Diplomatic Text
[1]
xo
St. James's Place 198th June 1781
20
I must my Dear Miʃs Hamilton enquire
after your health; it is too preccious for yr Friends
not to be interested about it -- you see where I place
myself and expect your indulgence.
As a fillip to the Spirits is one means of restoring
health, I must tell you that the Dʃs Dr of Portland
is return'd from Margate entirely to my Satisfaction
Then judge how well she is! I have had many
lonely hours in her absence -- & my little enlivener
gone too; and mortified by a dissapointment in an
entertainment I was given encouragement to
hope for; no leʃs than the Publication of Mr Gilpins
tours with the Drawings;[2] both so excellent in their
way: lost to the Public from the check of Prudence wch.
will not allow him to run the hazard of so great an expence
I think diffidence and modesty has some share in
his reluctance. I wish I cou'd steal (for I fear I shall
never influence) out of the mischievous banks at the
Gaming Tables 4 or 5 hundred pounds, and bestow
it on a work that wou'd do Honour not only to the very
worthy and ingenious author, but to the Country
He
He lives in. forgive this Lamentation, but you ar[e]
too favourable to Rational entertainments & pleasu[res]
that enlarge, instead of depreʃsing the understand[ing]
not only to forgive, but to join in my regret. I am
going for some days to quit my little nitch, (some
repairs make it neceʃsary) and go to my never failin[g]
aʃsylum at Whitehall: but as her Grace proposes maki[ng]
her visit to Weymouth before she settles at Bulstrod[e]
I shall then bewail my Widdow-hood in my own ho[use]
or at Bill Hill.[3] if you have receiv'd any comfortable
accounts from Lisbon[4] I am sure it will give you
pleasure to communicate them.
I trust you know without my repeating them
how constantly and ardently my wishes hover[5] yo[u]
and your illustrious mansion being with
true esteem
My Dear Madam
Your most Affectionate
and most Obliged
humble Sert
MDelany
The Dʃs D of Portland
desires me to present
her affectionate
compliments to you.
this is a dim day with
my Eyes
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter appears in Llanover (1862: 32-33).
2. Observations on the River Wye and Several Parts of South Wales, etc Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty: Made in the Summer of the Year 1770 was published in 1782, a year after this letter.
3. Bill Hill House was the home of Lady Mary Gower (née Tufton, 1701-1785), formerly Lady Grey, a cousin of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck. Lady Gower's son, John Leveson-Gower (1740-1792) married Frances née Boscawen (1746-1813), daughter of the bluestocking hostess Frances Boscawen (née Glanville).
4. Delany refers to Charlotte Finch's trip to Portugal for the health of her son, Lord Winchilsea. She was accompanied by her daughter Sophia Feilding, whose ship was attacked by privateers on her return journey to England: see HAM/1/12/29 and following letters.
5. Llanover (1862: 33) here has 'round' after 'hover', presumably added above the line (indicated by the insertion mark after 'them' in the line above), though this is no longer visible due to the folded edge of the letter.
Normalised Text
St. James's Place June 1781
I must my Dear Miss Hamilton enquire
after your health; it is too precious for your Friends
not to be interested about -- you see where I place
myself and expect your indulgence.
As a fillip to the Spirits is one means of restoring
health, I must tell you that the Duchess Dowager of Portland
is returned from Margate entirely to my Satisfaction
Then judge how well she is! I have had many
lonely hours in her absence -- & my little enlivener
gone too; and mortified by a disappointment in an
entertainment I was given encouragement to
hope for; no less than the Publication of Mr Gilpins
tours with the Drawings; both so excellent in their
way: lost to the Public from the check of Prudence which
will not allow him to run the hazard of so great an expense
I think diffidence and modesty has some share in
his reluctance. I wish I could steal (for I fear I shall
never influence) out of the mischievous banks at the
Gaming Tables 4 or 5 hundred pounds, and bestow
it on a work that would do Honour not only to the very
worthy and ingenious author, but to the Country
He lives in. forgive this Lamentation, but you are
too favourable to Rational entertainments & pleasures
that enlarge, instead of depressing the understanding
not only to forgive, but to join in my regret. I am
going for some days to quit my little niche, (some
repairs make it necessary) and go to my never failing
asylum at Whitehall: but as her Grace proposes making
her visit to Weymouth before she settles at Bulstrode
I shall then bewail my Widow-hood in my own house
or at Bill Hill. if you have received any comfortable
accounts from Lisbon I am sure it will give you
pleasure to communicate them.
I trust you know without my repeating them
how constantly and ardently my wishes hover you
and your illustrious mansion being with
true esteem
My Dear Madam
Your most Affectionate
and most Obliged
humble Servant
Mary Delany
The Duchess Dowager of Portland
desires me to present
her affectionate
compliments to you.
this is a dim day with
my Eyes
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University
Archive: Mrs. Delany correspondence
Item title: Letter from Mary Delany to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: LWL Mss Vol. 75(21)
Correspondence Details
Sender: formerly Pendarves), Mary Delany (née Granville
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 18 June 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Delany to Mary Hamilton, in which she enquires after Hamilton's health and talks about William Gilpin's book called Observations on the River Wye and Several Parts of South Wales, etc Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty: Made in the Summer of the Year 1770.
Length: 1 sheet, 370 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 15 January 2021)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021