Diplomatic Text
Sunday decbr. 14th. 1800
Many Thanks to you my dearest Mrs Dickenson for yr kind & Affectionate
Note. & the pretty little bird you sent with it -- I have received a
Letter this morning from my beloved Sister, who writes that she has received
a Charming Letter from her now dear Dicky -- that she fears she shall be
tempted to Answer it too soon. but perhaps it may not happen in this
Century -- I meant to trouble you with a line to beg a very great favor
of you -- that you will let my Letters come to your House. & that you will
be so good to give a StrScratch[1] over Wing -- Leighton Buzzard.[2] &
direct them at the Honble John Peachy's NevsellsNewsells,[3] Royston -- as soon
as I can find a Member.[4] I will write to you my dear friend. for indeed
the more we know you both, the more we (what shall I write) delight
in yr friendship -- Mr Dickenson will have his Present as soon as Harriet
can procure it. & I needed not to to put H: in mind of a Purse for Lou
who I trust in God will amply recompense the virtuous care you take of
her Education, her Principles she inherits -- or she wd be very Unlucky --
I leave this place on Tuesday morning. I am pretty well in Health. but God
only knows whathow the change from Solitude. to Society, may affect my disorder'd
Spirrits -- I am sure of kindneʃs & support, in case of any new trials -- perhaps
I have been a great fool in keeping poor Anne, & most likely every body thinks
so. but I could not resist such apparent Heartfelt Greif -- United with my own
partiality to the Object -- be so good also to suffer my letter directed to Mrs Jones
to be sent to yr House. I leave orders with Baily to pay for my letters. kind love. concludes me
ever & Affcly yrs DBloʃset.
Leighton House
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘A rough or irregular mark made by a pencil, paint-brush, etc.; hence, a slight sketch, a hasty scrawl’ (OED s.v. scratch n. 4a. Accessed 19-02-2020).
2. That is, to redirect her letters.
3. Newsells Park, a country house and estate at Barkway in Hertfordshire, was the home of the Jennings family, where John Peachey moved after marrying Hester Elizabeth Jennings on 19 January 1784.
4. That is, of Parliament. Blosset means that she will write to Hamilton once she finds an MP to frank her letter, so that it can be posted free of charge.
5. Remains of a seal or gummed wafer.
Normalised Text
Sunday december 14th. 1800
Many Thanks to you my dearest Mrs Dickenson for your kind & Affectionate
Note. & the pretty little bird you sent with it -- I have received a
Letter this morning from my beloved Sister, who writes that she has received
a Charming Letter from her now dear Dicky -- that she fears she shall be
tempted to Answer it too soon. but perhaps it may not happen in this
Century -- I meant to trouble you with a line to beg a very great favour
of you -- that you will let my Letters come to your House. & that you will
be so good to give a Scratch over Wing -- Leighton Buzzard. &
direct them at the Honourable John Peachy's Newsells, Royston -- as soon
as I can find a Member. I will write to you my dear friend. for indeed
the more we know you both, the more we (what shall I write) delight
in your friendship -- Mr Dickenson will have his Present as soon as Harriet
can procure it. & I needed not to to put Harriet in mind of a Purse for Louisa
who I trust in God will amply recompense the virtuous care you take of
her Education, her Principles she inherits -- or she would be very Unlucky --
I leave this place on Tuesday morning. I am pretty well in Health. but God
only knows how the change from Solitude. to Society, may affect my disordered
Spirits -- I am sure of kindness & support, in case of any new trials -- perhaps
I have been a great fool in keeping poor Anne, & most likely every body thinks
so. but I could not resist such apparent Heartfelt Grief -- United with my own
partiality to the Object -- be so good also to suffer my letter directed to Mrs Jones
to be sent to your House. I leave orders with Baily to pay for my letters. kind love. concludes me
ever & Affectionately yours Dorothy Blosset.
Leighton House
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 Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/8/2/21
Correspondence Details
Sender: Dorothy Blosset
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 14 December 1800
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Dorothy Blosset to Mary Hamilton. She writes of her health
and of her sister, who writes that she too has received a 'charming
letter from her now dear Dicky'.
Length: 1 sheet, 332 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 9 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: 2 November 2021