Diplomatic Text
[1]
As it is impoʃsible for you to doubt
the sincerity of my affection, so you may
judge, when you have read this, what are
my present painful sensations -- My
friendship for you is as great as ever filled a
human breast, & I am going to give you
a proof of that friendship; & to show you
also the confidence I have in yours I
hazard telling you such things as will give
pain without apprehending any diminution
of your love towards me; As your friend, your
true friend I look upon it as my duty to
inform you yt. I think yo. shld. not pay Mr ——
those friendly & particular attentions you
have so long done. I well know how pure
yr. mind is, but my beloved friend the
world is not liberally just, -- how shall I
proceed, yet my heart tells me I ought.
Your Servants may remark your being so
often alone & so frequently alone with this
young man, sitting up reading together when
your Husband & Children are retired forf
the Eveg-, his always sitting being seated
next to you -- Yor. having been so frequently
attended by him without your Son, to whom
he belongs, being of ye. party &c &c. They may
say that you are attached to each other -- You
are my friend too amiable & too young, &
alas! too often apparently unhappy -- this
will strengthen conjecture & give weight to
calumny -- let me by our former & present
friendship conjure you to treat this
young man with more distant civility --
It is absolutely neceʃsary that you should
do so. Never more accept from him those
particular attentions, wch. may & perhaps
have been noticed by others. Never my
beloved friend accept of his company
when your Husband or children are not
pre
present -- Adieu I have acquitted myself
of a painfull task -- a task imposed by
love & friendship -- I cannot bear
that you should notice to me the
contents of this paper -- accept of it
my much esteemed & valued friend
as the purest offering offering
offering of a real affection
Mry. H——
1st. June 1784
By
Mrs Carter's advice & approbation who said --
Though you may lose your friend it is
your duty to try to save her.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The intended recipient of this letter is almost certainly Lady Mary Wake. In her diary entries for 1 and 3 June 1784 (HAM/2/10) Hamilton refers to a number of conversations she has had with both Mrs Carter and Lady Dartrey about Lady Wake on those dates. The young man referred to is probably Thomas Catton, tutor to the Wakes' eldest son William (i.e. the person 'to whom he more properly belongs'). Mr Catton appears frequently at family dinners and outings throughout Hamilton's diaries for 1783 and 1784. The absence of a salutation at the top of the letter does not necessarily indicate that there are missing sheets, but rather suggests discretion on Hamilton's part in avoiding committing the recipient's name to paper. This, along with the gentleman's name being left blank, suggests that this note is a copy or draft. Lady Wake's reply (if indeed she wrote one) has not been found, but on Thursday 3 June Hamilton records that she and Lady Wake had 'an hours interesting conversation' (HAM/2/10 p.115).
Normalised Text
As it is impossible for you to doubt
the sincerity of my affection, so you may
judge, when you have read this, what are
my present painful sensations -- My
friendship for you is as great as ever filled a
human breast, & I am going to give you
a proof of that friendship; & to show you
also the confidence I have in yours I
hazard telling you such things as will give
pain without apprehending any diminution
of your love towards me; As your friend, your
true friend I look upon it as my duty to
inform you that I think you should not pay Mr Catton
those friendly & particular attentions you
have so long done. I well know how pure
your mind is, but my beloved friend the
world is not liberally just, -- how shall I
proceed, yet my heart tells me I ought.
Your Servants may remark your being so
so frequently alone with this
young man, sitting up reading together when
your Husband & Children are retired of
the Evening, his always being seated
next to you -- Your having been so frequently
attended by him without your Son, to whom
he belongs, being of the party &c &c. They may
say that you are attached to each other -- You
are my friend too amiable & too young, &
alas! too often apparently unhappy -- this
will strengthen conjecture & give weight to
calumny -- let me by our former & present
friendship conjure you to treat this
young man with more distant civility --
It is absolutely necessary that you should
do so. Never more accept from him those
particular attentions, which may & perhaps
have been noticed by others. Never my
beloved friend accept of his company
when your Husband or children are not
present -- Adieu I have acquitted myself
of a painful task -- a task imposed by
love & friendship -- I cannot bear
that you should notice to me the
contents of this paper -- accept of it
my much esteemed & valued friend
as the purest
offering of a real affection
Mary Hamilton
1st. June 1784
By
Mrs Carter's advice & approbation who said --
Though you may lose your friend it is
your duty to try to save her.
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 Mary Hamilton to Lady Mary Wake (née Fenton)
Shelfmark: HAM/1/9/66
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Lady Mary Wake (née Fenton)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 1 June 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter written by Mary Hamilton to Lady Wake (who is not named), in
which she gives advice about her conduct, as she often sits alone reading
with a 'young man' [Thomas Catton?], and that this man often sits next to her and frequently
attends her. Hamilton assures her friend of her affection for her.
Length: 1 sheet, 373 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 16 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: 1 September 2023