HAM/1/7/1/10
Copy of letter from Mary Hamilton to Jean Baptiste Louis Georges Seroux d'Agincourt
Diplomatic Text
10
Clarges Street Piccadilly Janry. 17. 1784
Yes my good Friend I receiv'd your Letter from Albano
and you will I fear give me little credit; both for saying how much
I was delighted with its contents, & what satisfaction it gave me
again to have accounts from one for whom I retain the most
lively esteem -- I could give a thousand reasons why I have not
written to you sooner, I will not stop to dwell on those reasons, but
proceed to give you that intelligence you require, because I know you
too well not to be certain that your wishing to be inform'd of any thing
that relates to me proceeds from (what must be so agreable to me)
your kind Solicitude for my happineʃs. Before I can begin my
little narrative, I must tell you how much I was pleased with
the last kind letter you sent me by my Uncle Sir William Hamilton
with the ingenious Specimens of engraving which I shall prize,
because done by your hand -- I must also inform you that my
Uncle & I have talked much of you, what he has said to me
on this Subject has made me feel happy that I poʃseʃs the friend-
-ship of one who is so valuable a member of Society: & may
I add? poʃseʃsing Sentiments I so entirely approve
Poor Lady Hamilton! -- Sir William has shewn me
letters which he found after her death, addreʃsed to himself, which
have affected me exceedingly & made me, if poʃsible, still more
Sensible of her worth.
The alteration in my Situation requires some Explana-
-tion to an absent friend, if You find my letter too long, remember
'tis in compliance with your desire that I enter into a particular
detail of what concerns me. I was not educated with a view
of living in a Court, and had not, consequently, every advantage
which
which that brilliant & exposed station required -- I had seen very little
of the great World & my Father who had seen much of it had given
me no favourable impreʃsions. After his death my time & thoughts
were wholly devoted to my mother, who's ill health required every
tender attention from an only Child. Some dear friends of mine
who's partiality thought me equal to the important task of Aʃsisting
in the Government of the Royal Children, and as the Queen was
looking out for a third lady to be at the head of that establishment,
they spoke of me -- as my family was well known, the Queen soon
gain'd the intelligence she required concerning me -- all this was
the work of three or four days & without my knowledge; it was then
proposed to my Mother & me, & my friends urged me warmly to
accept the offer. I took no part in the Affair but resolved to do
whatever appear'd Agreable to my Mother, who was prevailed upon
to desire me to accept the honor -- in leʃs than a week I found myself
in a Situation I had never had the most distant Idea of -- I endeavour'd
to fulfil my duty to the best of my Abilities & had the satisfaction of
being approved of -- I experienced great goodneʃs & attention from her
Majesty & distinctions which were not common -- I soon found however
that a constant exertion & a life of fatigue I had not been accustom'd to
affected my health, which tho' naturally good, was by no means equal
to -- it required a stronger constitution than I was bleʃsed with -- I had
not time to poʃseʃs my own mind, my health & Spirits suffer'd very
much from leading a life of constant restraint, I felt myself
unequal to it & regretted my loʃs of liberty -- the Situation became
irksome & I had few Opportunities of enjoying the Society of
many most dear & valuable friends -- for it was totally inconsistent
with the place I was in to ask permiʃsion to live so much as I wish'd
with those persons whom I loved. I therefore took the resolution to entreat
her
her Majesty to allow me to retire from Court -- She was graciously
pleased to write me a most Affectionate letter and desire that I would
not quit her family, & attributed my request to the effect of low
Spirits, -- You may imagine that my Affection for the Queen
would not suffer me to preʃs any thing in Opposition to her
wishes & I promised to remain some time longer, I continued
near two Years after this, & then again, from those Motives
I mention'd before, & others which it would not be proper
for me to mention, I warmly preʃsed for leave to retire
& as I made a point of it Obtain'd my wish. In my next, if
You desire it I will tell you in what manner I am settled,
& every other circumstance which to a friend may be
interesting. Adieu let me hear from you very soon & I
Promise not to delay answering Your letter -- tell me
every thing which relates to Yourself, for believe me, You
have not a more Sincere friend. than[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Clarges Street Piccadilly January 17. 1784
Yes my good Friend I received your Letter from Albano
and you will I fear give me little credit; both for saying how much
I was delighted with its contents, & what satisfaction it gave me
again to have accounts from one for whom I retain the most
lively esteem -- I could give a thousand reasons why I have not
written to you sooner, I will not stop to dwell on those reasons, but
proceed to give you that intelligence you require, because I know you
too well not to be certain that your wishing to be informed of any thing
that relates to me proceeds from (what must be so agreeable to me)
your kind Solicitude for my happiness. Before I can begin my
little narrative, I must tell you how much I was pleased with
the last kind letter you sent me by my Uncle Sir William Hamilton
with the ingenious Specimens of engraving which I shall prize,
because done by your hand -- I must also inform you that my
Uncle & I have talked much of you, what he has said to me
on this Subject has made me feel happy that I possess the friendship
of one who is so valuable a member of Society: & may
I add? possessing Sentiments I so entirely approve
Poor Lady Hamilton! -- Sir William has shown me
letters which he found after her death, addressed to himself, which
have affected me exceedingly & made me, if possible, still more
Sensible of her worth.
The alteration in my Situation requires some Explanation
to an absent friend, if You find my letter too long, remember
'tis in compliance with your desire that I enter into a particular
detail of what concerns me. I was not educated with a view
of living in a Court, and had not, consequently, every advantage
which that brilliant & exposed station required -- I had seen very little
of the great World & my Father who had seen much of it had given
me no favourable impressions. After his death my time & thoughts
were wholly devoted to my mother, who's ill health required every
tender attention from an only Child. Some dear friends of mine
who's partiality thought me equal to the important task of Assisting
in the Government of the Royal Children, and as the Queen was
looking out for a third lady to be at the head of that establishment,
they spoke of me -- as my family was well known, the Queen soon
gained the intelligence she required concerning me -- all this was
the work of three or four days & without my knowledge; it was then
proposed to my Mother & me, & my friends urged me warmly to
accept the offer. I took no part in the Affair but resolved to do
whatever appeared Agreeable to my Mother, who was prevailed upon
to desire me to accept the honour -- in less than a week I found myself
in a Situation I had never had the most distant Idea of -- I endeavoured
to fulfil my duty to the best of my Abilities & had the satisfaction of
being approved of -- I experienced great goodness & attention from her
Majesty & distinctions which were not common -- I soon found however
that a constant exertion & a life of fatigue I had not been accustomed to
affected my health, which though naturally good, was by no means equal
to -- it required a stronger constitution than I was blessed with -- I had
not time to possess my own mind, my health & Spirits suffered very
much from leading a life of constant restraint, I felt myself
unequal to it & regretted my loss of liberty -- the Situation became
irksome & I had few Opportunities of enjoying the Society of
many most dear & valuable friends -- for it was totally inconsistent
with the place I was in to ask permission to live so much as I wished
with those persons whom I loved. I therefore took the resolution to entreat
her Majesty to allow me to retire from Court -- She was graciously
pleased to write me a most Affectionate letter and desire that I would
not quit her family, & attributed my request to the effect of low
Spirits, -- You may imagine that my Affection for the Queen
would not suffer me to press any thing in Opposition to her
wishes & I promised to remain some time longer, I continued
near two Years after this, & then again, from those Motives
I mentioned before, & others which it would not be proper
for me to mention, I warmly pressed for leave to retire
& as I made a point of it Obtained my wish. In my next, if
You desire it I will tell you in what manner I am settled,
& every other circumstance which to a friend may be
interesting. Adieu let me hear from you very soon & I
Promise not to delay answering Your letter -- tell me
every thing which relates to Yourself, for believe me, You
have not a more Sincere friend. than
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: Copy of letter from Mary Hamilton to Jean Baptiste Louis Georges Seroux d'Agincourt
Shelfmark: HAM/1/7/1/10
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: London
Addressee: Jean Baptiste Louis Georges Seroux d'Agincourt
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 17 January 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Unsigned copy of a letter from Mary Hamilton to
[Jean Baptiste Louis Georges Seroux d'Agincourt]. She assures him that
she received his letter from Albano and that she was delighted to hear
from him and is very lucky to have such a friend. She tells him that she
often speaks about him with her uncle, William Hamilton, through whom he
has sent a letter to her, and that she will treasure the engravings he
has sent to her. She also refers to letters from Lady Hamilton addressed
to her uncle which he found shortly after her death that have improved
Hamilton's opinion of her. She takes the opportunity to explain the
change in her situation to D’Agincourt, explaining that she was not fully
educated to a life living in Court and was therefore, she feels, at a
slight disadvantage. Her father, who was very well travelled, did not
encourage her to see the world and after his death, her mother needed
constant attention due to her ill health. She explains that the role of
Governing the Royal Children came about very quickly, with friends
arranging things almost entirely unbeknownst to her. With her mother
behind the arrangement, she accepted the position and found herself in a
role of which she had no experience or preconceptions. Although she was
treated very well by the Queen, she found the role exhausting and this,
in turn affected her health. She missed her life of freedom and spending
time with her loved ones and asked the Queen’s permission to retire from
Court. She stayed on, out of duty to the family, for two more years and
then eventually retired completely.
Dated at Clarges Street [London].
Original reference No. 10.
Length: 1 sheet, 857 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 15 March 2021)
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: 17 December 2021