Diplomatic Text
My dear Friend! it is literally impoʃsible for me
to say above two words to you at this instant tho' I intend
writing you a letter in a few Days if I am allowed
to take the time that will require -- but my Friends
here are all so kind to me that I am never left a
moment alone -- I found your letter, or at least
received it soon after my return here i.e. a few
days ago -- you dated it the 6th of August but
I gueʃsed you meant October -- well thank God,
I shall see you with some prospect nay certainty
of Comfort on the 10th of November, for some time --
we shall all be most happy to receive you both
then & little Louisa -- I have been at Horton & St
Leonards since I saw you, & very well & very
happy -- enjoying the heavenly weather & the
beautiful country & the society of my dear
family & my kind Friends -- I have been very
much shocked & am extremely distreʃsed
by the Death of Coll Cathcart & its influence on
the happineʃs & prospects of my Friend Mr
Young, who has lost in him everything that was
dear everything that was of value to him in this
world! adieu my dear Friend I am going to Town
to day for tomorrow's Drawingroom & return here
on Friday -- & on Monday I go to the Lodge to stay
till the 29th -- God bleʃs you my dear Friend
remember me to Mr Dickenson & to Mrs Ironmonger[1]
Ld & Ly Binning desire their best Compts -- to you --
adieu adieu -- the 10th. we shall meet!
thank God! most affecly: & sincerely yours
C.M. Gunning
Ham October the 15th 1788
Octbr 1788[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. There is a family whose name is transcribed as Iremonger in HAM/1/2/36; unknown whether the intended reference is the same.
2. This annotation is written upside down at the bottom of the page.
Normalised Text
My dear Friend! it is literally impossible for me
to say above two words to you at this instant though I intend
writing you a letter in a few Days if I am allowed
to take the time that will require -- but my Friends
here are all so kind to me that I am never left a
moment alone -- I found your letter, or at least
received it soon after my return here i.e. a few
days ago -- you dated it the 6th of August but
I guessed you meant October -- well thank God,
I shall see you with some prospect nay certainty
of Comfort on the 10th of November, for some time --
we shall all be most happy to receive you both
then & little Louisa -- I have been at Horton & St
Leonards since I saw you, & very well & very
happy -- enjoying the heavenly weather & the
beautiful country & the society of my dear
family & my kind Friends -- I have been very
much shocked & am extremely distressed
by the Death of Colonel Cathcart & its influence on
the happiness & prospects of my Friend Mr
Young, who has lost in him everything that was
dear everything that was of value to him in this
world! adieu my dear Friend I am going to Town
to day for tomorrow's Drawingroom & return here
on Friday -- & on Monday I go to the Lodge to stay
till the 29th -- God bless you my dear Friend
remember me to Mr Dickenson & to Mrs Ironmonger
Lord & Lady Binning desire their best Compliments -- to you --
adieu adieu -- the 10th. we shall meet!
thank God! most affectionately & sincerely yours
Charlotte Margaret Gunning
Ham October the 15th 1788
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/1/15/1/31
Correspondence Details
Sender: Charlotte Margaret Digby (née Gunning)
Place sent: Ham, near Richmond (certainty: medium)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 15 October 1788
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Gunning to Mary Hamilton. She writes that her friends are so good to her that she is rarely left a moment alone. She writes of spending time at Horton with her family and friends, and that she looks forward to a visit from Hamilton.
Original reference No. 30.
Length: 1 sheet, 291 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: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Ramón Carballo-de-Santiago, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2016)
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