HAM/1/4/5/16
Letter from Lady Catherine Hamilton (née Barlow) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
I have been so ill of an influ=
=enza that has gone about My Dear
Miʃs Hamilton & am still so weak that
I can say but few words to you to ex=
=preʃs my constant Affection, & to tell
you, you will receive by a Baron
& Mrs Power[1] a packet with Six pair of
Gloves made of the Silk of the horse
muscle[2] wch. are the production of this
Country, & reckon'd very curious, so much
so that the Empreʃs of Ruʃsia sent for
some. These I entreat if you do not think
it improper to present to Her Majesty the
Queen. oneI dares not (nor am I in a situ=
=ation) to present things of value to any
Sovereign, but these being ------ curious
tho' a mere trifle I hope (by your man=
=ner of presenting them) she will not be
offended at the liberty I take, let me
hear from you I entreat, & when you
see Ly. King tell her how much I
love her & her family & that I will
write when I am a little stronger
you may see by my hand how weak
I am -- but thank God I am gaining
[gr]ound. Sr. Wm. desires his kind love
& I am ever yours with true
Affection C Hamilton
Naples
April 10th 1781[3]
neice Miʃs Hamilton[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Possibly George de la Poer Beresford (1735-1800), 2nd Earl of Tyrone, Baron La Poer, later 1st Marquess of Waterford (Wikipedia), and his wife Elizabeth (née Monck), if their presence in Naples can be confirmed.
2. 'Sea silk' is made from the secretions of Mediterranean pen shells, here mistakenly identified with the horse mussels found in British waters. See also HAM/1/3/2/3: 'I have sent 3 red pearls wch: are formd in a shell-fish resembling a muscle, but much larger, from wch: they take the wool from wch: gloves are made at Taranto'.
3. This dateline appears to the left of the signature.
4. Postmark 'AP 30' above address panel when unfolded.
5. This appears to the right of the address when unfolded, written vertically.
Normalised Text
I have been so ill of an influenza
that has gone about My Dear
Miss Hamilton & am still so weak that
I can say but few words to you to express
my constant Affection, & to tell
you, you will receive by a Baron
& Mrs Power a packet with Six pair of
Gloves made of the Silk of the horse
mussel which are the production of this
Country, & reckoned very curious, so much
so that the Empress of Russia sent for
some. These I entreat if you do not think
it improper to present to Her Majesty the
Queen. I dare not (nor am I in a situation
) to present things of value to any
Sovereign, but these being curious
though a mere trifle I hope (by your manner
of presenting them) she will not be
offended at the liberty I take, let me
hear from you I entreat, & when you
see Lady King tell her how much I
love her & her family & that I will
write when I am a little stronger
you may see by my hand how weak
I am -- but thank God I am gaining
ground. Sir William desires his kind love
& I am ever yours with true
Affection Catherine Hamilton
Naples
April 10th
To
Miss Hamilton
St James's Palace
London
Inghilterra
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 Lady Catherine Hamilton (née Barlow) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/5/16
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Catherine Hamilton (née Barlow)
Place sent: Naples
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 10 April 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Lady Catherine Hamilton to Mary Hamilton. She is ill with influenza and is unable to write a long letter. She forwards her niece six pairs of silk gloves to present to Queen Charlotte on her behalf.
Dated at Naples.
Original reference No. 15.
Length: 1 sheet, 225 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: Rebecca Paxton, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted December 2013)
Transliterator: Marta Colleoni, 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