Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

HAM/1/6/8/28

Letter from John Hope to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


      I received a Letter a few days ago, my
dear Miʃs Hamilton, that has made me
appear to myself like a Wanderer on the
face of the Earth.[1] -- I have been intend=
=ing [these][2] two days to move my Lodgings; --
but I cannot have the Reʃolution
to go into ʃuch a ʃolitary House. --
I will do it however tomorrow, for I am
almoʃt as bad ʃitting here alone. -- The
 ------  look'd too dismal for me to day; --
nay, I thought my friend look'd unusually
grave at me; -- but ʃhe has not her Spirits
at Command; -- A Cloud, or a ʃight of the
Sun rules a Woman of Sense! -- You ʃhall
have the particulars of the Letter above
mention'd, firʃt time we meet. Mean
while, let me beg you'll lay your Commands
on me when you chooʃe I ʃhould attend you,
for, believe me, nothing but the fear of becoming


too troubleʃome & familiar, could keep me
out of your Houʃe. -- Mr:  ------  is
juʃt come in to ʃit with me; ʃo with
better ʃpirits, I wiʃh my dear Miʃs Hami --- [3]
& her kind mama -- Good Night --
                                                         Your affecte: friend
                                                         [J.]  ------ [4]


A few of ye Letters written to me by John Hope Esqr[5]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. Wording often used of the biblical punishment of Cain (cf. Genesis 4.12 and 4.14).
 2. This word is partly missing because the signature on the reverse has been cut away.
 3. Probably Hamilton
 4. Probably H for Hope.
 5. This line is written upside down at the bottom of p.2.

Normalised Text


      I received a Letter a few days ago, my
dear Miss Hamilton, that has made me
appear to myself like a Wanderer on the
face of the Earth. -- I have been intending
 these two days to move my Lodgings; --
but I cannot have the Resolution
to go into such a solitary House. --
I will do it however tomorrow, for I am
almost as bad sitting here alone. -- The
 ------  looked too dismal for me to day; --
nay, I thought my friend looked unusually
grave at me; -- but she has not her Spirits
at Command; -- A Cloud, or a sight of the
Sun rules a Woman of Sense! -- You shall
have the particulars of the Letter above
mentioned, first time we meet. Mean
while, let me beg you'll lay your Commands
on me when you choose I should attend you,
for, believe me, nothing but the fear of becoming


too troublesome & familiar, could keep me
out of your House. -- Mr:  ------  is
just come in to sit with me; so with
better spirits, I wish my dear Miss Hami --- 
& her kind mama -- Good Night --
                                                         Your affectionate friend
                                                         John  ------ 


(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. Wording often used of the biblical punishment of Cain (cf. Genesis 4.12 and 4.14).
 2. This word is partly missing because the signature on the reverse has been cut away.
 3. Probably Hamilton
 4. Probably H for Hope.
 5. This line is written upside down at the bottom of p.2.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from John Hope to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/6/8/28

Correspondence Details

Sender: John Hope

Place sent: Northampton (certainty: medium)

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Northampton (certainty: medium)

Date sent: ?1773
when 1773 (precision: low)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from John Hope to Mary Hamilton. He writes that he is to move lodgings and informs Hamilton that when they meet he will give her the details of a letter he has received which has made him 'appear to myself like a Wanderer'.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 187 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited 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: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.

Transliterator: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 20 August 2020)

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: 4 January 2022

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