Diplomatic Text
1798
My dear Mrs Dickenson
I have been daily in expectation
of receiving a letter from you, according to your kind
promise, as your favor is not arrived I cannot
at this season, refrain from writing to wish
yourself and Family all happineʃs; and that
each succeeding year may bring you those bleʃs=
=ings which are in store for those so worthy
of them.
What a satisfaction it is to have the means
of corresponding with our Friends when at
a distance and I am so perfectly convinced of your --
levity that I may without fear of criticism
spoil a sheet of paper, in covering it with
my silly prose. You said you had abundance
of news to communicate you must therefore
suppose my curiosity is agog to hear it. My
hopes keep pace with my wishes that
you will soon let me know how this very
cold weather agrees with yourself and dear
Louisa, it came on so suddenly with us
that yesterday that very few hackney Coach=
=es were to[2] had owing to the Coachmen not
having been able to have their horses proper
lier shod for the frost and tho' by mere chance
we got one to take us to Mr Kinderley's (where
we dined) we could not get one to take us
home at night we were therefore obli=
ged to sleep there, and breakfasted with them
this morning. we met a very agreable
party one of whom an intimate
friend of Mrs Kinderley's has invited us
to spend Twelfth night with her.
Who do you think of all others ------------ paid us
a visit last week? -- Mr Peckw[e]ll Who came
with Mr dear J Kidd an old friend of Mrs Bates's,
Mrs Croasdale and Mrs Boulton have called
this morning. Mrs C has given us an invita
tion For Friday evening, but I rather we shall not
accept it on account of the weather.
Mrs Bates and Sisters beg to be kindly remem=
bered to yourself Mr D and Louisa with my
best love to your agreable fireside
Believe me Dear Mrs Dickenson
Yours most affectionately
M. J. Jackson
Pray remember me to Mrs de Salis and Mrs
Blosset, Mrs Grant, Hannah, Mrs Ashwell and
Miss Godwin and all enquiring Friends
[3]
[4]
decbr 26
98[5]
To
Mrs Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedforshire
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Due to a tear in the top-right corner of the page, the top right of p.2 col. 2 can be seen. The text that can be seen in the image therefore is transcribed in its place on p.2, and has not been duplicated here.
2. Presumably be was omitted in error.
3. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
4. Remains of a stamp, in black ink.
5. This annotation is written vertically.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
1798
My dear Mrs Dickenson
I have been daily in expectation
of receiving a letter from you, according to your kind
promise, as your favour is not arrived I cannot
at this season, refrain from writing to wish
yourself and Family all happiness; and that
each succeeding year may bring you those blessing
which are in store for those so worthy
of them.
What a satisfaction it is to have the means
of corresponding with our Friends when at
a distance and I am so perfectly convinced of your --
levity that I may without fear of criticism
spoil a sheet of paper, in covering it with
my silly prose. You said you had abundance
of news to communicate you must therefore
suppose my curiosity is agog to hear it. My
hopes keep pace with my wishes that
you will soon let me know how this very
cold weather agrees with yourself and dear
Louisa, it came on so suddenly with us
that yesterday very few hackney Coaches
were to had owing to the Coachmen not
having been able to have their horses properlier
shod for the frost and though by mere chance
we got one to take us to Mr Kinderley's (where
we dined) we could not get one to take us
home at night we were therefore obliged
to sleep there, and breakfasted with them
this morning. we met a very agreeable
party one of whom an intimate
friend of Mrs Kinderley's has invited us
to spend Twelfth night with her.
Who do you think of all others paid us
a visit last week? -- Mr Peckwell Who came
with Mr J Kidd an old friend of Mrs Bates's,
Mrs Croasdale and Mrs Boulton have called
this morning. Mrs Croasdale has given us an invitation
For Friday evening, but I rather we shall not
accept it on account of the weather.
Mrs Bates and Sisters beg to be kindly remembered
to yourself Mr Dickenson and Louisa with my
best love to your agreeable fireside
Believe me Dear Mrs Dickenson
Yours most affectionately
Mary Johanna Jackson
Pray remember me to Mrs de Salis and Mrs
Blosset, Mrs Grant, Hannah, Mrs Ashwell and
Miss Godwin and all enquiring Friends
To
Mrs Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedforshire
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 Jackson to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/10/2/8
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Johanna Jackson
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 26 December 1798
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary J. Jackson to Mary Hamilton. Jackson wishes her the
happiness of the season, conveys with general news of the cold weather,
and expresses her pleasure in corresponding with her friends. Jackson
notes that the change in the weather has come on so suddenly that the
coach drivers had not time to get their horses properly shoed for the
frost and consequently there were few Hackney Coaches available the
previous day. It was mere chance that she was able to get one to take her
to an engagement but she was unable to get one to return home and was
obliged to stay the night at Mrs Kinderley's [where she had dined].
Jackson ends her letter in asking Hamilton to remember her to a list of
their friends including Miss Blosset and Mrs De Salis.
Dated at Cumberland Street [London].
Original reference No. 9.
Length: 1 sheet, 378 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 22 September 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