Mary Hamilton and the Bluestocking Circle

Mary Hamilton, afterwards Mrs. John Dickenson at court and at home: from letters and diaries, 1756 to 1816, ed. E. Anson and F. Anson, 1925; Sir Archibald Anson, About Others and Myself, 1745 to 1920, 1920 (where short extracts from Hamilton's diary and the letters by Queen Charlotte to Hamilton are printed); Flora Fraser, Princesses, the Six Daughters of George III, 2004 (where short extracts from the letters by the Princesses and Queen Charlotte are printed); The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 6 volumes, 1861-2; H. Blodgett, Centuries of Female Days: Englishwomen's private diaries, 1989; S.H. Myers, The Bluestocking Circle: women, friendship, and the life of the mind in eighteenth-century England, 1990

The social and intellectual world of Mary Hamilton encompassed not only the court of George III, where she was employed as attendant to the Princesses, but also the bluestocking circle of Elizabeth Montagu, Mrs Vesey, Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More, Fanny Burney, Horace Walpole, Samuel Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. “Mary Hamilton’s special claim to interest is, that although ardent in the acquisition of learning, she yet was a popular figure in an age when such a pursuit was generally regarded as a fatal detriment to a woman’s charm…Her chief characteristic was her keen zest for life, and her intense interest in everything pertaining to it – books, languages, art, travel, politics, people” (Mary Hamilton, pp.v-viii).

Her father was Charles Hamilton, son of Lord Archibald Hamilton, lord commissioner of the Admiralty, and the elder brother of the diplomat Sir William Hamilton (who married Emma Hart in 1791). Her mother, Mary Catherine, was the daughter of Colonel Dufresne, aide-de-camp to Lord Archibald Hamilton. Mary Hamilton moved to London in 1775 and within two years was living within the royal household. She remained there until the tedium of constant court attendance and royal celebrations drove her to resign in 1783, not before she had inadvertently ensnared the heart of the teenage Prince of Wales. The letters he wrote to her during his unrequited romantic infatuation were sold in these rooms last year (English Literature and History, 15 December 2005, lot 52). The letters written to her by the Princesses and Queen Charlotte are included in the present group of papers, and reveal the extent of their respect for Mary Hamilton, as well as providing intriguing insights into domestic life in the royal household.

In January 1783, Hamilton settled into new apartments at 27 Clarges Street, off Piccadilly, with two close friends, Anna Maria and Isabella Clarke. Her diaries, the focus of her manuscripts, relate in vivid detail the day-to-day social and literary activities she pursued throughout her time in London. She regularly enjoyed the company of her devoted friends and confidants Hannah More, Elizabeth Carter, Mrs Delany, Mrs Garrick and Fanny Burney, and was on very friendly terms with Horace Walpole, who entertained her with anecdotes and gossip. She met Dr Johnson on several occasions, and at one dinner at Sir Joshua Reynolds’ house was “obliged to bear the raillery of all the Company upon Mr Boswell’s professed attachment” to her.

After her marriage to John Dickenson in June 1785, she appears not to have continued her diary-writing, but maintained her connections throughout her life through constant correspondence with friends and relations, ranging from her uncle Sir William Hamilton (with whom she had an easy and affectionate relationship), the first Lady Hamilton and her guardian the seventh Lord Napier, to her friends at court and in London, such as Lady Charlotte Finch, Fanny Boscawen, Mrs Vesey and Mrs Garrick. The letters she received from Elizabeth Carter and Hannah More between 1780 and 1803 were sold in these rooms last year (English Literature and History, 15 December 2005, lot 51).

The present group of papers is acknowledged as an important source for the life of high society and the intellectual elite at the end of the eighteenth century. Extracts from Mary Hamilton’s letters and diaries were published by her great-granddaughters Elizabeth and Florence Anson in 1925 (see 'References' below), and other scholars, biographers and researchers have had access to these papers subsequently. The wealth of material published about the court of George III and the bluestockings makes it difficult to assess precisely how much of the present group has been printed, but our impression is that substantial portions of both the diaries and correspondence remain unpublished.

1) DIARIES.

Mary Hamilton’s autograph diaries, describing in detail most days of her eventful life as an unmarried independent woman, chiefly covering the period between leaving court life in November 1782 and marrying John Dickenson in June 1785, also including her journal of a trip to Spa in 1776 and a later diary from 22 February to 3 April 1797; commenting not only on everyday incidents but also on the characters of her relations, friends and suitors, conversations held at ‘Bas Bleu’ dinners, visits to her friends’ houses (including Strawberry Hill and Bulstrode), contemporary fashion, social events, politics, history and her literary tastes, and often reflecting on philosophical topics as well as her own morality and behaviour; c.1200 pages, chiefly 8vo, mostly written on loose sheets stitched roughly into gatherings and grouped into paper wrappers, also in two 12mo volumes bound in sheep and two others in wrappers, chiefly November 1782 to May 1785 with a few very short gaps, a few pages apparently excised, some later marginal markings in red pencil, browning to some gatherings, some creasing and dust-staining

an important and engaging insight into the intellectual and social elite of 1780s london, and into the conversations and concerns of second-generation bluestockings.

Released from the constricting schedule of court life on 27 November 1782, Mary Hamilton begins to record, at first cursorily but later with much more commentary and observation, all the events of her new life and its protagonists. Almost every page features the name of at least one of her renowned friends and acquaintances, who include Elizabeth Montagu (‘queen of the bluestockings’), Fanny Boscawen, Elizabeth Vesey, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Sir Joshua Reynolds and his niece Mary Palmer, Horace Walpole, Joseph and Thomas Warton, Eva Maria Garrick, Hannah More, Fanny Burney, William Pepys, the Duchess of Portland, Mary Delaney, Lady Charlotte Finch, Richard ‘Leonidas’ Glover, and her uncle William Hamilton.

Hamilton frequently refers to conversations held at ‘Bas Bleu’ evenings, breakfast parties and lunches, as well as at home with the two Clarke sisters (with whom she shared apartments at 27 Clarges Street), with visitors or during intimate tête-a-têtes. General and specific subjects include: literature and poetry; learned women and the education of girls (“…we…condemn’d Madame de Genlis’s method…”); the conduct of parents towards their children; the treatment of servants; love, friendship and marriage; the love affairs of friends and public figures; the characters of friends (“…Mrs D[elaney] gave me her opinion of her [Mrs Montagu’s] character…it was not a favorable Portrait of her…Mrs D made judicious remarks upon artful characters. Gave me excellent advice how to guard against them…”); Mrs Delaney’s correspondence with Jonathan Swift; Mrs Garrick’s early years in London with Lady Burlington and her devotion to David Garrick (“…she will never recover the loss of Mr G, they lived together 34 years in the utmost harmony – he died her lover as well as Husband & friend…”); famous society beauties and “the stile of life People of fashion led in London”; the “stile of living at Vienna” and “the great difference of expense in every article between living abroad & in England”; religion and whether Hume and Voltaire were atheists; the recently published diary of George Dodington, Lord Melcombe; dreams and superstition; “Madness and Bedlam”; law and murder trials; the Westminster elections of 1784 and the conduct of the Duchess of Devonshire (“Severe strictures were pass’d on [her] conduct – many anecdotes of the follies she had been guilty of & the affronts she had rec[eive]d in her canvass for Mr Fox. A judgment was also pass’d on her verses w^ch were pronounc’d to be very indifferent & by no means to merit the applause some people had given them…”); new taxes and “the distresses of the Nation”; “the debate on the India business” in the House of Commons and “the present state of affairs in Ireland”; the American War and the characters of George Washington and the Marquis de La Fayette; suicide (argued about at length with her wretched young admirer Mr Wake); chemistry, natural history and volcanos; the Royal Family, the management of the Royal nursery and the Princes’ governors (one suffers from a bad temper, the other from “ignorance and vulgarity”); and the behaviour of the Prince of Wales towards the King.

The ‘Bas Bleu’ evenings in particular are rich sources of gossip. At one memorable party, for example, Hamilton hears about her uncle’s attachment to the future Lady (Emma) Hamilton (“…that he escorted my cousin Ch[arle]s Greville’s Mistress in a Hackney Coach & that [Sir Joshua Reynolds] was painting this woman’s picture for him to take to Naples – I shall make use of this intelligence to have some entertainment in plaguing S^r W[illia]m…”). Not all of Hamilton’s friends offer such enthralling company, however; one particularly tedious visitor elicits the remark “I often meet with sensible & good People whom notwithstanding I respect them, tire me to death”.

The diaries reveal Hamilton’s wide-ranging literary tastes. Among the works she mentions as having read alone, while her hair is being dressed, or in the company of friends are: Voltaire’s Memoirs (“…the present rage…after I had finish’d the book I repented having indulged my curiosity – why should one wish to become acquainted with vicious & wicked people. No woman ought to read a book w^ch she w^d be ashamed to own she has read…”), Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, her friend Richard Glover’s Leonidas, Capt. Cook’s Voyages, the odes of Horace (“…he is so well bred & good humor’d that even the reproved could not I think be offended…”), the poems of Thomas Gray, William Mason and James Thomson, Mark Akenside’s The Pleasures of Imagination, Henry Mackenzie’s The Man of the World (“a most melancholy picture of the depravity of human Nature”), Lord Monboddo’s On the Origin and Progress of Language (“…his Lordship thinks Man in his original state to be pretty much upon a Par with an Orang Outang – nay I think he seems in some things to set that Animal above us…”), John Andrews’ Remarks on the French and English Ladies, The Spectator, the works of John Milton, W.H. Roberts’ Judah Restored, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Plato’s Dialogues (“I hope to reap profit as well as pleasure by studying him”), the poems of Anna Letitia Barbauld, Madame de Genlis’ Les Veillées du Château, and Anna Seward’s Louisa (“…the opinion of Mrs Carter & Miss More…was that the language was highly Poetical, the versification charming – the Epithets sometimes improper – sometimes words too often repeated…now & then the stile a little affected…”). Several references are also made to the continuing revision of Hannah More’s poem The Bas Bleu, and to a new composition entitled Le Bas Blanc (“…this is a letter written in Prose w^ch she sent to Mrs Pepys with a Pair of Cotton Stockings she had knit for her eldest boy – it is a lively piece of humour incomparably supported & infinitely clever…”). Hamilton often mentions her own collection of manuscript poetry (see below) and once refers to Hannah More’s “collection of the different handwritings of eminent People”. However, despite the essential role of literature in Hamilton’s life, she despises the vacuous “Femme Savants”:

…a most disagreeable animal – the reason of this is that they always pretend to more knowledge than they have, that they are ignorant of what they ought to know, are pert affected & useless members of society, the only Woman that I know whose talents deserved the highest cultivation is Mrs Carter – she is I imagine the most learned female that ever lived…Miss [Hannah] More & Mrs [Hester] Chapone & two or three others I could name whom I likewise would except…for their talents & amiable precepts have been of great service to society…

Hamilton’s interests also embrace art and portraiture (in March 1783 she visits the “self-taught painter” John Opie, who is painting a portrait of Richard Glover for her and she herself sits for a miniature by Saunders), theatre (she sees Sarah Siddons “in the character of Calista in the Fair Penitent”) and music (especially Handel, a performance of whose Messiah she attends at Westminster Abbey on 5 June 1784: “…513 Performers – the harmony so unbroken that it was like the fall of Waters from one Source – imperceptibly blended – the spectacle too was sublime, so universal a silence, so great a Number of People…”). Her intellectual curiosity extends to such novelties as a chess-playing automaton and a “speaking machine”, the “curious inventions & fine Harpsichords” of John Joseph Merlin, and Vincent Lunardi’s air balloon, which she describes in great detail, with a sketch (see illustration). And her entry for 5 September 1784 describes various items of shakespearian memorabilia which had belonged to david garrick (see illustration on page 113): “…Gloves w^ch he had worn – wrought at the tops such as one sees in old Pictures…a small Knife…the handle silver & ebony w^ch some of his descendants had given Mr Garrick, a Cup made of the Mulberry Tree he had planted lin’d with Silver gilt – his hand writing (upon a lease) & a very elegant square box…carved in oak of the tree under w^ch Shakespeare shot the Deer for w^ch he was taken up…”.

Horace Walpole invited her several times to Strawberry Hill: “[5 July 1783:]…Mr Walpole came down to receive us…Mr Burke son of the famous Burke was there…W[alpole] was so obliging as to shew us Pictures – Busts – Drawings…not to forget the House w^ch is all Gothic – every Window decorated with Painted Glass…there were also many Cabinets fill’d with rare & curious things – some w^ch had belong’d to famous People others executed by the first artists…I left Strawberry Hill with regret as my curiosity was not half satisfied…”.

Hamilton’s visits to Bulstrode, particularly at the end of 1783, coincided with the negotiations for the Duchess of Portland’s purchase from William Hamilton of the ‘Portland vase’, which was to be the most famous item in the Duchess’s vast art collection. One entire volume of Hamilton’s diary (over 100 pages), covering the period from 5 December 1783 to 16 January 1784, describes her time at Bulstrode with both the Duchess and Mrs Delany (see also The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, vol. VI, pp.151-206).

On 10 March 1784, not without protesting about her modest wardrobe, she attends a ball hosted by the Prince of Wales at Carlton House, wearing a black velvet dress, “fine buckles” and a bouquet of artificial roses:

…his R.H…express’d great pleasure in seeing me – had two long conversations with him afterwards…in the old friendly stile…there were between 5 & 600 people, no distinction of party as there were both the ins & the outs…All the Young People & all those who did not chuse to be thought old were decorated en Habit de Bal – great variety & no set form of dress…I amused myself in talking to a variety of people – it was so crowded I would not dance. I walked from room to room…there were 4 or 5 other Minuets danc’d but without ceremony or precision as to rank…the Pages were all dress’d in an Uniform w^ch was a very dark color’d Cloath – trim’d handsomely with Gold Lace…the Prince’s attentions were properly divided…what a pity that one who knows so well how to do what is right ever fails of doing so!...came home ab^t ¼ before 4. I hear Carlton House was not clear’d before 9 in the morning…

Two months later, when visiting Mrs Garrick with Elizabeth Carter, Dr Burney, Fanny Burney and Hannah More, she meets samuel johnson and records in detail their conversation, which includes scathing criticisms of heathens and oliver goldsmith

…his faculties are bright as ever. He glories in being esteem’d a sincere Christian...He assured us that he knew it for a fact that Hume never read those writings w^ch he so profanely attack’d…Mrs Carter said that she was much provoked…that foreigners who came over with no other title than that of unbelief should be so highly encouraged…Johnston [sic] mention’d Rousseau who had a pension from this country &c. Mrs C added that Unbelievers should not be allow’d to propagate their pernicious doctrines…[Johnson] said of the late Dr [Oliver] Goldsmith that he never knew a Head so unfurnished – he gave him credit for being a Classical scholar so far as he had learnt at school, but that he knew very little of any Subject he ever wrote upon…he had the habit of lying to such a degree that the Club to w^ch he belonged and the society he lived in never scrupled to tell him they wanted faith for what he advanced…he could not bear to hear the praise of any one nay even the Beauty of a Woman being praised he could not indure. [Hugh] Kelly having been successful in some of his publications it greatly irritated Goldsmith – after talking of him one day with great acrimony he look’d at himself in a glass & said I am not so ugly as Kelly neither. Mrs Carter said that Dr G was a very vulgar man & vastly conceited. Mrs Garrick told us that Goldsmith had lived much at her House during Mr Garricks life time, that he never was happy if he did not gain the attention of the whole company…We owe his pretty Novel of the Vicar of Wakefield to his being plunged in debt…

Another memorable meeting with Dr Johnson takes place on 27 June 1784, during a dinner at Sir Joshua Reynolds’ recorded by James Boswell in his Life of Johnson. Boswell himself, remarks Hamilton, is “one of those people with whom one feels instantly acquainted with”.

Hamilton betrays annoyance with visitors only on rare occasions, which are almost invariably brought about by the tiresome attentions of her suitors, especially the determined Mr Bourdieu, the “tormenting” Mr Stanhope (“...[he] told me what a pattern of perfection he thought me &c &c, I let him run on till at last my head quite ach’d with listening to this voluble eccentrick genius & then I civilly dismiss’d him with saying I had letters to write…”) and the young William Wake (“…the uncommon attachment this youth has conceived for me is no longer a subject of entertainment w^ch it was at first to his Mother & family & myself, I esteem’d it a youthful Vanity…but it has lasted too long & grows too serious for me not to endeavour to extinguish a Passion w^ch if not discouraged may mark his future days with misery…”). Only thoughts of her future husband John Dickenson disturb her composure (“…pass’d a sleepless night…wrote a little in my Diary, was in short good for nothing & could not settle to anything…”), and after their engagement on 18 June 1784 many of her conversations with friends and relatives revolve around the subject of marriage. Her diary entries become somewhat impatient and distracted until 27 December 1784, when they are resumed in the form of lengthy, informative and intimate diary letters to Dickenson. The main diary ends in May 1785, shortly before her marriage to Dickenson at St George’s, Hanover Square, on 13 June 1785. One later volume, dating from 22 February to 3 April 1797, covers one of Hamilton’s visits to London, during which she revives her old friendships.

2) CORRESPONDENCE.

Large collection of autograph letters and notes, the majority signed, sent to Mary Hamilton by her relatives and friends, also including letters addressed to her husband John Dickenson; together with occasional explanatory notes, drafts or copies of letters by Mary Hamilton; upwards of 3,000 pages, various sizes (chiefly 4to and 8vo), many letters docketed or annotated briefly by Hamilton, many with integral address leaves or panels and postal markings (town, mileage, ‘Bishop’ and ‘Free’ marks), remains of seals, 1768-1815, some creasing, browning and offsetting of ink, portions of some letters torn, cut away, or deliberately deleted in ink, some ink- and dust-staining and seal tears; the correspondence including:

i) 6 letters by queen charlotte, 26 by princess royal, 35 by princess augusta sophia (and a one-page autograph “story”) and 11 by princess elizabeth; together with three letters by Charlotte Finch to Princess Royal, Augusta and Elizabeth (1781); an autograph draft of Hamilton’s resignation letter, stressing “the delicacy of my constitution” (2 pages, 4to, 25 June 1781); her account of a typical day attending on the Princesses; a few explanatory notes by Hamilton accompanying Queen Charlotte’s letters; and a small group of miscellaneous material by or relating to the Princes and Princesses, including juvenilia, calligraphic exercises, an account by Hamilton of a ball at the Queen’s House on 16 February 1781, and a list of guests at the ball of the Prince of Wales’ birthday on 12 August 1781; 1777-1786, the letters by the Princesses written chiefly between the ages of nine and sixteen

ii) [The Hamilton family:] 26 letters by william hamilton, expressing his sorrow at the death of the first Lady Hamilton (together with a letter by Mary Hamilton sending her condolences), offering advice about his niece’s resignation from the court, and discussing visits to Bulstrode and negotiations with the Duchess of Portland for purchasing works of art, including the ‘Portland vase’, 1782-1800; c.15 letters by Catherine, Lady Hamilton (together with a notebook containing Mary Hamilton’s autograph copies of letters to Lady Hamilton by her mother Mrs Barlow); c.70 letters by Frederick Hamilton, brother of William, containing advice about financial and moral matters, 1776-1811; 26 letters by Frederick Hamilton’s daughter Mrs Jane Holman, mostly about the difficulties of her marriage and disagreements with her father, 1783-1809; and a further group of letters by other members of the Hamilton and Cathcart families

iii) over 50 lengthy, conversational and loving letters by John Dickenson, several written in the form of diary letters, passing on gossip, describing his travels, frequently expressing the extent of his affection, and in some letters dating from August 1791 relating news about Emma Hart shortly before her marriage to William Hamilton

…She told me that she had laid down such a plan for her conduct on her return to Naples as she was satisfied w^d ensure to her universal respect & the approbation of Sir W^m. She knew that it would be in her power to make him happy – that gratitude, duty, inclination & every consideration would compel her to do every thing in her power to please him, and she was certain she sh^d do it…

written from various locations including Taxal and London, 12 April 1785 to 2 October 1813 where dated, including a series of 14 letters written from Bath during a health visit in 1789; also including a few letters from his sisters and John Dickenson Sr., and 7 letters by Mrs Dickenson, offering the young Mary Hamilton advice and warnings about becoming a “Wise Woman” (1769-75):

…you have so much Humility that it will preserve you from pedantry, a character which in our Sex is very disagreeable, & is the cause why a Wise Woman is in general disliked, the Men would have no Rivals in knowledge, & are angry at every Woman who shall attempt it, but the truth is, our Sex are very apt to be proud of what they know, & this is the true cause, why we are despised…remember that we are creatures form’d for society, & that we must not so wholly converse with old Authors, as to neglect the chearful conversation of our acquaintance…

iv) 12 letters by fanny boscawen 1781-95; 10 by elizabeth vesey (one with autograph annotation by Horace Walpole), 1780-84; 9 by eva maria garrick, 1785-1814; 3 by elizabeth montagu, one written on the birth of Hamilton’s daughter, 1787-88; and one note by fanny burney from St. James’s, 1788; together with an autograph draft of a letter by Mary Hamilton to Fanny Burney, referring to George III’s illness, 4 pages, 8vo, 25 March 1789, and a few notes by mrs delany

v) 64 letters by William, seventh Lord Napier (guardian to Mary Hamilton after the death of her father in 1771) and his wife, affectionate and playful letters imparting news and advice, 1768-74:

[27 August 1772:]…I thank you for your Secret [that she is learning Latin]…tho I own had you asked my advice…I should most certainly have persuaded you not to learn it as it’s not only tedious in taking up years but when acquired of very little use to anybody…however My Dear Girl if you are resolved to go on, I beg you’ll keep it a dead secret from your most intimate friends as well as from the rest of the World as a Lady’s being learned is most commonly looked upon as a great fault even by the learned…

vi) c.250 letters by Francis, eighth Lord Napier, discussing numerous subjects, among them Mary Hamilton’s engagement to John Dickenson, and the death of William Hamilton in April 1803, 1775-1815

vii) 7 letters by richard glover, author of ‘Leonidas’, signing himself as “your affectionate father” and discussing literature and writing, with a further 38 gossipy letters by other members of the Glover family, addressing Hamilton as “Miranda”, including a letter by Mary Glover asking Hamilton’s advice about the posthumous publication of her father’s poem, the ‘Athenaid’, 1776-1800

viii) c.70 letters by the royal governess lady charlotte finch, containing requests and instructions regarding the Princesses, conveying messages from the Queen, and discussing many subjects including events in the Royal household, the deaths of Prince Alfred and Prince Octavius, her friendship with Elizabeth Carter, and the capture by “American privateers” of a Mercury packet carrying her daughter from Portugal to England; together with a copy of one letter by Mary Hamilton, 24 letters by Charlotte Finch’s daughters, and 2 letters by Charlotte Finch to Miss Goldsworthy, chiefly 1777-83

ix) [Friends at Court:] c.50 letters by Charlotte Margaret Gunning, maid of honour to Queen Charlotte, together with mary hamilton’s side of the correspondence (comprising c.70 drafts, copies and original letters), discussing literature, the works of Fanny Burney, the behaviour of Ann Yearsley, “the Bristol Milkwoman” and the company kept by Gunning at “Houses of dissipation…of profligate infamy & vice”, chiefly 1781-90; 105 letters by Miss Goldsworthy, sub-governess to the Princesses (chiefly about the Princesses and their progress), 1778-1811; 20 by Sophia Feilding, daughter of Lady Charlotte Finch; 18 by John Fisher, later bishop of Salisbury; and c.100 letters by Mrs Cheveley, Ariana M. Egerton, John Farhills, Monsieur d’Agincourt, and others

x) [Mary Hamilton’s friends:] over 100 letters by Frances, Lady Harpur, frequently commenting on the relationship between William and Emma Hamilton, and on gossip about the latter, 1782-1815; c.300 letters by Sir Robert and Lady Herries, 1785-1810; c.45 letters by Lady Dartrey and members of her family, 1777-1812; 52 letters by Miss M. Sharpe, friend and companion of elizabeth carter, 1779-89 (many referring to Carter, one letter with an autograph postscript by carter: “…do not you go staring & marry a Tom Jones…thinking you have made a notable choice…This caution…might be very seriously necessary to many a poor sentimental Miss…”), with an autograph draft of a vitriolic letter by Hamilton to Miss Sharpe, marking the end of their friendship (“…I shall only continue to regard you as I have done since the year 1783 as one of the many instances of the imperfection & fickleness of human nature…”); c.90 letters by Mr and Mrs de Salis, 1797-1814; 5 letters from Bulstrode by Margaret Cavendish, duchess of portland; 25 letters by the Clarke sisters, Anna Maria (with whom Hamilton shared apartments in Clarges Street) and Caterina, later Mrs Jackson; and c.180 letters by other friends including the Iremongers, Miss Blosset, the Kerr family, Mrs M.E. Rundell, Miss Palmer (Joshua Reynolds’ niece), Montagu Pennington (about Elizabeth Carter’s legacy) and Hamilton’s admirers including William Wake and Mr Dewes

xi) [Mary Hamilton’s relatives:] over 200 letters by Lady Stormont, later Lady Mansfield, 1778-1809; 7 letters by Robert Fulke Greville, 1800-10; 6 by Hamilton’s cousin Mr Cathcart, 1807-9; 20 by Elizabeth M. Murray, Mrs Wilhelmina Murray and Amelia Murray, 1781-1794; and some others, discussing personal and family matters, anecdotes and gossip about the Royal family and George III’s illness, Hamilton’s marriage and her daughter Louisa

3) MANUSCRIPT VOLUMES

i) mary hamilton’s first manuscript anthology, containing copies of verses, letters, sermons and other prose pieces, written in Hamilton’s hand and at least two other (apparently different) hands, the contents including: a copy of a long letter by William Gilpin to Richard Glover (5 August 1769); copy of three letters by the clergyman John Lettice to Miss Gunning, describing a tour of the Northern Lakes in 1779; “Mr Gunning’s Cambridge Prize”, being an essay entitled “On the Utility of the Study of History”; and many other short prose pieces and poems by Hamilton’s friends; c.250 pages, 4to, contemporary vellum, with Mary Hamilton’s ownership inscription on upper and lower pastedowns, chiefly 1779-80, occasional light staining

ii) mary hamilton’s second manuscript anthology, containing copies, mostly in her hand, of numerous poems, prose pieces and letters by various writers and friends, including Mrs Montagu, Mrs Delany and Mrs Vesey, some entries with a note by Hamilton recording their source and the date, some passages crossed through and two pages excised; 172 pages, 4to, contemporary vellum, with Mary Hamilton’s ownership inscription on upper and lower pastedowns, chiefly 1781-3, some light spotting and browning, slight staining to covers

the contents including: “Dialogue by Mrs Montagu: Berenice & Cleopatra”; “The Catalogue” by Mrs Delany, beginning “What a task you have set me my Dear! why tis enough | to tire ten Turks | To give an exact Catalogue of all the Duchess Dowager | of Portland’s works…”; “On a Sprinkler” by Admiral Forbes, beginning “Stand by there – Saltcellars – give place, | Behold with what superior Grace | The sprinkler now his Entrée makes | To claim his Right o’er butter’d Cakes…”; a prose piece and verses written by Mrs Delaney at the age of 82 (“The time is Come – I can no more, | The Vegetable World explore, | No more with rapture cull each flow’r | That paints the mead, or twines the Bow’r…”); Dr Johnson’s “Verses upon the Death of Dr Levett”, February 1783; “Poem upon Mr Gerrard”, written by Richard Glover at the age of 16; “April” by Charles Jenner; “A Tale transcribed from an Old Manuscript”; “An Elegy to the Memory of David Garrick Esq By the Hon^ble Charles Feilding”; “On the Death of Mr Garrick by Miss Bowdler of Bath”; “A fragment given to me by Mrs Vesey”; copies of poems given to Hamilton by Lord Monboddo; and copies of a few letters by Mrs Montagu (née Robinson), Horace Walpole, Jonathan Swift (to Dr and Mrs Delany) and Mrs Vesey

iii) Manuscript volume containing autograph copies by Hamilton of letters written by Mrs Delany to her sister Ann Granville Dewes between 1750 and 1758, written out in a small cursive hand between vertical rules, with the dates of the letters in the margins, c.130 pages, folio, contemporary vellum, with Mary Hamilton’s ownership inscription on upper and lower pastedowns, 1784, slight browning, hinges fragile, some wear and staining to binding

Mary Delany's letters to her sister are printed in The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs Delany (see below).

iv) “Catalogue of curiosities at Bullstrode”, inscribed by Hamilton “An Humble attempt to give a description of some of the things in the possession of her Grace the Duchess Dow. of Portland, Bullstrode Nov^rb 1784 | There is not mention’d in the following Catalogue any thing that was not purchased by her Grace or given to her neither are Pictures &c. which the late Earl of Oxford gave to the late Duke of Portland nor any part of the Collection at Welbeck | Mary Hamilton | Clarges Street London”, and comprising detailed descriptions of Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book, two illuminated manuscripts and various miniatures, intaglios and other “curiosities”, a 22-page catalogue of emblems and mottoes on a rosary by Benvenuto Cellini and a 6-page catalogue of the pictures in the hall and dressing-room at Bulstrode; written in Hamilton’s hand and apparently one other, c.75 pages, 4to, stitched into loose gatherings between marbled wrappers, a few loose leaves inserted, November 1784, some fraying and dust-staining

v) “Notes to the Portraits in Woburn Abbey by Horace Walpole”, being a manuscript volume containing descriptions of the portraits and biographical notes, written in an unidentified hand (not Walpole’s), inscribed on first page by Mary Hamilton “By my friend H^ble Horace Walpole”, c.65 pages, 4to, contemporary vellum, dated on two pages (18 June 1782 and 29 September 1791), some light staining

vi) Manuscript anthology of French verses copied out by Charlotte, Princess Royal and presented as a gift to Mary Hamilton, with an autograph inscription by Hamilton on the front endpaper (“The gift of her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Kew, Surrey | The gift of Mary Dickenson to her dear child Louisa Frances Mary Dickenson Sep^br 14^th 1800 Leighton House Beds.”), later bookplate of William Reynell Anson, All Souls College, Oxford, c.120 pages, 8vo, contemporary calf, dust-staining to first and last few leaves, lacking spine, covers and endpapers detached