Diplomatic Text
Dear Mrs. Dickenson
If excuses were good for any thing I shou'd half fill
this side with them for having so long delay'd writing to
you. Mr. Dickenson knows my sentiments & the obligations
I feel myself under to you for having so kindly engaged
in a task, which has reliev'd me from much embaraʃsment
as for a compensation, were not the motive of friendship to
me added to it, I am satisfied such a consideration cou'd
have had little weight with you. In the account I gave
you of your Friend previous to his coming to Taxal, I certain=
ly did not exaggerate, tho' at the same time I shou'd in=
deed be very sorry to hear from you that you have found
it precisely just. Deviations from the lines of justice and
truth give me the greatest offence, no palliations can be ad=
mitted, nor half amendments, for he that is only a little false
or dishonest, is restrain'd by his own apprehensions alone
of detection from becoming more so; the mind must be re=
novated before a radical cure can be expected. In the letters
I have receiv'd from my Son he has never fail'd to expreʃs his
sense of the attention & civilities he is daily receiving, I
fear the returns he makes to you are not adequate to them. I
have constantly aʃsured him that I wou'd give him ample credit
for every amendment in his conduct. My advice lies in little com=
paʃs, that he shou'd have the mind & manners of a gentleman &
these are perfectly compatible with his period of life. I do not enter
into the detail of the errors & incaution natural to youth
as I remember the time when I myself gave no great attention
to admonition upon such topics. In a few months more he
will enter upon a new state & be solely responsible for his
own conduct & engagements; if he adopts an honest manly part
I shall be really happy & there will be an union in our interests,
but shou'd he pursue a contrary line, all confidence between
us will be at an end, & his plea of being my Son will have no weight
when he has no other recommendation to enforce it. I will remem=
ber your kind partiality for Robert which has been in great mea=
sure the cause of my intruding this discuʃsion upon you.
Whatever my apprehensions may be I am very desirous of
knowing your opinion of him. I have observed to him that
I think I perceive something more steady in him since his
visit to you.
We have lately taken poʃseʃsion of a House in Portman
Square, which we have upon a lease, & have repair'd and
furnish'd at a very considerable expence, it turns out
extremely well & we are perfectly satisfied with it. I have
as yet received no part of my demand from Mr. Campbell
tho' after giving him a years credit, three months are now
elapsed, it is true the money stands at 5 prCt. interest, but as
he gave me notice a year ago that he wou'd discharge his
Bond when it fell due I consequently enterd into engage=
ments in expectation of the money & not receiving it I am
obliged for the first time to disappoint some of my Tradesmen.
The sum to be paid into my hands is £6950. I am besides
to be exonerated from a mortgage of £3000 so that you will
perceive that this busineʃs is to me of the conseque[nce of]
nearly £10000. A Thousand thanks to you for an ex[cellent]
hare which we receiv'd in good order last week. As soon
as I receive my demand from Mr. C. which cannot be long Mr. Dickenson to whom
I beg you will present my affectionate compts. shall have
symptoms of it I say nothing of compts. to Robt. as you may
perhaps not think it neceʃsary to let him know that
you have heard from me. I hope my God Daughter is well
Adieu Dear Mrs. Dickenson believe me ever
Your faithful and Affectionate
Humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
No. 2 Portman Square
December 27th. 1791.[1]
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Dear Mrs. Dickenson
If excuses were good for any thing I should half fill
this side with them for having so long delayed writing to
you. Mr. Dickenson knows my sentiments & the obligations
I feel myself under to you for having so kindly engaged
in a task, which has relieved me from much embarrassment
as for a compensation, were not the motive of friendship to
me added to it, I am satisfied such a consideration could
have had little weight with you. In the account I gave
you of your Friend previous to his coming to Taxal, I certainly
did not exaggerate, though at the same time I should indeed
be very sorry to hear from you that you have found
it precisely just. Deviations from the lines of justice and
truth give me the greatest offence, no palliations can be admitted
, nor half amendments, for he that is only a little false
or dishonest, is restrained by his own apprehensions alone
of detection from becoming more so; the mind must be renovated
before a radical cure can be expected. In the letters
I have received from my Son he has never failed to express his
sense of the attention & civilities he is daily receiving, I
fear the returns he makes to you are not adequate to them. I
have constantly assured him that I would give him ample credit
for every amendment in his conduct. My advice lies in little compass
, that he should have the mind & manners of a gentleman &
these are perfectly compatible with his period of life. I do not enter
into the detail of the errors & incaution natural to youth
as I remember the time when I myself gave no great attention
to admonition upon such topics. In a few months more he
will enter upon a new state & be solely responsible for his
own conduct & engagements; if he adopts an honest manly part
I shall be really happy & there will be an union in our interests,
but should he pursue a contrary line, all confidence between
us will be at an end, & his plea of being my Son will have no weight
when he has no other recommendation to enforce it. I will remember
your kind partiality for Robert which has been in great measure
the cause of my intruding this discussion upon you.
Whatever my apprehensions may be I am very desirous of
knowing your opinion of him. I have observed to him that
I think I perceive something more steady in him since his
visit to you.
We have lately taken possession of a House in Portman
Square, which we have upon a lease, & have repaired and
furnished at a very considerable expense, it turns out
extremely well & we are perfectly satisfied with it. I have
as yet received no part of my demand from Mr. Campbell
though after giving him a years credit, three months are now
elapsed, it is true the money stands at 5 percent interest, but as
he gave me notice a year ago that he would discharge his
Bond when it fell due I consequently entered into engagements
in expectation of the money & not receiving it I am
obliged for the first time to disappoint some of my Tradesmen.
The sum to be paid into my hands is £6950. I am besides
to be exonerated from a mortgage of £3000 so that you will
perceive that this business is to me of the consequence of
nearly £10000. A Thousand thanks to you for an excellent
hare which we received in good order last week. As soon
as I receive my demand from Mr. Campbell which cannot be long Mr. Dickenson to whom
I beg you will present my affectionate compliments shall have
symptoms of it I say nothing of compliments to Robert as you may
perhaps not think it necessary to let him know that
you have heard from me. I hope my God-daughter is well
Adieu Dear Mrs. Dickenson believe me ever
Your faithful and Affectionate
Humble Servant
Frederick Hamilton
No. 2 Portman Square
December 27th. 1791.
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/1/4/1/36
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 27 December 1791
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Rev. Frederick Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to the conduct of Robert Hamilton and his father's hopes for his future improvement. He expresses his gratitude to Mary and her husband for hosting his son Robert at Taxal; Robert has commented in his letters on the 'attention & civilities' he is receiving from them. However, Frederick warns: 'In a few months more he will enter upon a new state & be solely responsible for his own conduct & engagements; if he adopts an honest manly part I shall be really happy & there will be an union in our interests, but shou'd he pursue a contrary line, all confidence between us will be at an end, & his plea of being my Son will have no weight when he has no other recommendation to enforce it'.
Frederick also reports that he has leased a house in Portman Square and has expended considerable sums in repairing and furnishing it. However, because a debtor has delayed the repayment of a bond due to him, he has has been obliged to defer payment of some of tradesmen's bills.
Length: 1 sheet, 695 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: Faye Broadbent, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Umara Nasim, 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