Diplomatic Text
31 Augt
My dearest friend --
I set out without any Companions
& took in an outside paʃsenger at Spinham Lands[1]
without recg any advantage -- he left me at Newberry[2]
Happily no unpleasant Reflections disturbed any
solitary Meditations & this morning I got on
the outside 12 Miles from Bath to enjoy the
Scenery and at Bath took an outside place
for this town to have a view of the Country wch-
is new to me -- the road to Wells 20 miles is
unpleasant on acct. of the tremendous Hills and
it is neceʃsary to drive down them wh- rapidity
to make up for loʃs of time & this requires
a nervous apprentices help to be placidly
reconciled to -- half a Mile from Wells there
is the most beautiful Subject for a Landscape
without Water that can be conceived -- how I wished
for Louisa to sketch it -- from Wells to Glastonbury
the road is charming 7 Miles -- the town is pretty
& there are some curious Remains of an old Abbey, the
Tower looks well on this side -- The road from Glastonbury
to Bridgewater is perfectly good 13 miles -- the Mail
is here obliged to make up for lost time & we frequently
flitted ventre a terre for a mile or so -- there
is a curious ridge on which the road runs for 2 or 3
miles which commands a magnificent prospect
on each side -- Bridgewater is a pretty town -- we
dined on a Coach dinner at Taunton at 6 OClock
Taunton is a beautiful Town & then came here --
tantivy[3] -- Since my arrival here I have been
in a bit of a paʃsion but as I am quiet now I will
endeavour wh- Composure to tell you that there is not
a Soul in this town who ever heard of Oakford -- I have
been to the post Office -- Never heard of the place -- I
have spoken to Gemmen[4] in the street -- knew no such
place -- The Landlord says he has a post Boy who
must know it but he will not return till later
so here have I been fuming & admiring all my Relations
as the most discreet sensible people in the World -- to
invite me to come 200 miles to pay them a visit to
direct me to go to - a Town & from there to take a
Post Chaise & not know where to direct the Driver to
direct his horse -- luckily I recollected Bampton is the
Post Town & that place is 12 or 14 miles off -- so probably
I shall have 20 miles to pay for -- from stupidity --
The Day has been remarkably calm & so am I -- very
soon I shall drink a dish of Tea & go to bed & tomorrow
Try to find out the family of Wiseacres -- I have been
again to the post office & after a great deal of pains taking it
seems settled that I must go to Tiverton
14 miles off in the first part of my wild Goose
Chase -- which shall be put off till tomorrow --
I don't feel at all fatigued & contrary to my expectations
have had no spasms in my knee -- Your party is
just aʃsembling & I hope you will spend a pleasant Afternoon
Adieu -- My very dear friend -- With best Love to
our dear Girl & Kindest Regards to Morrison I am
As I have been for 40 Years
Most Tenderly & Affy
Yrs. JD
I found my Gun here
[5]
Single
To
Mrs. Dickenson
32 Devonshire Place
London
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Probably the present Speenhamland, a district of Newbury, Berkshire.
2. Probably the present Newbury, Berkshire. This was the first, overnight leg of the journey. As his diary records, Dickenson had set out at 8 pm on 30 August 1813 (see DDX 274/25 p.91). Subsequent diary pages summarise the visit elaborated in his journal-letters.
3. ‘At full gallop; swiftly; headlong’ (OED s.v. tantivy adv.[...], A. Accessed 10-01-2023).
4. ‘Representing a nonstandard pronunciation’ of gentlemen (OED s.v. gemman n. Accessed 26-01-2023).
5. Round duty mark in red ink, dated 2 September 1813. Distance mark ‘WELLINGTON 168’ in black ink. Charge mark in black manuscript denoting postage due. Unidentified squiggle above address.
Normalised Text
31 August
My dearest friend --
I set out without any Companions
& took in an outside passenger at Spinham Lands
without receiving any advantage -- he left me at Newberry
Happily no unpleasant Reflections disturbed any
solitary Meditations & this morning I got on
the outside 12 Miles from Bath to enjoy the
Scenery and at Bath took an outside place
for this town to have a view of the Country which
is new to me -- the road to Wells 20 miles is
unpleasant on account of the tremendous Hills and
it is necessary to drive down them with rapidity
to make up for loss of time & this requires
a nervous apprentices help to be placidly
reconciled to -- half a Mile from Wells there
is the most beautiful Subject for a Landscape
without Water that can be conceived -- how I wished
for Louisa to sketch it -- from Wells to Glastonbury
the road is charming 7 Miles -- the town is pretty
& there are some curious Remains of an old Abbey, the
Tower looks well on this side -- The road from Glastonbury
to Bridgewater is perfectly good 13 miles -- the Mail
is here obliged to make up for lost time & we frequently
flitted ventre a terre for a mile or so -- there
is a curious ridge on which the road runs for 2 or 3
miles which commands a magnificent prospect
on each side -- Bridgewater is a pretty town -- we
dined on a Coach dinner at Taunton at 6 O'Clock
Taunton is a beautiful Town & then came here --
tantivy -- Since my arrival here I have been
in a bit of a passion but as I am quiet now I will
endeavour with Composure to tell you that there is not
a Soul in this town who ever heard of Oakford -- I have
been to the post Office -- Never heard of the place -- I
have spoken to Gemmen in the street -- knew no such
place -- The Landlord says he has a post Boy who
must know it but he will not return till later
so here have I been fuming & admiring all my Relations
as the most discreet sensible people in the World -- to
invite me to come 200 miles to pay them a visit to
direct me to go to a Town & from there to take a
Post Chaise & not know where to direct the Driver to
direct his horse -- luckily I recollected Bampton is the
Post Town & that place is 12 or 14 miles off -- so probably
I shall have 20 miles to pay for -- from stupidity --
The Day has been remarkably calm & so am I -- very
soon I shall drink a dish of Tea & go to bed & tomorrow
Try to find out the family of Wiseacres -- I have been
again to the post office & after a great deal of pains taking it
seems settled that I must go to Tiverton
14 miles off in the first part of my wild Goose
Chase -- which shall be put off till tomorrow --
I don't feel at all fatigued & contrary to my expectations
have had no spasms in my knee -- Your party is
just assembling & I hope you will spend a pleasant Afternoon
Adieu -- My very dear friend -- With best Love to
our dear Girl & Kindest Regards to Morrison I am
As I have been for 40 Years
Most Tenderly & Affectionately
Yours John Dickenson
I found my Gun here
Single
To
Mrs. Dickenson
32 Devonshire Place
London
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: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/2/43
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Dickenson
Place sent: Wellington, Somerset
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 31 August 1813
when 31 August 1813 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Journal-letter from John Dickenson to his wife Mary née Hamilton. He writes about his journey via Bath, Wells, Glastonbury, Bridgwater and Taunton, and describes the scenery that he passes.
Original reference No. 1.
Length: 1 sheet, 594 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now 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: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Jennifer van Hees, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2016)
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: 5 April 2023