Diplomatic Text
My very dear Friend's letter which I received an hour
ago made me happier than I can expreʃs -- Had I
known how to direct to her I should not have waited
till now to have inquired after you and given you some
account of myself. Without delaying a Day longer
I avail myself of the neceʃsary information your
letter contains, to write to you, beginning with the
subject which gives me most pleasure to dwell upon,
your happineʃs -- The description you give of your
present situation, and the Characters of those amiable
People so nearly connected with you, breathes the
spirit of happineʃs and enjoyment -- Indeed my
dear you are particularly marked amongst the
fortunate, for however truly amiable was the object
of your choice, however truly he was that of your
affections, what a mere accident chance had
you to find minds consonant to his and your
own in the other part members of his Family --
you are so certainly among the very rare instances
where so many advantages are united that I
cannot help wondering when I think of you, &
thanking God most sincerely for having thus
fixed your happineʃs where it is so well deserved
& will be so gratefully enjoyed -- To give you any
regular account of myself since we parted, I must
begin it soon after that with my going to Town
on the 17th of August -- The Day after that Drawingroom
I went down to Ly Carlisle's who is at D. Place near
Windsor -- you know it -- I spent that fortnight betwēn
her and St Leonards, but chiefly at the last place --
after the Dr. of the 1st September I went for a few
Days to Richmond Park, & stayed the rest of the
three Weeks, till the Coronation, with Ly Carlisle --
we had Company in the House both the time before
and part of the last time, during which we made
several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land --
went to Staines, Clivden, Park Place near Henley
Genrl Conway's you know, & one of the finest I ever
saw -- we paʃsed some part of every Day on the Water
which was quite delightful, then the pleasantest
warks & drives into the Forest -- the latterend
of my visit tho' was what I should have enjoyed
the most, as I was left quite alone with Lady
Carlisle, but that my dear Bell was so unwell
that I could not be at a distance from her without
suffering infinitly from anxiety -- my own Health
however was perfectly good, and the exertions I
always make to keep up my spirits, prevented me
from receiving any other injury that that to my
feelings -- I came here on the 23d and had the
satisfaction of finding Bell infinitly better, come
down stairs, and free from some of her Complaints --
she still eats & sleeps little, but since I came her
spirits are much improved -- I shall take her away
with me on Wednesday, for a few Days to Town, &
then to pay some visits to our Friends.
Thank you a thousand times my very dear Friend
for all your expreʃsions of kinds & friendship, which
tho' perfectly uneceʃsary & superfluous to my convictio[n]
are still very pleasing & gratefully -- I should be
truly happy to see you, tho I do not want you
enough to make you leave your peaceful & happy
home -- I shall return here no more this year, m[y]
Father leaves this on the 31st and London on [the]
15th of November -- They mean to spend the ------
------------ in France, but where they have [not]
yet fixed -- There is a trial preparing for me --
a separation from my beloved Sister and best Friend
of six Months. It will [be] of use to her, that is
my comfort, or at least my hope -- When do you
think of coming to Town? I suppose no plan
of that kind is fixed -- I shall not be a fixture
in London till after Xmaʃs -- adieu my dear
pray return my love to Mr D -- not meaning
that I do not accept of it, but that I am quite
ready to pay him in kind -- I hope he is quite
well, Bell desires her love to you & would have
written had she been well -- my F's best Compts
&c to you both -- adieu your sincere & affec
CMG——
Octbr. 1785[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
My very dear Friend's letter which I received an hour
ago made me happier than I can express -- Had I
known how to direct to her I should not have waited
till now to have inquired after you and given you some
account of myself. Without delaying a Day longer
I avail myself of the necessary information your
letter contains, to write to you, beginning with the
subject which gives me most pleasure to dwell upon,
your happiness -- The description you give of your
present situation, and the Characters of those amiable
People so nearly connected with you, breathes the
spirit of happiness and enjoyment -- Indeed my
dear you are particularly marked amongst the
fortunate, for however truly amiable was the object
of your choice, however truly he was that of your
affections, what a mere chance had
you to find minds consonant to his and your
own in the other members of his Family --
you are so certainly among the very rare instances
where so many advantages are united that I
cannot help wondering when I think of you, &
thanking God most sincerely for having thus
fixed happiness where it is so well deserved
& will be so gratefully enjoyed -- To give you any
regular account of myself since we parted, I must
begin it soon after that with my going to Town
on the 17th of August -- The Day after that Drawingroom
I went down to Lady Carlisle's who is at D. Place near
Windsor -- you know it -- I spent that fortnight between
her and St Leonards, but chiefly at the last place --
after the Drawingroom of the 1st September I went for a few
Days to Richmond Park, & stayed the rest of the
three Weeks, till the Coronation, with Lady Carlisle --
we had Company in the House both the time before
and part of the last time, during which we made
several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land --
went to Staines, Clivden, Park Place near Henley
General Conway's you know, & one of the finest I ever
saw -- we passed some part of every Day on the Water
which was quite delightful, then the pleasantest
walks & drives into the Forest -- the latter end
of my visit though was what I should have enjoyed
the most, as I was left quite alone with Lady
Carlisle, but that my dear Bell was so unwell
that I could not be at a distance from her without
suffering infinitely from anxiety -- my own Health
however was perfectly good, and the exertions I
always make to keep up my spirits, prevented me
from receiving any other injury than that to my
feelings -- I came here on the 23d and had the
satisfaction of finding Bell infinitely better, come
down stairs, and free from some of her Complaints --
she still eats & sleeps little, but since I came her
spirits are much improved -- I shall take her away
with me on Wednesday, for a few Days to Town, &
then to pay some visits to our Friends.
Thank you a thousand times my very dear Friend
for all your expressions of kindness & friendship, which
though perfectly unnecessary & superfluous to my conviction
are still very pleasing & grateful -- I should be
truly happy to see you, though I do not want you
enough to make you leave your peaceful & happy
home -- I shall return here no more this year, my
Father leaves this on the 31st and London on the
15th of November -- They mean to spend the ------
in France, but where they have not
yet fixed -- There is a trial preparing for me --
a separation from my beloved Sister and best Friend
of six Months. It will be of use to her, that is
my comfort, or at least my hope -- When do you
think of coming to Town? I suppose no plan
of that kind is fixed -- I shall not be a fixture
in London till after Christmas -- adieu my dear
pray return my love to Mr Dickenson -- not meaning
that I do not accept of it, but that I am quite
ready to pay him in kind -- I hope he is quite
well, Bell desires her love to you & would have
written had she been well -- my Father's best Compliments
&c to you both -- adieu your sincere & affectionate
Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Mrs Dickenson
at Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
single Sheet
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/1/15/1/8
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: Horton, Northamptonshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 2 October 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton. The letter relates to visits made to friends, including Lady Carlisle, and contains news of her family. She expresses delight in receiving a letter from Hamilton which was full of the happiness of her newly married life with John Dickenson: 'you are so certainly among the very rare instances where so many advantages are united that I cannot help wondering when I think of you, & thanking God most sincerely for having thus fixed your happiness where it is so well deserved & will be so gratefully enjoyed'.
Gunning provides a detailed account of her activities since she and Hamilton were parted. In September she stayed at Richmond Park with Lady Carlisle [Margaret Caroline Howard, née Leveson-Gower (1753-1824), Countess of Carlisle]; 'we had Company in the House [...] during which we made several very pleasant parties both by Water & Land – went to Staines, Cliveden, Park Place near Henley Gen[e]r[a]l Conway's'. She also discusses her sister Bell's [Barbara Evelyn Isabella Gunning] health, and expresses her anxiety over the prospect of being parted from her 'beloved Sister and best Friend' for six months (see HAM/1/15/1/9).
Dated at Horton.
Original reference No. 7.
Length: 1 sheet, 745 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: Jack Jones, 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