Diplomatic Text
July 1779
Dear Miʃs Hamilton
I have deferr'd thanking you for your very obliging
letter much longer than I intended; it was partly oc=
casion'd by our having been in expectation of seeing Lord
& Lady Dartrey before their return to England; we called
upon them in Dublin as soon as we heard of their arrival
but did not find them at home; the next day we receiv'd
a card from them apologizing for their not having it in
their power to come to Latour, as they were to embark for
England immediately. I do not wonder that they shou'd be in
------------ Country where we are under the most a=
larming apprehensions; ------------------------------
having more to fear, shou'd an invasion take place from our
internal enemies than from our Invaders; the Country which
was miserable enough before, is hurt extremely by the expecta=
tion of that formidable event. Wherever a King's Son is great
attention must neceʃsarily be given to him, and I apprehend
that at this perilous crisis there is no time for ceremonials.
I have always regarded the Q.s conduct in general as well
as her behaviour to her Dependants to be superiorly judicious as
well as very gracious; had it fortunately been my lot to have
remained so long under her observation as that she might have
become acquainted with the foundation of my expectations, I
am persuaded I shou'd not have been so long neglected, nor
to have cause to lament at the age of 50, that royal Promises,
so often repeated, shou'd have had so little effect, or that I bear
a Name which serves only to remind me that I have been sing=
ularly unfortunate. You see I speak my sentiments to you
without reserve, you need therefore make no apology for doing
the same to me; be aʃsured Dr Miʃs Hamilton that I am
most sincerely interested in your welfare ------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
I was formerly very intimate with Mr Lyte and have
a great regard & affection for him, I beg you will remember
me to him. I expect Mr Huband will soon have it in his
power to make you another remittance, if money is as hard
to be got in England as it is here you will not be surprized
at his delay. We have had for these ten days past the hottest
weather that was ever rememberd in Ireland, but as I am
in a most beautiful situation in full view of a delightful
Bay, the heat is moderated by refreshing breezes from the
sea. I lament that Ld Dartrey did not see my Villa, as I am
sure he must have been struck with its beauty. Mrs. Hamilton
desires to be affectionately remember'd to you, poor Mrs Stratford, I have
not seen her these three months, she is married to a savage, I have no
sort of intercourse with her husband, She wou'd have him in
spite of all my remonstrances; My second Daughter is a charmin[g]
Girl in every respect with excellent abilities. My Son is perfe[ctly]
recover'd and is a very handsome fine looking Boy his name
is Robert, why name him Frederick! Adieu Dr Miʃs Hamilton
belive me ever
Your Most faithful
and Affectionate Uncle
Frederick Hamilton
July 15th. 1779
Latour Clontarf
near Dublin[1]
Miʃs Hamilton[2]
at Prince Ernest's House
Kew
Surry
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Dear Miss Hamilton
I have deferred thanking you for your very obliging
letter much longer than I intended; it was partly occasioned
by our having been in expectation of seeing Lord
& Lady Dartrey before their return to England; we called
upon them in Dublin as soon as we heard of their arrival
but did not find them at home; the next day we received
a card from them apologizing for their not having it in
their power to come to Latour, as they were to embark for
England immediately. I do not wonder that they should be in
------------ Country where we are under the most alarming
apprehensions; ------------------------------
having more to fear, should an invasion take place from our
internal enemies than from our Invaders; the Country which
was miserable enough before, is hurt extremely by the expectation
of that formidable event. Wherever a King's Son is great
attention must necessarily be given to him, and I apprehend
that at this perilous crisis there is no time for ceremonials.
I have always regarded the Queens conduct in general as well
as her behaviour to her Dependants to be superiorly judicious as
well as very gracious; had it fortunately been my lot to have
remained so long under her observation as that she might have
become acquainted with the foundation of my expectations, I
am persuaded I should not have been so long neglected, nor
have cause to lament at the age of 50, that royal Promises,
so often repeated, should have had so little effect, or that I bear
a Name which serves only to remind me that I have been singularly
unfortunate. You see I speak my sentiments to you
without reserve, you need therefore make no apology for doing
the same to me; be assured Dear Miss Hamilton that I am
most sincerely interested in your welfare ------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
I was formerly very intimate with Mr Lyte and have
a great regard & affection for him, I beg you will remember
me to him. I expect Mr Huband will soon have it in his
power to make you another remittance, if money is as hard
to be got in England as it is here you will not be surprised
at his delay. We have had for these ten days past the hottest
weather that was ever remembered in Ireland, but as I am
in a most beautiful situation in full view of a delightful
Bay, the heat is moderated by refreshing breezes from the
sea. I lament that Lord Dartrey did not see my Villa, as I am
sure he must have been struck with its beauty. Mrs. Hamilton
desires to be affectionately remembered to you, poor Mrs Stratford, I have
not seen her these three months, she is married to a savage, I have no
sort of intercourse with her husband, She would have him in
spite of all my remonstrances; My second Daughter is a charming
Girl in every respect with excellent abilities. My Son is perfectly
recovered and is a very handsome fine looking Boy his name
is Robert, why name him Frederick! Adieu Dear Miss Hamilton
believe me ever
Your Most faithful
and Affectionate Uncle
Frederick Hamilton
July 15th. 1779
Latour Clontarf
near Dublin
Miss Hamilton
at Prince Ernest's House
Kew
Surry
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: Letter from Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/1/10
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: Clontarf
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Kew
Date sent: 15 June 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. He makes reference to fears of a possible invasion [from France], and notes that they had more to fear from an 'invasion from our internal enemies than from our invaders'. He returns to the issue of the neglected promise of preferments (see HAM/1/4/1/7) and suggests that if he had been longer in Queen Charlotte's observation, she might have become acquainted with his hopes and then he would not have been so disregarded.
The letter continues on family news. Of his children he reports that Mrs Stratford [Frederick Hamilton's daughter, Elizabeth (see HAM/1/4/1/2)] is married to a 'savage'. His second daughter is described as 'charming' and has 'excellent abilities', whilst his son, Robert, is very handsome.
Length: 1 sheet, 546 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 2013/14 provided by G.L. Brook bequest, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: George Bailey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Leo Thompson-Adams, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Nicola Fletcher, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
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: 2 November 2021