Diplomatic Text
Dear Brother,
I am just return'd from London where I went to paʃs a week
not to be intirely forgot by the few friends I have left; I had not
been there for more than two years. I paʃs'd my time chiefly with Ld.
Warwick, Ld. Greville, & Ld. Abercorn; the two former have undertaken
that I shall have no trouble about residence in Ireland & as Ld. Hillsborough
is also of the party I begin to feel myself a little easier upon that
subject. I receiv'd a letter some days ago from Ldy. Warwick who is at
Ghent, where she proposes to paʃs the winter; she was so far on her way
to Aix la Chapelle, & being taken ill, & her disorder ending in a jaundice
which detain'd her till the travelling season was past, she determin'd
to continue where she is till next Spring. Her house in London is
coverd in, but going on slowly as it is a Great undertaking & above
her abilities to push on with more expedition, it is in Queen Ann Street
behind Cavendish Square. On my return here I found a letter from
Ldy. Cathcart who gives a good account of herself and of all our
friends at Petersburgh, she had heard lately from my Brother at Naples
who has obtain'd leave to return to England for a few months next
Spring; he is to go by Vienna on purpose to see the Emperor, who has
a personal liking to him & to whom he will certainly go Ambaʃsador
when Ld. Stormont is weary of that Office. Mr. Patoun[1] says my Brother
is become extremely grave & that the Climate of Naples has given him
a very old and yellow appearance; I was astonish'd at the progreʃs Patoun
has made in painting he has totally attach'd himself to painting in
oil colours & I saw some of his performances which were in deed excellent
he is thought to understand the art of colouring as well as any man
living in which he has discoverd many valuable secrets. He lives very
much with Ld. Warwick who has settled 200£ a year upon him; had he applied
himself earlier to drawing I think he wou'd have excell'd any Painter
we have, but at present I observe defects in his pictures in that par=
ticular & chiefly in the extremities of his figures. -- Ld. Greville is a
very agreeable young Man & has many excellent qualities, his figure
is perfectly good as one very rarely meets with a Person better made, Charles
his next Brother is expected home this month from Germany, his
appearance is by no means so good, but it is allow'd on all hands
that he has a most remarkably good understanding. Robert the third
Son, first Cornet in Mord[a]unt's[2] is now at Dresden & has a particular
turn for military knowle[d]ge, he is very tall & is in every respect a
very handsome & striking figure & has excellent dispositions [so tha]t
Ld. Warwick thinks himself, & he really is, very fortunate [in] his Children
I have not seen Ldy. Louisa since her marriage she was in the Country
with Mr. Churchill when I was in Town, they live with L. W——k who allows
them besides, 400£ a year, which is the interest of what he intends to ------
her. I have long ago completd all my operations here, & hav[e] ------------
very comfortable residence -- It is an age since I have he[ard] ------------
you, I shall be very happy to be inform'd that you are ------------------
from the gout and that you continue to like Northampto[n]shire ------------
to be affectionately rememberd with me to you & Mrs. Ha[milton] ------
my Niece as does also your old acquaintance Betty ------------
turn out a fine girl, we have lately inoculated our ------------------
with great succeʃs. I have sent to Dublin for my ------------
desir'd Mr. Welldone,[3] a very trusty Person, to take out your ------------------
of them as he has done for several years past till I can[n] ------------
instructions about them. -- Adieu Dear Brother Yours ------------
Frede[rick Hamilton]
from B ---
to Papa
From Mr Frederick Hamilton
to his Brother Charles
at Northampton Nov 1770[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. William Patoun, Scottish painter and art collector (d. 1783) (Wikidata).
2. Possibly Sir John Mordaunt (1696/7-1780) (ODNB).
3. Mr Welldone is also mentioned in HAM/1/4/7/20.
4. Postmark '13 NO' below address when unfolded.
5. These four lines appear written vertically to the right of the address panel when unfolded.
Normalised Text
Dear Brother,
I am just returned from London where I went to pass a week
not to be entirely forgotten by the few friends I have left; I had not
been there for more than two years. I passed my time chiefly with Lord
Warwick, Lord Greville, & Lord Abercorn; the two former have undertaken
that I shall have no trouble about residence in Ireland & as Lord Hillsborough
is also of the party I begin to feel myself a little easier upon that
subject. I received a letter some days ago from Lady Warwick who is at
Ghent, where she proposes to pass the winter; she was so far on her way
to Aix la Chapelle, & being taken ill, & her disorder ending in a jaundice
which detained her till the travelling season was past, she determined
to continue where she is till next Spring. Her house in London is
covered in, but going on slowly as it is a Great undertaking & above
her abilities to push on with more expedition, it is in Queen Ann Street
behind Cavendish Square. On my return here I found a letter from
Lady Cathcart who gives a good account of herself and of all our
friends at Petersburgh, she had heard lately from my Brother at Naples
who has obtained leave to return to England for a few months next
Spring; he is to go by Vienna on purpose to see the Emperor, who has
a personal liking to him & to whom he will certainly go Ambassador
when Lord Stormont is weary of that Office. Mr. Patoun says my Brother
is become extremely grave & that the Climate of Naples has given him
a very old and yellow appearance; I was astonished at the progress Patoun
has made in painting he has totally attached himself to painting in
oil colours & I saw some of his performances which were in deed excellent
he is thought to understand the art of colouring as well as any man
living in which he has discovered many valuable secrets. He lives very
much with Lord Warwick who has settled 200£ a year upon him; had he applied
himself earlier to drawing I think he would have excelled any Painter
we have, but at present I observe defects in his pictures in that particular
& chiefly in the extremities of his figures. -- Lord Greville is a
very agreeable young Man & has many excellent qualities, his figure
is perfectly good as one very rarely meets with a Person better made, Charles
his next Brother is expected home this month from Germany, his
appearance is by no means so good, but it is allowed on all hands
that he has a most remarkably good understanding. Robert the third
Son, first Cornet in Mordaunt's is now at Dresden & has a particular
turn for military knowledge, he is very tall & is in every respect a
very handsome & striking figure & has excellent dispositions so that
Lord Warwick thinks himself, & he really is, very fortunate in his Children
I have not seen Lady Louisa since her marriage she was in the Country
with Mr. Churchill when I was in Town, they live with Lord Warwick who allows
them besides, 400£ a year, which is the interest of what he intends to ------
her. I have long ago completed all my operations here, & have ------------
very comfortable residence -- It is an age since I have heard ------------
you, I shall be very happy to be informed that you are ------------------
from the gout and that you continue to like Northamptonshire ------------
to be affectionately remembered with me to you & Mrs. Hamilton ------
my Niece as does also your old acquaintance Betty ------------
turn out a fine girl, we have lately inoculated our ------------------
with great success. I have sent to Dublin for my ------------
desired Mr. Welldone, a very trusty Person, to take out your ------------------
of them as he has done for several years past till I cann ------------
instructions about them. -- Adieu Dear Brother Yours ------------
Frederick Hamilton
The Honourable Charles Hamilton
-- at
Northampton
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 Charles Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/4/7/25
Correspondence Details
Sender: Frederick Hamilton
Place sent: Ipswich
Addressee: Charles Hamilton
Place received: Northampton
Date sent: 12 November 1770
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Frederick Hamilton to his brother, Charles Hamilton. He writes that he has just returned from London, where he spent the majority of time with his relations, Lord Warwick, Lord Greville, and Lord Abercorn, and notes that the 'two former have undertaken that I shall have no trouble about residence in Ireland'.
The letter continues with news of relations, including Lady Warwick, who is to spend the winter at Ghent, and his sister, Lady Cathcart, who he reports recently heard from their brother William in Naples. William is to go to Vienna to see the Emperor, 'who has a personal liking to him', and will 'certainly go Ambassador when L[or]d Stormont is weary of that Office'. Dated at Ipswich.
Length: 1 sheet, 686 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 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Celeste Leonard, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2018)
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