Name/Title
Letter from Alexander Hamilton III to James Alexander HamiltonEntry/Object ID
HHV 005.13Tags
Accessioned object, Curator ApprovedDescription
Letter from Alexander Hamilton III to James Alexander HamiltonSubject
Christmas, “doleful finale of the Wedding day”, sending money for gifts for sisters, The Great Western, mail Packet, Barouche Sleigh, Irving’s has a cold, Carnival, Masqued Balls, Private Balls, Marino Faliero”, Opera, “The new dynasty at the Farm house”, New York Spectator article on Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, Orphan Asylum, “new daughter” (of Eliza Hamilton)Subject Person/Organization
Alexander Hamilton III, James Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Schuyler, George Schuyler, Washington Irving, Eliza Schuyler HamiltonSubject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Madeira, Spain, New York, Madrid, SpainCataloged By
Tara R. IacobellisCategory
Documentary Artifact
Communication Artifacts
Acquisition
Source (if not Accessioned)
J.C. HamiltonNotes
J.C. Hamilton : Donor
Credit Line: J.C. HamiltonTranscription
Transcription
Madrid Tuesday Eve. Jan.y 31’ 1843
[STAMP OF SHR, black ink, illuminated candle graphic]
My dear Papa,
This day and the three or four last have been / more like the end of June than if this wintry month _ We walk / our without Coat or Cloak and find everybody crowding to the / shady side: The air is so sofy and dry and the sky so clear, / that it recalls our beautiful days at Rome _ The Spaniards / seem to me a very ungrateful race to speak so harshly of / their climate of Madrid: This year we have had few disagreeable / days, and many delightful ones.
I heard of you all and your Merry Christmas / party and the doleful finale of the Wedding day from Eliza + / George, who wrote me long agreable letters on the best day of / the year: _ I do not expect to hear from you again for two or three / weeks but I fill up the interval very agreably by allowing my / imagination + memory full scope, when I picture to myself / a happy family in a quiet comfortable home. How does our / Barouche Sleigh answer? I see in the Papers that you have / an abundance of snow, and I cannot doubt that you have given / it a fair trial.
I am writing for the Great Western, and can’t help envy:
[END OF PAGE 1]
:ing this sheet its visit to Madeira and pleasant Southern passage / and more than all its *whereabouts* on the 4h March, which is / the day I fix for its arrival.
As it appears from Eliza’s letter that the Girls / will make their visit to the City a little earlier in the Winter / than was at first proposed, I have not waited, as I last wrote / you I should, for the Packet of March, but send this Evening / with their letter to honest Miller, a check for £ 50, which I / have told him to forward to you in the form he thinks best. It / may enable you to afford these dear Girls some of the pleasures they / deserve, and thus gratify us all a thousand times more than in / any way _ /
We are all in good health save Mr. Irving who / has a slight cold within a day or two which we attribute to this / mild weather, and his having become overheard in walking: his / general health is better than that of any, and could not be improved.
We have had some Masqued + Private Balls, tho the / Carneval has not yet begun in good earnest: at its height they indulge / in all sorts of fooleries, and go about the streets by day + night in / the most fantastic disguises: The Masquerade Balls begin between / 12 + one, and are kept up some hours after daylight. My ears are / still ringing with the Babel of female voices at their shrillest point,
[END OF PAGE 2]
Which almost deafened me two nights ago: The men generally / go without disguise; the women all in mask mask, and they use or abuse this advantage without mercy . _
11 P.M. After writing thus far, I went to see the first representation / of “Marino Faliero” a beautiful Opera, miserably given: The only good / voice, the Tenor, is unfortunately killed in the second act, and the interest / of the piece died with him.
I wrote you fully about my views in regard to a / connection with Mr. Griffin in business, in my last letter, and will / only add [^ repeat] that I should be delighted with such an arrangement: / I am improving my opportunities here by going through the Laws of the / United States carefully and my old friends Blackstone + De Lolme [page torn]
Should be very glad to return this summer, or next autumn, or [page torn]
If you make some such arrangement for me _ I have been separa - / ted from you quite long enough during the last 16 months, to make / me very impatient under a much longer absence _ As soon as you / think there is an opening, let me know it:
During the Girls visit to the City, I suppose / they will hardly have time to wrote to me, and I hope you / will employ some of your leisure moments at Nevis in telling / about Mama and yourself: _ The new dynasty at the farm / House begins in a month: I want to hear more particularly / about them:
II Tell Grandmama [inserted later, pencil: Mrs. Alexander Hamilton _] how delighted I was to meet with /
[END OF PAGE 3]
A paragraph in the N. York Spectator which spoke of her so / active and in such good health at a meeting of the Directresses / of the Orphan Asylum _ I’m afraid she is so much engrossed / with hew new daughter that an absent Grandson will be / entirely forgotten.
I send a great many kisses to my dearest Mama / and to the Girls if they are at home, which I doubt _ I / must bid you good night and seal and despatch quickly, for the / Mail is off at Midnight:
Your affectionate son
Alex፣ Hamilton
J. A. Hamilton Esq.
[ADDRESS]
James A. Hamilton Esq.
[STAMP OF SHR, black ink, illuminated candle graphic]
Dobbs Ferry
Westchester County
New York
U.S.
[RED WAX SEAL]
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
1843
Jany 31Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
EnglishOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
H 346Created By
CHannanCreate Date
February 29, 2024Updated By
cmonaco@hudsonvalley.orgUpdate Date
September 29, 2025
