Diplomatic Text
Bristol 24 June
1783
My dear Friend
The reasons why I did
not write to you on friday evening from Devizes
were threefold, as Mr. Vellum says.[1] In the
first place there was no post went out that
night; secondly I did not stay at Devizes as
[I] had proposed, but came on to Bath to sleep,
[a]nd thirdly I did not meet Dr. Stonhouse, as the
[e]xtreme badneʃs of the weather prevented his
[c]oming to me, a loʃs I regretted the leʃs, as I
[d]id not paʃs the evening there. I had not
[t]he bonne fortune to see the first Edition of
[t]hat excellent Epigram on the Window, which
Mr. Pepys directed me to search out. --
My regret at leaving London was rendered much
more lively by having spent the last day of
my sejour there so delightfully. And yet it
was very pleasant to me to revolve in my
mind the kind and affectionate manner in which I
was taken leave of by so many amiable and
excellent persons whom I so warmly love and
esteem. -- That my friends often flatter me, I
am perswaded I ought to believe, and yet I
cordially embrace all their kindneʃs to me upon
Hamlet's principle -- “Why what preferment can they
hope from me”?
I staid at Bath the greatest part of
Saturday, but cou'd not find an opportunity to
see Miʃs Cooper, Miʃs Bowdler, or any of
my acquaintance, because I devoted all my
time to shew Miʃs Cadogan whatever was
worth seeing at Bath. I called however on
Mrs. Thrale, but had not the good luck to
find her at home. Apropros of Mrs. Thrale
pray dont forget to mention how Johnson does
when you write, as I wish much to know
how he does, and he is, by his late offence,
so disconnected with most of my friends,
that I have few opportunities of hearing any thing
of him.
Pray say something handʃome and affectionate
for me to dear Mrs. Vesey, and tell Mr.
Vesey I was very well entertained with
the Poem he was so good to give me. I
think there are a great many pretty
lines in it, especially in the first Part.
What have you done with yourself since
we parted? Did you go to Wimpole Street
the next evening? I expect a particular
detail of all your adventures. Remember I
am now in a place where I depend entirely
on the charity of my absent friends for
entertainment and information.
I shall think of you on Saturday. What
a charming Party will you be! And you
will be all so agreeable to, and so worthy
of each that I cant in reason and conscience
expect that a stray thought shou'd now and
then wander towards Bristol. At four o'clock
I shall say to myself now they are sitting
down to dinner -- at seven -- now they are
in the Temple watching the effect of the
declining Sun on the Silver Bridge, and at
eight -- now they are all separated, and if
I had seen them I shou'd now see them no
more -- So paʃs away the pleasures of
this World.
this World.
Besure[2] say not a word about the
Academy Story. except to those You desired Mr. P. & Mrs. C. I feel very sensibly the
honour that respectable Aʃsembly has done,
me but there is something so ridiculous in
the idea, of an ignorant, and above all
of a female Academician that I cou'd not
stand it if it were generally known.[3]
Write soon to your ever faithful
and affectionate
H. More
Mrs. Stephenson
Queens Square
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A character in Joseph Addison's play The Drummer (premiered in 1716 and revived in 1762). Vellum is a steward who, having agreed that ‘[t]here is nothing more requisite in Business than Dispatch’, ironically delays his master by his thoughts on the latter, observing that ‘the Benefit that attends it is fourfold’. (Joseph Addison, The Drummer: or, The Haunted House. London: Company of Booksellers, 1733, 4:ii, p.88).
2. This obsolete word, ‘[b]e sure; you may be sure; ? surely, certainly’, is used several times by Hannah More (see also MS Eng 1778 141 p.3 and MS Eng 1778 1580 p.2), some 40 years later than is the OED citations, though there is one example dated 1795 in a quotation elsewhere (OED s.v. besure, adv. Accessed 22-03-2022).
3. More ‘was in 1782 elected a fellow of the Académie des Arts, Sciences et Belles Lettres in Rouen’ (ODNB).
4. This address appears at the bottom of the page, written upside down.
Normalised Text
Bristol 24 June
My dear Friend
The reasons why I did
not write to you on friday evening from Devizes
were threefold, as Mr. Vellum says. In the
first place there was no post went out that
night; secondly I did not stay at Devizes as
I had proposed, but came on to Bath to sleep,
and thirdly I did not meet Dr. Stonhouse, as the
extreme badness of the weather prevented his
coming to me, a loss I regretted the less, as I
did not pass the evening there. I had not
the bonne fortune to see the first Edition of
that excellent Epigram on the Window, which
Mr. Pepys directed me to search out. --
My regret at leaving London was rendered much
more lively by having spent the last day of
my sejour there so delightfully. And yet it
was very pleasant to me to revolve in my
mind the kind and affectionate manner in which I
was taken leave of by so many amiable and
excellent persons whom I so warmly love and
esteem. -- That my friends often flatter me, I
am persuaded I ought to believe, and yet I
cordially embrace all their kindness to me upon
Hamlet's principle -- “Why what preferment can they
hope from me”?
I stayed at Bath the greatest part of
Saturday, but could not find an opportunity to
see Miss Cooper, Miss Bowdler, or any of
my acquaintance, because I devoted all my
time to show Miss Cadogan whatever was
worth seeing at Bath. I called however on
Mrs. Thrale, but had not the good luck to
find her at home. Apropros of Mrs. Thrale
pray don't forget to mention how Johnson does
when you write, as I wish much to know
how he does, and he is, by his late offence,
so disconnected with most of my friends,
that I have few opportunities of hearing any thing
of him.
Pray say something handsome and affectionate
for me to dear Mrs. Vesey, and tell Mr.
Vesey I was very well entertained with
the Poem he was so good to give me. I
think there are a great many pretty
lines in it, especially in the first Part.
What have you done with yourself since
we parted? Did you go to Wimpole Street
the next evening? I expect a particular
detail of all your adventures. Remember I
am now in a place where I depend entirely
on the charity of my absent friends for
entertainment and information.
I shall think of you on Saturday. What
a charming Party will you be! And you
will be all so agreeable to, and so worthy
of each that I can't in reason and conscience
expect that a stray thought should now and
then wander towards Bristol. At four o'clock
I shall say to myself now they are sitting
down to dinner -- at seven -- now they are
in the Temple watching the effect of the
declining Sun on the Silver Bridge, and at
eight -- now they are all separated, and if
I had seen them I should now see them no
more -- So pass away the pleasures of
this World.
Besure say not a word about the
Academy Story. except to those You desired Mr. P. & Mrs. C. I feel very sensibly the
honour that respectable Assembly has done,
me but there is something so ridiculous in
the idea, of an ignorant, and above all
of a female Academician that I could not
stand it if it were generally known.
Write soon to your ever faithful
and affectionate
Hannah More
Mrs. Stephenson
Queens Square
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Houghton Library Repository, Harvard University
Archive: Elizabeth Carter and Hannah More letters to Mary Hamilton
Item title: Letter from Hannah More to Mrs Stephenson
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 126
Correspondence Details
Sender: Hannah More
Place sent: Bristol
Addressee: [...] Stephenson
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 24 June 1783
Letter Description
Summary: More, Hannah, 1745-1833. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mrs Stephenson; Bristol, 1783 June 24.
Length: 2 sheets, 599 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First transcribed for the project 'The Collected Letters of Hannah More' (Kerri Andrews & others) and 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: 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: Kerri Andrews, Senior Lecturer, Edge Hill University (submitted 11 August 2020)
Cataloguer: Bonnie B. Salt, Archivist, Houghton Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 19 October 2022