Diplomatic Text
Wherwell -- Nov -- 18 -- 1789 --
I am particularly desired by my Father & Mrs. Iremonger to expreʃs
their sincerest heart-felt Thanks to our good Friends Mr- & Mrs- Dickenson
for their solicitude about him, & kind proof of it in sending the Recipe,
which they have experienced to have been so happily efficacious. --
my Father was inclined to have Faith in it, & tried it immediately,
& has continued it ever since your Letters came, but we cannot think
with any present benefit yet. Indeed within this last fortnight my
Father has been much worse again, his Thigh is swollen to the size
of Two, & this came on suddenly even while He was in the continued
practice of a recumbent Posture, which He is now advised never to vary
except at his meals. -- He is dejected to a great degree, & has from
the very first of the accident been persuaded that at his time of life,
this confinement must terminate fatally. Yet no Disorder whatever
ensues, his appetite remains good, his Rhumatic Pains have been some time
leʃsened, & at times have totally ceased; but his size is very much reduced,
& his Countenance fallen. In short He certainly is in a very melancholy
affecting state, tho' not immediately alarming; and every Surgeon who has
been consulted, (and we have had all the advice the Country affords, & a
fresh man of Eminence very lately,) all declare, seperately, the same
decisive unanimous opinion that, in a great lenth of time, He will recover.
They none of them, have ever expreʃsed the least doubt of it. He very
much wishes on Mrs- Iremongers account, that He could be removed to
Town, that She might be in a warmer House & amongst her Friends;
but we do not at present see that it will be practicable. It would
be scarcely poʃsible to have him put into the Coach, & I very much
fear He could not bear the same Posture for even one Stage.
Poor dear Mrs- Iremonger as You will naturally imagine, is very
low, & to add to our Grievances, She has had a complaint in her Eyes
for several months, that has lately increased, is very troublesome to he[r],
& incapacitates her for any employment, & does not yield to any
Remedy that has been advised her. I read to Both, & do what I
can to alleviate, but indeed it is an afflicted House.
Catharine is quite lively & well, drinks Aʃses-milk, & is a little leʃs
Thin than She was. She sends her Love to Louisa, & would willingly
accept her challenge for a Game of Play, if she was within distance.
Think of your fine Friend Miʃs Shipley having staid at Lady Dashwood's
till this time, & been introduced by Her to Lady Warwick at Warwick Castle.
Cosi va il Mondo! -- I enclose you some lines which poʃsibly you
may not have seen, I have no occasion to trouble you to return them.
As my Uncle Lethr- goes between this & other Places, I had rather
you would not direct any thing under Cover to him, unleʃs you should
have any double or treble enclosures to send, & then an addreʃs to him
in Seymour Place will always be forwarded wherever He is, if He
is not to be found there. -- My Brother & all this House unite in
affectionate compliments to Mr- & Mrs- Dickenson, & I remain with great
Truth their Affectionate & Much obliged Friend & Servant
E. Iremonger
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Wherwell -- November -- 18 -- 1789 --
I am particularly desired by my Father & Mrs. Iremonger to express
their sincerest heart-felt Thanks to our good Friends Mr- & Mrs- Dickenson
for their solicitude about him, & kind proof of it in sending the Recipe,
which they have experienced to have been so happily efficacious. --
my Father was inclined to have Faith in it, & tried it immediately,
& has continued it ever since your Letters came, but we cannot think
with any present benefit yet. Indeed within this last fortnight my
Father has been much worse again, his Thigh is swollen to the size
of Two, & this came on suddenly even while He was in the continued
practice of a recumbent Posture, which He is now advised never to vary
except at his meals. -- He is dejected to a great degree, & has from
the very first of the accident been persuaded that at his time of life,
this confinement must terminate fatally. Yet no Disorder whatever
ensues, his appetite remains good, his Rheumatic Pains have been some time
lessened, & at times have totally ceased; but his size is very much reduced,
& his Countenance fallen. In short He certainly is in a very melancholy
affecting state, though not immediately alarming; and every Surgeon who has
been consulted, (and we have had all the advice the Country affords, & a
fresh man of Eminence very lately,) all declare, separately, the same
decisive unanimous opinion that, in a great length of time, He will recover.
They none of them, have ever expressed the least doubt of it. He very
much wishes on Mrs- Iremongers account, that He could be removed to
Town, that She might be in a warmer House & amongst her Friends;
but we do not at present see that it will be practicable. It would
be scarcely possible to have him put into the Coach, & I very much
fear He could not bear the same Posture for even one Stage.
Poor dear Mrs- Iremonger as You will naturally imagine, is very
low, & to add to our Grievances, She has had a complaint in her Eyes
for several months, that has lately increased, is very troublesome to her,
& incapacitates her for any employment, & does not yield to any
Remedy that has been advised her. I read to Both, & do what I
can to alleviate, but indeed it is an afflicted House.
Catharine is quite lively & well, drinks Asses-milk, & is a little less
Thin than She was. She sends her Love to Louisa, & would willingly
accept her challenge for a Game of Play, if she was within distance.
Think of your fine Friend Miss Shipley having stayed at Lady Dashwood's
till this time, & been introduced by Her to Lady Warwick at Warwick Castle.
Cosi va il Mondo! -- I enclose you some lines which possibly you
may not have seen, I have no occasion to trouble you to return them.
As my Uncle Lethieullier goes between this & other Places, I had rather
you would not direct any thing under Cover to him, unless you should
have any double or treble enclosures to send, & then an address to him
in Seymour Place will always be forwarded wherever He is, if He
is not to be found there. -- My Brother & all this House unite in
affectionate compliments to Mr- & Mrs- Dickenson, & I remain with great
Truth their Affectionate & Much obliged Friend & Servant
Elizabeth Iremonger
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letter from Elizabeth Iremonger to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/8/1/6
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Iremonger
Place sent: Wherwell
Addressee: Mary Hamilton and John Dickenson
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 18 November 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Iremonger to Mary Hamilton, relating to her father’s
health and to general news of family. Mr and Mrs Iremonger send Hamilton
their thanks for the recipe she had sent. Unfortunately it did not have
the desired effect of Mr Iremonger’s health which has been worse over the
past two weeks. His thigh has swelled to double its size. In ‘short he
certainly is in a very melancholy affecting state’. Each surgeon who has
examined him say the same which is that time is needed for his recovery.
She wishes he were in town and in a warmer house but he will be unable to
travel in a coach. Mrs Iremonger is as can be imagined anxious for Mr
Iremonger and is also suffering herself with an eye complaint.
Iremonger concludes her letter with news of her family and friends.
Dated at Whirwell [Andover].
Length: 1 sheet, 587 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 2 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