Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/84/1

Letter from Christopher Schram to John Dickenson

Diplomatic Text


Brighton Sepbr: 27th=. 1801


Dear Sir,

      I[1] am desired by His R. Hs: the Prince
of Wales. to present his Compls: to you
and Mrs: Dickenson, & returns you many
thanks for your kind attention, -- am at
the same time to beg the favour; to know by
return of post, whether you applied the same
Receipt the very instand the Accidtand
happen'd, or some time after: for it is now
a fortnight since His R: Hs: had this Accid:
but notwithstanding all the advice he had
from Saurgeant Keat[2] who has been here ever
Since, His R. Hs: intend's to make a trial
of it. as soon your answer returns: the Pr:
perfectly recollected Mrs: D: & believe my good
                                                         scolar[3] also



      I am also greatly Obliged to you & Mrs. Dn.
for your goodneʃs concerning myself, -- I have
now the pleasure of aquainting you, that
I am perfectly well, & should be happy to
aʃsist in your little party; but as long it is
His R. H: pleasure to take Leʃsons, I think it
my Duty. & am happy if I can afford him
any pleasure; -- it is probable that I may
continue a long time yet, notwithstanding
His R. H: has send away his Military Band:
they are gone to Windsor & are without
exeption the first Band in England; the only
consist. of 36. able Men. -- I beg my
best Respects to Mrs. & Miʃs D. & please
to rember me to Mrs. Msn: & Brother hope
he conducts himself well
                                                         From Dear Sir
                             Your very Humble Servt: C. Schram


P.S. The Letter which you will favour me with, will
      be produced laid before His R. Hs: -- [4]


                             ▼

J. Dickenson Esq:
Leighton House
      Leighton Buzzard
                             Beds:[5]

Schram 1801
respg the Pr. of Wales[6]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. Most aspects of Schram's idiosyncratic spelling and punctuation have been reproduced, but not the regular use of a period after the pronoun I.
 2. It looks as if Sergeant has been incompletely altered to Surgeon, but the intention is unclear. NB. Keate was appointed ‘Serjeant-Surgeon Extraordinary’, though probably after 1801 (ODNB. Accessed 22-07-2020).
 3. As Schram was a cellist, it seems likely that the ‘good scholar’ is Dickenson himself, but it could conceivably mean Louisa Dickenson, as Schram had been Louisa's music teacher too. Hamilton's diary for 1797 mentions at least 15 lessons for Louisa, far more than for her father, including this detail: ‘Louisa had Schram who accompanied her on ye. Violin her Papa on ye. Baſs -- she playd better than I expected’ (HAM/2/16 p.41).
 4. This postscript appears at the bottom of the page.
 5. The address is written at 90 degrees to the rest of the text, as p.4 is used as envelope. The envelope bears the following postmarks: ‘Sept 28 1891’; ‘Brighton 59’. The address is cross-written with a payment mark.
 6. Moved annotation here from top of page.

Normalised Text


Brighton September 27th=. 1801


Dear Sir,

      I am desired by His Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales. to present his Compliments to you
and Mrs: Dickenson, & return you many
thanks for your kind attention, -- am at
the same time to beg the favour; to know by
return of post, whether you applied the same
Receipt the very instant the Accident
happened, or some time after: for it is now
a fortnight since His Royal Highness had this Accident
but notwithstanding all the advice he had
from Surgeant Keat who has been here ever
Since, His Royal Highness intend's to make a trial
of it. as soon your answer returns: the Prince
perfectly recollected Mrs: Dickenson & believe my good
                                                         scholar also



      I am also greatly Obliged to you & Mrs. Dickenson
for your goodness concerning myself, -- I have
now the pleasure of acquainting you, that
I am perfectly well, & should be happy to
assist in your little party; but as long it is
His Royal Highness's pleasure to take Lessons, I think it
my Duty. & am happy if I can afford him
any ; -- it is probable that I may
continue a long time yet, notwithstanding
His Royal Highness has sent away his Military Band:
they are gone to Windsor & are without
exception the first Band in England; they only
consist. of 36. able Men. -- I beg my
best Respects to Mrs. & Miss Dickenson & please
to remember me to Mrs. Morrison & Brother hope
he conducts himself well
                                                         From Dear Sir
                             Your very Humble Servant Christopher Schram


P.S. The Letter which you will favour me with, will
      be laid before His Royal Highness --


                             ▼

John Dickenson Esquire
Leighton House
      Leighton Buzzard
                             Bedfordshire


(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. Most aspects of Schram's idiosyncratic spelling and punctuation have been reproduced, but not the regular use of a period after the pronoun I.
 2. It looks as if Sergeant has been incompletely altered to Surgeon, but the intention is unclear. NB. Keate was appointed ‘Serjeant-Surgeon Extraordinary’, though probably after 1801 (ODNB. Accessed 22-07-2020).
 3. As Schram was a cellist, it seems likely that the ‘good scholar’ is Dickenson himself, but it could conceivably mean Louisa Dickenson, as Schram had been Louisa's music teacher too. Hamilton's diary for 1797 mentions at least 15 lessons for Louisa, far more than for her father, including this detail: ‘Louisa had Schram who accompanied her on ye. Violin her Papa on ye. Baſs -- she playd better than I expected’ (HAM/2/16 p.41).
 4. This postscript appears at the bottom of the page.
 5. The address is written at 90 degrees to the rest of the text, as p.4 is used as envelope. The envelope bears the following postmarks: ‘Sept 28 1891’; ‘Brighton 59’. The address is cross-written with a payment mark.
 6. Moved annotation here from top of page.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: Windsor Castle, The Royal Archives

Archive: GEO/ADD/3 Additional papers of George IV, as Prince, Regent, and King

Item title: Letter from Christopher Schram to John Dickenson

Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/84/1

Correspondence Details

Sender: Christopher Schram

Place sent: Brighton

Addressee: John Dickenson

Place received: Leighton Buzzard

Date sent: 27 September 1801

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Christopher Schram to John Dickenson, on an accident of George, Prince of Wales.
    Schram writes to give George, Prince of Wales's compliments to [John] Dickenson and Mrs [Mary] Dickenson [née Hamilton] and his thanks for their kind attentions. He asks whether Dickenson 'aplied the same Receipt the very instant the accidant happen'd, or some time after: for it is now a fortnight since His R H had this accidt but notwithstanding all the advice he has from Surgeant Keat [Thomas Keate, the Prince's surgeon] who has been here ever since, His R H intends to make a trial of it'.
    Signed.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 286 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: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed March 2020)

Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors

Revision date: 2 November 2021

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