Diplomatic Text
Windsor Oct: 5. 1787
Dear Madam
Having experienced so many instances
of your esteem & regard, I should feel myself highly blame=
=able, if I any longer delayed informing you of an event, which
I flatter myself will give you pleasure. I have at last
followed the example of several of my worthy friends, & entered
into the holy estate of Matrimony. The Lady I met with
at Bath at the time I saw you & Mr. Dickinson. She is a very
pleasing sensible young woman, the only child of a man of
large fortune in Suffolk, who like a true Miser more easily
parted with his Daughter than his money. He has indeed settled
his estate upon his Daughter to come to her at his death, but he
would give her nothing at her marriage : But as a pleasing com=
-panion, & not interest, was my object, I did not hesitate. We
were married in Devonshire about a month ago,[1] but arrived
here only on ye. 29th. time enough to pay my duty to the Princeʃs
Royal on her birthday.[2] As my Wife wishes to see some rela=
=tions in Norfolk, we shall not stay here above a few days
longer : we therefore receive no visits at present : I could
not however deny myself the pleasure of carrying my little
woman to your dear & valuable friend Mrs. Delaney, who
received us with that goodneʃs which so peculiarly distinguishes
her. She is in tolerable health : Miʃs Burney is perfectly
recovered. -- Matters at the Lodge go on very smoothly.
The Father & his two elder Sons are all upon good terms.
No establishment talked of for the eldest Daughter : the
third Daughter is perfectly restored. Miʃs Gold——y is in
so indifferent a state of health that she is obliged to quit her
station, at least for some time. The D. of Y. has
appointed General Budé his Secretary for Foreign affairs :
The K. has filled up three Rooms in the Castle in a most
noble style : The Cartoons of Raphael are removed from
Buckingham house,[3] & are the principal ornament: the
Rooms were opened for the first time on monday with a Ball
in honour of the Princess Royal. The entertainment was
truly Royal: the Supper was in St. Georges Hall.
I have seen nothing of the Ladies in the lower
Lodge.
As at this time I have a number of
Letters to write & to answer, my godod Mrs. Dickinson
would excuse me if I break off abruptly.
Have the goodneʃs to present my best Comp: t[o]
Mr. Dickinson, & beleive me
Dear madam
with great truth
Your sincere friend & faith[ful]
humble Servant
J Fisher
[4]
[5]
[8]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. John Fisher married Dorothea Freeston Scrivener on 6 September 1787.
2. This is 29 September.
3. The cartoons were first moved to Buckingham House in 1763, then to Windsor in 1787, and to Hampton Court in 1804.
4. The rest of the sheet is cut away. It is unclear whether any text has been lost.
5. The left-hand part of the sheet has been cut away, removing part of the address.
6. Smudged postmark in sepia ink, 'WINDSOR'.
7. A large figure 3, two lines high, has been written to the right of the address, denoting postage due.
8. Remains of a stamp indicating the date 5 October 1787.
Normalised Text
Windsor October 5.
Dear Madam
Having experienced so many instances
of your esteem & regard, I should feel myself highly blameable
, if I any longer delayed informing you of an event, which
I flatter myself will give you pleasure. I have at last
followed the example of several of my worthy friends, & entered
into the holy estate of Matrimony. The Lady I met with
at Bath at the time I saw you & Mr. Dickinson. She is a very
pleasing sensible young woman, the only child of a man of
large fortune in Suffolk, who like a true Miser more easily
parted with his Daughter than his money. He has indeed settled
his estate upon his Daughter to come to her at his death, but he
would give her nothing at her marriage : But as a pleasing companion
, & not interest, was my object, I did not hesitate. We
were married in Devonshire about a month ago, but arrived
here only on the 29th. time enough to pay my duty to the Princess
Royal on her birthday. As my Wife wishes to see some relations
in Norfolk, we shall not stay here above a few days
longer : we therefore receive no visits at present : I could
not however deny myself the pleasure of carrying my little
woman to your dear & valuable friend Mrs. Delaney, who
received us with that goodness which so peculiarly distinguishes
her. She is in tolerable health : Miss Burney is perfectly
recovered. -- Matters at the Lodge go on very smoothly.
The Father & his two elder Sons are all upon good terms.
No establishment talked of for the eldest Daughter : the
third Daughter is perfectly restored. Miss Goldsworthy is in
so indifferent a state of health that she is obliged to quit her
station, at least for some time. The Duke of York has
appointed General Budé his Secretary for Foreign affairs :
The King has filled up three Rooms in the Castle in a most
noble style : The Cartoons of Raphael are removed from
Buckingham house, & are the principal ornament: the
Rooms were opened for the first time on monday with a Ball
in honour of the Princess Royal. The entertainment was
truly Royal: the Supper was in St. Georges Hall.
I have seen nothing of the Ladies in the lower
Lodge.
As at this time I have a number of
Letters to write & to answer, my good Mrs. Dickinson
would excuse me if I break off abruptly.
Have the goodness to present my best Compliments to
Mr. Dickinson, & believe me
Dear madam
with great truth
Your sincere friend & faithful
humble Servant
John Fisher
at
Taxal near
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
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 John Fisher to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/7/6/18
Correspondence Details
Sender: John Fisher
Place sent: Windsor
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 5 October 1787
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from John Fisher to Mary Hamilton, relating to Fisher's marriage.
He writes that he has followed the 'example of several of my worthy
friends, [and] ventured into the holy state of matrimony'. He informs
Hamilton that his wife is the same lady that she met in Bath when she was
with Mr Dickenson and describes her as 'a very pleasing sensible young
woman, the only child of a man of large fortune in Suffolk, who like a
miser easily parted with his Daughter than his money'. His wife will have
her father's estate after his death but he would settle noting on her for
the marriage. He continues to note that as he wished to marry to gain
himself a 'pleasing companion' rather than for financial interest, he did
not hesitate. He has been married for a month and has returned to Windsor
recently and in time to pay his respects to the Princess Royal on her
birthday. Fisher and his wife will visit her relations in Norfolk shortly
but before they leave he could not deny himself the 'pleasure of carrying
my little woman to your dear & valuable friend Mrs Delany'. He writes
that Mrs Delany is well and that Frances Burney has also recovered her
health.
Fisher also updates Hamilton with news of the Royal Family. The Duke of
York has appointed a new Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the King has
restyled three rooms at Windsor in a 'most noble style', the cartoons by
Raphael have been removed from Buckingham House and there was to be a
Ball in honour of the Princess Royal.
Dated at Windsor.
Length: 1 sheet, 452 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 13 November 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: 2 November 2021