Diplomatic Text
Miʃs Gunning
Horton Monday 7th July.
1783
▼
My dear Friend, what are you about -- are you dead?
out of Town? has my letter to Sir Wm Wake -- directd
as we had agreed . fallen into his hands and never
reached yours?[1] I wrote yesterday sev'Night[2], and no
answer have I yet received, or the smallest intimation
of your existence -- Before this time I expected to
have had the pleasure & satisfaction of embracing
you -- but I am now informed that Sir Wm. has
bought a House in Eʃsex and has send for his Cows
sheep &c from Courteen hall to stock the grounds
on this new purchase -- is it there they mean to
spend the summer? -- and are you to remain with
them -- ? this is an admirable sheme, and will
suit me amazingly -- I should be glad tho', if you
are alive, to hear it from yourself -- and to be told
something of your intentions -- I send you the pattern
of a Border, desiring you buy me 17 Yds of it at Hodgkins
immediatly, pray do this -- I gave you another
commiʃsion -- but if you do not come, you cannot
execute it --
I am almost as ill as ever -- my pain returned on
Saturday -- God's will be done -- I am born to suffer.
what a dreadful Storm of Thunder we had on Wednesdy
I was thoroughly terrified -- it burst in our shrubbery
think how we must have been Shook -- it was indeed
tremendous --
my dear Brother has left us for sometime -- Mr
Bridgeman,[3] who has been here this week, took him
h yesterday, to Weston[4] -- we feel quite melancholy
& want you of all things --
on Saturday we drove to Lady Harriett Vernons
and availed ourselves of of the permiʃsion Sir Wm Wake
was so good as to give us, in paʃsing thro' his grounds
I inquired, when he was expected down,but they
new nothing of his coming -- The weather is
heavenly -- the clouds have every day threatened an
alteration in it, & the Barometer aʃsures us of a
long continuance of rain, but in the meantime
it is fine and, I we enjoy ourselves -- I am going
this Evening to Mrs Jekylls -- I have so Many
visits hanging over me, that I feel quite oppreʃsed
with them -- adieu -- Bell & I go on very well together
in a negative way -- write to me immediatly &
be aʃsured that I am toujours de même.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Hamilton was staying at Thames Ditton with Mrs Walsingham during this period and only returned to Clarges Street on 7 July 1783. See Hamilton's diary HAM/2/3/1 for the period.
2. This means ‘exactly a week before yesterday’ (OED s.v. sennight, n., Phrases, ‘In expressions serving to specify a date’, a. Accessed 21-10-2022).
3. Possibly Henry Bridgeman, 1st Baron Bradford (1725-1800), father of George William Gunning's wife Elizabeth Diana Bridgeman (1764-1810).
4. Present-day Weston-under-Lizard in Staffordshire.
5. The address is written vertically in the middle of the page.
Normalised Text
Monday 7th July.
1783
▼
My dear Friend, what are you about -- are you dead?
out of Town? has my letter to Sir William Wake -- directed
as we had agreed . fallen into his hands and never
reached yours? I wrote yesterday sennight, and no
answer have I yet received, or the smallest intimation
of your existence -- Before this time I expected to
have had the pleasure & satisfaction of embracing
you -- but I am now informed that Sir William has
bought a House in Essex and has send for his Cows
sheep &c from Courteen hall to stock the grounds
on this new purchase -- is it there they mean to
spend the summer? -- and are you to remain with
them -- ? this is an admirable scheme, and will
suit me amazingly -- I should be glad though, if you
are alive, to hear it from yourself -- and to be told
something of your intentions -- I send you the pattern
of a Border, desiring you buy me 17 Yards of it at Hodgkins
immediately, pray do this -- I gave you another
commission -- but if you do not come, you cannot
execute it --
I am almost as ill as ever -- my pain returned on
Saturday -- God's will be done -- I am born to suffer.
what a dreadful Storm of Thunder we had on Wednesday
I was thoroughly terrified -- it burst in our shrubbery
think how we must have been Shaken -- it was indeed
tremendous --
my dear Brother has left us for sometime -- Mr
Bridgeman, who has been here this week, took him
yesterday, to Weston -- we feel quite melancholy
& want you of all things --
on Saturday we drove to Lady Harriett Vernons
and availed ourselves of of the permission Sir William Wake
was so good as to give us, in passing through his grounds
I inquired, when he was expected down,but they
knew nothing of his coming -- The weather is
heavenly -- the clouds have every day threatened an
alteration in it, & the Barometer assures us of a
long continuance of rain, but in the meantime
it is fine and, we enjoy ourselves -- I am going
this Evening to Mrs Jekylls -- I have so Many
visits hanging over me, that I feel quite oppressed
with them -- adieu -- Bell & I go on very well together
in a negative way -- write to me immediately &
be assured that I am toujours de même.
Miss Hamilton
No 27 Clarges Street
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 Charlotte Margaret Gunning to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/15/1/2
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: Horton, Northamptonshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 7 July 1783
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton. She asks Hamilton whether
she is dead or simply away from London. Gunning has agreed to direct her
letters to Sir William Wake and as not yet received a reply from Hamilton
and asks if the letters have fallen into Sir Wake's hands and not reached
her. She understands that Sir Wake has bought a house in Essex and wishes
to know if Hamilton intends to spend her Summer there with them. Gunning
sends Hamilton a pattern for a border and asks her to go to
Hodgkins
to purchase her the
material. She continues with general news of the weather and of friends,
writing that she has so many 'visits hanging over me, that I feel quite
pressed with them'.
Dated at Horton.
Length: 1 sheet, 405 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 5 October 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