Diplomatic Text
My dear Miranda --
I owe you a Letter, but I am
not so idle as to wan need that consideration,
& I love you so sincerely that I could write to you
at all times with pleasure -- I was happy to see a
few lines of Yours last Sunday & I hope we shall
have more before we leave Mapledurham.
We had the pleasure of meeting my dear Fanny
well -- & of finding all our friends wellso, little
George very much improved he looks quite robust
& healthy & is fat & lively enough, he is really a
very pretty fellow, much more resembles Pappa
than Mamma.
I long to hear of Mrs. Hamilton, she promised
her maid should write, but has not yet given
us any account. I am going to write to Mrs:
Glover & will beg of her to infor tell me how
your Mamma does: I know she sees her frequently
I wish we had not been absent from her just
at present -- I am in hopes we shall find her
very much amended;
It gave me, my dear, great pleasure to see you
in such good spirits in James Street
I expect to see you at St: James's quite
au fait en tout. I expect that you will
let me breakfast with you; often -- & so
let me at least begin some happy days, in the
Winter --
What an alteration must a Year probably
make to me -- I shall see our Caterina settled
within that time, & by that time, I shall
be certain whether she will be happier than
with us -- I think she will be so -- our
way through this life is neceʃsarily perplexed
& our supports, are weak, & few -- the married
state, combining the interests & strength of two
in one, gives aʃsurance & comfort to both --
I agree with you that Caterina will still be
yours and mine it is not poʃsible that you
should lose her. I think I cannot lose her.
We will derive new happineʃs from hers.
I imagine you have seen, -- or will soon see
our dear Leonidas -- he loves you -- with all
the affection you can desire, & with all
the esteem you deserve -- this I cannot estimate.
He has a great share in my Heart, there
are but a few of whom I can say this
You forgot to send me Virgil -- & I minded
your not remembering it more then the loʃs
of the Entertainment -- but I have got the
Adventurer which I am agreeably entertained
with. What do you read? -- I know your
reading is often of the serious kind.
We are happy here -- we walk or ride every
day -- I take delight in long Walks through
Woods -- & Vales -- & I think no Hill too steep
to climb which rewards me with a view --
here are Scenes, worthy any Pencil, this is
indeed one of the most beautiful Countries
I have seen. I wish you were with me
to give me your Sentiments of it.
My Sister Barnard sends her best Compts.
to you. Miʃs B hers -- Bell her Love,
Mr. Barnard j unites with them. I am
my dear Miranda
always the Same --
& Yours.
A C
Maple-durham
Oct. 28th -- 1778
To
Miʃs Hamilton
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
My dear Miranda --
I owe you a Letter, but I am
not so idle as to need that consideration,
& I love you so sincerely that I could write to you
at all times with pleasure -- I was happy to see a
few lines of Yours last Sunday & I hope we shall
have more before we leave Mapledurham.
We had the pleasure of meeting my dear Fanny
well -- & of finding all our friends so, little
George very much improved he looks quite robust
& healthy & is fat & lively enough, he is really a
very pretty fellow, much more resembles Pappa
than Mamma.
I long to hear of Mrs. Hamilton, she promised
her maid should write, but has not yet given
us any account. I am going to write to Mrs:
Glover & will beg of her to tell me how
your Mamma does: I know she sees her frequently
I wish we had not been absent from her just
at present -- I am in hopes we shall find her
very much amended;
It gave me, my dear, great pleasure to see you
in such good spirits in James Street
I expect to see you at St: James's quite
au fait en tout. I expect that you will
let me breakfast with you; often -- & so
let me at least begin some happy days, in the
Winter --
What an alteration must a Year probably
make to me -- I shall see our Caterina settled
within that time, & by that time, I shall
be certain whether she will be happier than
with us -- I think she will be so -- our
way through this life is necessarily perplexed
& our supports, are weak, & few -- the married
state, combining the interests & strength of two
in one, gives assurance & comfort to both --
I agree with you that Caterina will still be
yours and mine it is not possible that you
should lose her. I think I cannot lose her.
We will derive new happiness from hers.
I imagine you have seen, -- or will soon see
our dear Leonidas -- he loves you -- with all
the affection you can desire, & with all
the esteem you deserve -- this I cannot estimate.
He has a great share in my Heart, there
are but few of whom I can say this
You forgot to send me Virgil -- & I minded
your not remembering it more then the loss
of the Entertainment -- but I have got the
Adventurer which I am agreeably entertained
with. What do you read? -- I know your
reading is often of the serious kind.
We are happy here -- we walk or ride every
day -- I take delight in long Walks through
Woods -- & Vales -- & I think no Hill too steep
to climb which rewards me with a view --
here are Scenes, worthy any Pencil, this is
indeed one of the most beautiful Countries
I have seen. I wish you were with me
to give me your Sentiments of it.
My Sister Barnard sends her best Compliments
to you. Miss Barnard hers -- Bell her Love,
Mr. Barnard unites with them. I am
my dear Miranda
always the Same --
& Yours.
Anna Clarke
Maple-durham
October 28th -- 1778
To
Miss Hamilton
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 Anna Maria Clarke to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/1/7
Correspondence Details
Sender: Anna Maria Clarke
Place sent: Mapledurham
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Kew (certainty: low)
Date sent: 28 October 1778
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Anna Maria Clarke to Mary Hamilton. She writes on the marriage of her sister Caterina, who even in the married state 'will still be yours & mine'. Rather than losing her they should view her marriage as a way they can gain 'new happiness from hers'. Clarke also writes on Mr Glover, on Hamilton's mother and on her wish of sharing the lovely countryside with Hamilton.
Original reference No. 4.
Length: 1 sheet, 540 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2014/15 and 2015/16 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Donald Alasdair Morrison, undergraduate student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Isabelle Harris, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted November 2014)
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