Diplomatic Text
Copy of my letter to Mr & Mrs. Smelt
March 7th- 1789 sent 9th --
Though it is long since I have
heard from or written to my dear & respected
friends. I am as equally persuaded of the con
stancy of their regard & good wishes towards me
as I am certain of the constancy of my attach-
ment towards them -- I am now animated to
break through the silence wch. has prevailed
between us, by the desire of communicating to
them how my heart glows with Rapture
at the happy thrice happy restoration of
our beloved and good Kings health -- God has
been exceedingly gracious towards us, he
has relieved us from our Sorrow -- may we
have a just sense of the bleʃsing he has vouch
-safed to restore to us, & merit that our amia
ble sovereign may very long continue to reign
over these kingdoms -- few, very few of his Subjects
(comparatively speaking) I believe are so senseleʃs
as not to feel & acknowledge the goodneʃs of
Almighty God in the Recovery of his Majesty --
I have strongly felt all that I knew the Queen
must suffer, & prayed fervently for a mitigation
of her troubles -- bleʃsed be God they are not only
now mitigated but ended; deeply has she drank
of the bitter cup of Affliction -- may She never again
taste it. Her Majesty has ever set a bright
example to the female Sex of every moral virtue
by acting with undeviat - ing propriety -- She
has now shewn them what advantages are to be reaped
from christian piety, which has so enabled her to bear
up under the preʃsure of a grievous trial & affliction
with proper resignation to the divine will, & supported
her to fulfill her duties in an exemplary manner
when her heart was pierced by the most poignant
Anguish. I heard from my dear friend Ly Cremorne
lately who had had the honor & satisfaction of seeing
her Majesty, that she thought her the Queen looked
like one who had gone through much trouble and
was thinner -- it will make me very happy if you
can tell me that her health is not materially
injured. & that she has recovered her looks with her
happineʃs -- also that the Princeʃses have not suffered
in their's from their late affliction -- This question
I likewise ask you my dear friends, for I
well know how deeply you have been affected.
I beg you will remember me kindly to Mrs. Chol-
mondley of whom I hope you will be able to send
me good Accounts. Mr. Dickenson desires you will
accept his affe. Respects. our little Girl is in
perfect health, & delights our hearts, by seeming to
have (as far as one can judge at her tender age) an
amiable affecte. disposition --
Pray give my love to Miʃs Burney, & tell her I shd. be
glad to hear of her health from herself -- are not you
as well as Miʃs B. glad that Miʃs Port is married?
I have not yet heard any particular relative to
Mr. Warrddington, but I have no doubt Mr. & Mrs. Granville
made a prudent choice. I shall esteem it a favor if
you will present my Comps. to ye- Ladies of my acquain
tance at the Palace when you have an Opporty; and
desire you will remember us very affy to our dear
Mrs. Orde & Miʃs Orde. I remain ever
my dearest Mr. & Mrs. Smelt's
Sincere & Affe. friend
Mary Dickenson
Taxal 7 March 1789[1]
Mr. D & myself shall be happy
to hear the Montagu's are well
we spent a very agreeable day at Sandleford in the autumn
pray present our kind Compliments to them --
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
March 7th- 1789 sent 9th --
Though it is long since I have
heard from or written to my dear & respected
friends. I am as equally persuaded of the constancy
of their regard & good wishes towards me
as I am certain of the constancy of my attachment
towards them -- I am now animated to
break through the silence which has prevailed
between us, by the desire of communicating to
them how my heart glows with Rapture
at the happy thrice happy restoration of
our beloved and good Kings health -- God has
been exceedingly gracious towards us, he
has relieved us from our Sorrow -- may we
have a just sense of the blessing he has vouchsafed
to restore to us, & merit that our amiable
sovereign may very long continue to reign
over these kingdoms -- few, very few of his Subjects
(comparatively speaking) I believe are so senseless
as not to feel & acknowledge the goodness of
Almighty God in the Recovery of his Majesty --
I have strongly felt all that I knew the Queen
must suffer, & prayed fervently for a mitigation
of her troubles -- blessed be God they are not only
now mitigated but ended; deeply has she drunk
of the bitter cup of Affliction -- may She never again
taste it. Her Majesty has ever set a bright
example to the female Sex of every moral virtue
by acting with undeviating propriety -- She
has now shown them what advantages are to be reaped
from christian piety, which has so enabled her to bear
up under the pressure of a grievous trial & affliction
with proper resignation to the divine will, & supported
her to fulfill her duties in an exemplary manner
when her heart was pierced by the most poignant
Anguish. I heard from my dear friend Lady Cremorne
lately who had had the honour & satisfaction of seeing
her Majesty, that she thought the Queen looked
like one who had gone through much trouble and
was thinner -- it will make me very happy if you
can tell me that her health is not materially
injured. & that she has recovered her looks with her
happiness -- also that the Princesses have not suffered
in their's from their late affliction -- This question
I likewise ask you my dear friends, for I
well know how deeply you have been affected.
I beg you will remember me kindly to Mrs. Cholmondley
of whom I hope you will be able to send
me good Accounts. Mr. Dickenson desires you will
accept his affectionate Respects. our little Girl is in
perfect health, & delights our hearts, by seeming to
have (as far as one can judge at her tender age) an
amiable affectionate disposition --
Pray give my love to Miss Burney, & tell her I should be
glad to hear of her health from herself -- are not you
as well as Miss Burney glad that Miss Port is married?
I have not yet heard any particular relative to
Mr. Waddington, but I have no doubt Mr. & Mrs. Granville
made a prudent choice. I shall esteem it a favour if
you will present my Compliments to the Ladies of my acquaintance
at the Palace when you have an Opportunity; and
desire you will remember us very affectionately to our dear
Mrs. Orde & Miss Orde. I remain ever
my dearest Mr. & Mrs. Smelt's
Sincere & Affectionate friend
Mary Dickenson
Taxal 7 March 1789
Mr. Dickenson & myself shall be happy
to hear the Montagu's are well
we spent a very agreeable day at Sandleford in the autumn
pray present our kind Compliments to them --
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: Copy of letter from Mary Hamilton to Leonard and Jane Smelt
Shelfmark: HAM/1/1/1/13
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Addressee: Leonard Smelt and Jane Smelt (née Campbell)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 9 March 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Copy of letter from Mary Hamilton (now Mrs Dickenson) to a Mr and Mrs Smelt [Mr Leonard
Smelt, a former deputy-governor to the Royal princes (c.1719-1800)]
relating to the King's illness. She begins her letter by stating that
although it is a long time since she has written to her friends she is
still assured of their good wishes and is breaking 'through the silence'
after hearing the happy news of the King's recovery. Few of his subjects,
she continues will 'acknowledge the goodness of almighty God in the
recovery of his Majesty'. Hamilton writes of her concern for the Queen.
She reports that her friend, Lady Cremorne (see HAM/1/11) had recently
seen the Queen and noted that she had looked much thinner. Hamilton asks
Mr and Mrs Smelt to let her know that the Queen's 'health is not
materially injured & that she has recovered her looks with her
happiness'. She also asks for a report on the princesses.
Hamilton continues on to family matters and writes that her daughter,
Louisa is well and 'delights our hearts'. She forwards her love to Miss
Burney [Frances Burney (1752-1840), author. Burney was second Keeper of
the Robes to Queen Charlotte from 1786 to 1791. She married Alexandre
D'Arbly (1754-1818), a French career soldier in 1793 when she was 41,
they had one child] and asks the Smelts to tell her that Hamilton would
be glad to hear of her health from her own hand.
Original reference No. 22.
Length: 1 sheet, 602 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 11 February 2021)
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: 15 August 2023