Diplomatic Text
[2]
Strawberry hill
aug. 25. 1790.
Mr Dickenson's present was very kind, my dear Madam, and I
give him a thousand thanks for it, especially as a mark of his remem-
-brance & friendship. The Birds arrived perfectly sweet, & to me were
a great novelty, who never saw growse-pouts before: I took them for a
beautifull new-invented sort of Partridge, & wished to bring them to life
again, rather than to eat them.
Your letter is still kinder, & as far as gratitude & return of attachment
can poʃsibly go, I am not unworthy of it. I am sorry you give me such
good reasons, that I dare, not only not hope to see you soon, but am even
forced to approve your reasons, butand to admire you for them. Indeed when
do you not act with sense & propriety? & when you have made so excellent
a choice, can a true friend wish you to deviate from the line of conduct
that so much becomes you? & which may interfere with some kind sentiments
but does justly contribute to your solid happineʃs -- I will rest on that thought,
& only hope I may live to a day when your Duty & convenience may fall in
with my satisfaction. Were I of a travelling age how gladly shoud I accept
your most obliging proposal of making you a visit! & kiʃsing your pretty
Louisa! -- but my clock is on the stroke of 74[3] -- & after so many years of
gout, have not I cause to be content & thank god that I can creep about my
own small garden -- coud I call on you & Mr Dickenson, my dear Madam,
it woud not be in my way to Buxton. I do not beleive there is in the whole
map of Medicine a fountain so salutory as my own temperance & regimen,
and cold system. They have preserved my paper frame to this extended age,
I am certainly better than I was three years ago, & tho I have frequent paren-
-theses of gout, they are not only short, but in a manner without pain, so that
the worst hurt they do me is to confine me -- & That now is a small Evil. In
short I woud not be cured of my gout, if I coud; I do not want to dance like Lord
Barrymore with Delpini -- nay, I shoud probably have some other Illneʃs,
which I shoud not Understand so well how to manage -- & besides old people who
have no complaint, are mighty apt to think that if forty or fifty years have
not lamed them, they have remained at a stand & are still twenty -- mercy
on us! do but think what follies are committed by ancient gentry that fancy
themselves young! -- but I have talked too many lines on myself, & will now
answer your questions.
Poor dear Mrs Vesey is exactly in the same state of childhood she was, & certainly
will never be leʃs so. One can only wish now that she was restored to happineʃs
thro the only door by which She can paʃs to it, & which her blameleʃs benevolent
life makes us presume She will enjoy.
Mrs Garrick I beleive is still at Bristol, whither She went in a fright at
the beginning of the Summer. In the single letter I have received from
Miʃs More, She told me her friend was better. So is She herself, & tormenting
herself, more to mend her spotleʃs Soul than her Constitution -- one of her
nostrums indeed is an excellent one, which is always labouring to do good
to others.
Miʃs Boyle called a fortune of five thousand a yr. is really Miʃtreʃs of half of it.
The other half is contested by Lord Shannon by some informality in the
poor Brother's Will, or by Mrs Walsingham's[4] presuming on her own title to it
without the right. I have heard both causes aʃsigned & know not which is the true.
Miʃs Boyle is intoxicated with her Release & laughs & talks & gallops & drives
& dances from night to morning & from one end of the isle tother -- yet to the
last moment of her mother's life never relaxed one moment in attention; &
since, with all her torrent of spirits has done nothing to be blamed, & behaves
with great regard & propriety to all her Mother's old friends. Both her real &
nominal fortune have a cohort of Suitors, but I hear of no preference She Shows;
& - as She has had the sense, against her Mother's advice, to admit no female to
live with her (who woud soon recommend a Male) I hope She will not fling, away herself
& her liberty & felicity on one of our Sex, without knowing whether he deserves
her or not; for that rare Clan, the Dickensons, are not fortune-hunters.
Our early post allows me to say no more, tho I own I was happy to seize this moment
of conversing with you again, for I am with the most sincere & cordial regard and
esteem
my dearst. Madam
yr most obliged
& devoted humble Sert
HorWalpole
To
Mrs Dickenson
at Taxal Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
[5]
[6]
(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The first image is of an archival note with basic metadata, the location in the Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence, and the provenance of the document.
2. This letter appears in Lewis (1937-83: XXXI, 344-346).
3. Horace Walpole would turn 73 on 5 October 1790, a few months after this letter, thus entering his 74th year.
4. Mrs Walsingham had died on 12 April 1790.
5. Remains of a stamp, which reads 'AU 25 90', indicating the date the letter went through the post.
6. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Strawberry hill
august 25. 1790.
Mr Dickenson's present was very kind, my dear Madam, and I
give him a thousand thanks for it, especially as a mark of his remembrance
& friendship. The Birds arrived perfectly sweet, & to me were
a great novelty, who never saw grouse-poults before: I took them for a
beautiful new-invented sort of Partridge, & wished to bring them to life
again, rather than to eat them.
Your letter is still kinder, & as far as gratitude & return of attachment
can possibly go, I am not unworthy of it. I am sorry you give me such
good reasons, that I dare, not only not hope to see you soon, but am even
forced to approve your reasons, and to admire you for them. Indeed when
do you not act with sense & propriety? & when you have made so excellent
a choice, can a true friend wish you to deviate from the line of conduct
that so much becomes you? & which may interfere with some kind sentiments
but does justly contribute to your solid happiness -- I will rest on that thought,
& only hope I may live to a day when your Duty & convenience may fall in
with my satisfaction. Were I of a travelling age how gladly should I accept
your most obliging proposal of making you a visit! & kissing your pretty
Louisa! -- but my clock is on the stroke of 74 -- & after so many years of
gout, have not I cause to be content & thank god that I can creep about my
own small garden -- could I call on you & Mr Dickenson, my dear Madam,
it would not be in my way to Buxton. I do not believe there is in the whole
map of Medicine a fountain so salutory as my own temperance & regimen,
and cold system. They have preserved my paper frame to this extended age,
I am certainly better than I was three years ago, & though I have frequent parentheses
of gout, they are not only short, but in a manner without pain, so that
the worst hurt they do me is to confine me -- & That now is a small Evil. In
short I would not be cured of my gout, if I could; I do not want to dance like Lord
Barrymore with Delpini -- nay, I should probably have some other Illness,
which I should not Understand so well how to manage -- & besides old people who
have no complaint, are mighty apt to think that if forty or fifty years have
not lamed them, they have remained at a stand & are still twenty -- mercy
on us! do but think what follies are committed by ancient gentry that fancy
themselves young! -- but I have talked too many lines on myself, & will now
answer your questions.
Poor dear Mrs Vesey is exactly in the same state of childhood she was, & certainly
will never be less so. One can only wish now that she was restored to happiness
through the only door by which She can pass to it, & which her blameless benevolent
life makes us presume She will enjoy.
Mrs Garrick I believe is still at Bristol, whither She went in a fright at
the beginning of the Summer. In the single letter I have received from
Miss More, She told me her friend was better. So is She herself, & tormenting
herself, more to mend her spotless Soul than her Constitution -- one of her
nostrums indeed is an excellent one, which is always labouring to do good
to others.
Miss Boyle called a fortune of five thousand a year. is really Mistress of half of it.
The other half is contested by Lord Shannon by some informality in the
poor Brother's Will, or by Mrs Walsingham's presuming on her own title to it
without the right. I have heard both causes assigned & know not which is the true.
Miss Boyle is intoxicated with her Release & laughs & talks & gallops & drives
& dances from night to morning & from one end of the isle t'other -- yet to the
last moment of her mother's life never relaxed one moment in attention; &
since, with all her torrent of spirits has done nothing to be blamed, & behaves
with great regard & propriety to all her Mother's old friends. Both her real &
nominal fortune have a cohort of Suitors, but I hear of no preference She Shows;
& as She has had the sense, against her Mother's advice, to admit no female to
live with her (who would soon recommend a Male) I hope She will not fling, away herself
& her liberty & felicity on one of our Sex, without knowing whether he deserves
her or not; for that rare Clan, the Dickensons, are not fortune-hunters.
Our early post allows me to say no more, though I own I was happy to seize this moment
of conversing with you again, for I am with the most sincere & cordial regard and
esteem
my dearest Madam
your most obliged
& devoted humble Servant
Horace Walpole
To
Mrs Dickenson
at Taxal Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
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Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University
Archive: Horace Walpole's Correspondence
Item title: Letter from Horace Walpole to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: MSS1 b.12 f.55
Correspondence Details
Sender: Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Place sent: Twickenham
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 25 August 1790
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Horace Walpole to Mary Hamilton, August 1790.
Length: 1 sheet, 871 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 14 April 2021)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 December 2021