Name/Title
Letter from Alexander Hamilton III to Mary (Molly) HamiltonEntry/Object ID
HHV 005.44Tags
Accessioned objectDescription
Letter from Alexander Hamilton III to Mary (Molly) HamiltonSubject
Havre packet, vacation, sea bathing, servants, robbers, ladrones, Dragoons, illness of AH Jr., WI illness, Brevoort goes to Italy but does not do Sicilian excursion, Opera, newspapers, the Intelligencer, “Belisario”, “Ipermestra”, “I Puritani”Subject Person/Organization
Alexander Hamilton III, Mary Morris Hamilton Schuyler, James Alexander Hamilton, George Jerningham, Washington Irving, Madame Albuquerque, Henry BrevoortSubject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Madrid, Spain, France, Pyrenees, Paris, France, San Sebastian, Spain, Escurial, Spain, La Granja, Spain, Naples, Italy, Malta, Sicily, ItalyCollection
Hamilton CollectionCataloged By
Tara R. IacobellisCategory
Documentary Artifact
Communication Artifacts
Acquisition
Source (if not Accessioned)
J.C. HamiltonNotes
J.C. Hamilton : Donor
Credit Line: Source: J. C. HamiltonLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
LetterNomenclature Primary Object Term
CorrespondenceNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLetter Details
Letter Date
May 24, 1843Postmark
Date and Time of Postmark
[POSTMARK - circle, red ink] NEW YORK JUN 20Sender
Name
A. H.Address
May 24th
43.
James A. Hamilton Esq.’r
(for Miss M. H.)
Nevis
Westchester County
New York U.S.Addressee
Name
James A. Hamilton Esq.’rTranscription
Transcription
Madrid May 24th Wednesday 1843
Yesterday and today, my dear M. I must mark with / a white bean; yesterday I received your letter of the 27h April, / a long one from Geroge of the 28h, and a very pretty little letter / (partly crossed) from [Widow?] Ray, “Patte de velours” full of pretty / little things and asking me to write : _ today I have papa’s from / Nevis full of farm and politics _ how could I be better off? _ /
I’m very sorry however to learn the separation of / Fanny and Rebecca : thou abominable men! How could they break / up such a nice little menage _ of general news we have only / scraps _ revival of trade + business _ Webster + commercial treaty +c / and nothing about MacKenzie : we hope to have papers by the Havre / packet in a day or two : -
As the season advance the gay world here is breaking / up and leaving for France and the other side of the Pyrennees / generally _ The English Embassy dissolves away and nothing is left / but the [lone] Secretary, Jerningham, Lord Stafford’s son, who exhibits / himself about once a month : Mrs Scott and her family are / off in the beginning [^ of June] probably not to return : Mr. Aston (Don / Arturo) ditto in the beginning of July : the last is a great loss. / he has been so kind + cordial and is such a bright agreable / fellow that as Mr. I says nobody can replace him :
[END OF PAGE 1]
Mad. Albuquerque and her little family go to San Sebastian for the / sea bathing and last + most of all Uncle Geoffrey leaves in about / a month for France generally to be absent during the hot months, / I suppose until September : Master Ames goes with him and after / a short stay in Paris returns in July to his native land and / thus your poor little brother will be left all among in this big / city in the honorable post of Chargé daffaires ad interim _ A Despatch / has been written this morning announcing the move to the Department / accompanied again with forces compli[???ens?]’ to the Secretary – [^ Then] you / see we are to lose all the fringes to the legation and be reduced to / the working members : /
Much as I lose by Mr. I’s departure I have been / strongly urging him [& to it] as I consider it quite essential to the recovery / of his health, now a good deal broken by their long continued illness _ he / will probably join Mr. [Storrow?] somewhere on the Sea Coast _ Dont say much about it this however unless you hear of it thro’ his family.
My little excursion to the Pyrennees vanishes of course and / I am chained here thro the hot weather save perhaps some very little / excursions to Escurial, La Granja, +c. _ I intend to be always in the / best spirits, keep cool if possible, read a great deal, and especially the / many minute accounts which you + Angel will write to me from / Nevis : = with one or two servants I shall occupy the whole of this / large apartment, and by way of variety move my particular habita: / :tion from one point to another _ by way of keeping up my English I / shall drag Jerningham out of his den now and then and practice a / little : _ It is raining cats + dogs [^(a true spring shower)] and i have just opened the shutters / for more light as I am writing towards 5 P.M. ____ /
[END OF PAGE 2]
I wrote to papa a long political letter yesterday with an account / of the troubles we have lately gone through : the Robbers taking advantage / of the confusion are robbing diligences and attacking estafettes innume: / rable _ Mrs. Scott and her maid are in a fever of alarm and have / a most formidable list of casualties of late occurrence : In spite / of my advice to the contrary she will carry her jewels with her, and / this would prove a rich prize : Some time since at the Opera we were / taking over these matters at the Opera with Col’o Townley (Courrier du / Cabinet) and we did our best to laugh her out of her fears : Well, two / nights after the gallant Col’o leaves the absence [^ Embassy] at midnight after a / merry parting and with an Escort of 6 or 8 Dragoons : _ about 8 miles / from the CIty he was attacked by a party of 12 or 15 ladrones legiti : / :mos and after a sharp skirmish and good deal of firing the gentlemen / of the road were beaten off; one of the escort being wounded : the na [page torn] / this little adventure next morning did not tend to reassure the [page torn] / and was a queer commentary on the Col’s remarks. /
By my letter to Papa you will see I have been a little / unwell _ I mentioned it lest Mr. Irving should allude to it : I was “en la / cama” for about a fortnight and the spanish servants were as kind and / attentive as could be : Juana our nice little housekeeper, have me a large / share of the care + interest which she in general bestows upon her cars + / doves : _ It was not unpleasant to lie quietly in a darkened room and follow / you all in imagination through your various positions _ At this present / writing I am convalescent, and hope to be out again as usually in about a week : /
I have a letter from Brevoort at Naples _ he arrived there in / time for the excursion to Malta + round Sicily; but abandoned it at the last / moment as I was afraid he would _ I’m sorry now, I hurried him off from / here as he missed one or two lions [^ here] in the neighbourhood _ he always will /
[END OF PAGE 3]
Require some one to jog his elbow _ Its a thousand pities that with / so much ability + acquiremnet there should be so little energy to make / any thing of them. __
In Mr. Irving’s absence I shall advise him to have / his newspapers forwarded wherever he may be, and I should like you to send me / by the Havre Packets once or twice a month a little bundle of Intelligencer’s if / Papa takes them the paper : two or three in a bundle selected : the packages must / be opened at both ends and addressed to the minister of US Madrid _ Since wri : / :ting the above Mr. I says he won’t stop the papers “en route” as he will find them in /
[BOTTOM OF PAGE 4]
Abundance : you may send however occasionally such a little bundle as I have / mentioned :
Our Opera is quite good : a new “Empresario” has taken the management / and he succeeds admirably : Salvatori our new ‘basso is first rate : Belisario has / been given and Salvatori, who first brought out the part at Milan acts and sings / it to perfection _ last night they gave the Barber in grand style _ I hope to / be soon able to enjoy all this _ the “Puritani” is threated and “Ipermestra’ / The Spanish are very good judges and always support any troupe that /
[END OF PAGE 4]
[CROSSED ON PAGE 1]
Is tolerable __ May 24th (one little week more) and it will be a year since I bid you goodbye / Do you remember our planting out the letters and our ride to the Beekman [^ pond] and that delicious mor: / :ning when we sketched the old church? _ What a pleasure we shall have in visiting / those places again together! I rather think that I look / forward to it most earnestly _ Madrid offers so few / of the amusements of a great capital that one’s thoughts / have full scope to fly back home _ / Don’t forget that I shall be this / summer “a thousand miles from home and / no friends” and that I expect you and A / to write every fortnight be the Steamers _ / Is that asking too much? / Much love to Mama + all
Yours ever A. H.
[END OF PAGE 5]
[CROSSED ON PAGE 2]
PS This letter reminds me a little of the / Archbishop’s homily; and savors a little / of my attack _ I couldn’t bear however / to let the steamer [^ go] with only one letter to / Papa _
[END OF PAGE 6]
[ADDRESS]
May 24th
43.
James A. Hamilton Esq.’r
(for Miss M. H.)
Nevis
Westchester County
New York U.S.
[POSTMARK - circle, red ink]
NEW YORK
JUN
20Language
EnglishOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
H 878General Notes
Note Type
DepartmentNote
LibraryNote Type
Curatorial RemarksNote
Condition: GoodCreated By
CHannanCreate Date
March 4, 2024Updated By
cmonaco@hudsonvalley.orgUpdate Date
October 16, 2025
