret to that of hope and Console
my self with looking forward to wednesday the 29
or rather the 30 -- as I look upon you to be
incapable of failing in any of your ingagements,
I shall depend upon your Eating Beef Stakes
according to promise -- but shoud you not
recolect it I am sure my Freind which
I trust you will permit me to call Him
will not. as I hope there is no Danger of His
having left London before that time --
I am willing to say more. but not able.
and will not embarreʃs you with uneʃsary Compliments
and wishes to those Friends -- who may be so good
to remember me knowing you Lose no oppertunity
of doing Justice to your Ever obligd and
affectionate
MDelany
P.S
! alas I am reduced
to put on my Cloak
my self -- but I bear in mind that kind attention
and many others at XXX
I am quite sorry for Mr Walpole if you send to inquire
after Him -- be so generous as to make a Particular
inquiry for me
My Dear Freind how can you ask if your
Journals are worth paying for to me they
are of infinite Value continue my Dear
I beseech you there has been such a
Bustle about the Tables Mr Lightfoot
thought Miʃs Hamilton was return'd
to exalt him which he is very sorry to
find is not the case his best respects
good wishes aʃsure Mr D. of my best
Compts that Health & Happineʃs m[ay]
attend you & theHim you love
our dear Freind very well
MCPo[rtland]
Written by the Dear Ducheʃs Dowr
of Portland
Mrs. Delany
Dʃs. Dr. Portland
Decbr- 84
Miʃs Hamilton
Clarges Street
Monday
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter has been copied almost in its entirety into a diary entry intended for Hamilton's future husband, John Dickenson (HAM/2/15/3 p.4).
2. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Bulstrode December 23. 1784
Happy as I am with the
kind remembrances I have received from my Dear
Miss Hamilton -- made doubly precious to me by being
united with those of our Dear and inestimable
Friend -- Mary Delany must speak a word or two for
Her Self -- most sensibly have I missed my
amiable morning Companion. my works have gone
on slow and Sad -- till the enlivening Hour of
a Summons to the Drawing room -- and there
I meet with a check from the sympathising
Lamentations at the board of Cross stitch --
and the Table of diligence: where is Miss
Hamilton and Her Manuscripts? says our Dear
Duchess -- : I have now no hopes of Exaltation
says. Mr Lightfoot! but I will shift the
subject of regret to that of hope and Console
my self with looking forward to wednesday the 29
or rather the 30 -- as I look upon you to be
incapable of failing in any of your engagements,
I shall depend upon your Eating Beef Steaks
according to promise -- but should you not
recollect it I am sure my Friend which
I trust you will permit me to call Him
will not. as I hope there is no Danger of His
having left London before that time --
I am willing to say more. but not able.
and will not embarrass you with unnecessary Compliments
and wishes to those Friends -- who may be so good
to remember me knowing you Lose no opportunity
of doing Justice to your Ever obliged and
affectionate
Mary Delany
P.S
! alas I am reduced
to put on my Cloak
my self -- but I bear in mind that kind attention
and many others at XXX
I am quite sorry for Mr Walpole if you send to inquire
after Him -- be so generous as to make a Particular
inquiry for me
My Dear Friend how can you ask if your
Journals are worth paying for to me they
are of infinite Value continue my Dear
I beseech you there has been such a
Bustle about the Tables Mr Lightfoot
thought Miss Hamilton was returned
to exalt him which he is very sorry to
find is not the case his best respects
good wishes assure Mr Dickenson of my best
Compliments that Health & Happiness may
attend you & Him you love
our dear Friend very well
Margaret Cavendish Portland
Miss Hamilton
Clarges Street
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University
Archive: Mrs. Delany correspondence
Item title: Note from Anne Astley, letter on behalf of Mary Delany and note from Margaret Cavendish Bentinck to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: LWL Mss Vol. 75(44)
Correspondence Details
Sender: Anne Agnew (née Astley) and formerly Pendarves), Mary Delany (née Granville and Margaret Bentinck (née Cavendish-Harley), Duchess of Portland
Place sent: Gerrards Cross
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 23 December 1784
Letter Description
Summary: The document starts with a short note from Anne Astley, who also wrote out Mary Delany's subsequent letter. Margaret Cavendish Bentinck [the Duchess of Portland] also added a note to Mary Hamilton.
Length: 1 sheet, 398 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: 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: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 21 January 2021)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 6 December 2021