Transcription
[IN PENCIL]
Pleasant letter
1843
[BEGIN LETTER]
“Madrid Thursday Evening Feby. 9th 1843
Minuit”
My dearest M
I have just said ‘good night’ to our friend the Minister / who after doing an hour in his Arm chair flashed up bright, /. Merry and amusing before going to bed : The young Gentlemen have / retired long since, and I have this huge parlour to myself in a / silence and stillness so great that it would be oppressive if I / had not you here to talk with me _ In strong contrast to the fine / days of the last Month we have (yesterday and today) a cold / rain and snow storm, and this morning the white roofs, dark [uni - / ???] sky, and large flakes of snow almost persuaded me that I / had waked in Laight Street: Notwithstanding the weather; Made / + Mons d’ Albuquerque and the illustrious “Don” dined with us / sociably and a very pleasant dinner + Evening did we pass to: / :gether _ just before they arrived the mail came (having been detained / by the storm) and as I entered the drawing room Mr. Irving handed / me your letter of 29 Dec’r _ He too had a letter from the Cottage, so / that we were in the best spirits to receive the party; and when / you consider that with the exception of honest José, we were all / from Gotham, and to the manor born, and moreover the only / New Yorkers or even Americans in this large city, you will under: / :stand the feeling which predominated _ Uncle Geoffrey was in the / vein and gave us many odd stories, and fought off successfully / the sleepy fit, which as I have said only conquered him about / 11: _
I am delighted with your letter, which has just passed / to a quiet comfortable second reading; to be tasted or as the French / say better “savoured”, for at the first I am so impatient that I / swallow it all without attending to particulars _ I have very /
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Pleasant letters from [GSS?] and [Bow?] later then yours but they cannot / fill up the gaps in the Nevis life, which it is a delight to me to follow / in the smallest particulars _ Your boned chickens, sleigh rides excursions + / [skating?] parties are all to me delightful realities and I fight all your / battles over again with so much interest that I can almost convince my: / :self that I have taken a part in them. _ How does it happen the on the / 1st Jan.y you had only received my letters of the middle of Nov.? It seems / to me that letters of later date had been acknowledged some time before _ /
Fanny Ludlow’s relapse is a great disappointment _ I wrote to Aunt / Julia in Dec’r to congratulate her on the good nws; and now wish I could / recall it: I’m afraid it will prove the reverse of what I intended:
We are leading a quiet life and very much at home; / the attachés go no where in Society: Mr. Irving has been a little unwell, / and has not ventured out for some days tho he seems now entirely received / and therefore all the wriggling falls to my lot: I have been at two or three / masked balls: rather amusing and some diplomatic dinners rather the reverse. / but as the Carneval advances great things are promised: a bal costumé an / the last Sunday at the Duchess of Peñaranda’s is to be a magnificent affair, / and the quadrilles are practising daily _ There will be a thorough complete / exhibition of the Old Spanish Jewels and rich dresses and the specimens / I have seen are very handsome: _ at her last ball the lady told me not / to fail in the costume but we foreign gentleman with one or two exceptions / have pleaded official Italien, and must be allowed to look on in our proper / characters _ They are some promising subscription balls at the fine Palace / of villa hermosa, and the connoisseurs predict much fun and foolery: I / confess I am curious to see [^ the] Spanish liveliness and love of adventure in / full sway:
I wrote our friend Miss Julia a note of congratulation as soon / as I heard of the Engagement, which I suppose will be read by Mrs. Livingston / It must be owned Julia Augusta Livingston sounds very well and is / such an improvement on the former lame conclusion, that it should pass / for something in considering the arrangement: I know so little of the [crossed out] /
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[unrecovered]
I hope you will see in [Gulisnami???] the flourish about Mary / Jones’ wedding of which we have most amusing accounts. Mama ???? is / to give a grand ball when the bride returns, and taking the Duke of Clermont / Tonnerre’s visiting list, shoots right and left among the great people of the / Faubourg and will no doubt bag a good many: Can you imagine any / thing more unpleasant to a person of proper feeling? Mrs The Widow is jus- [page torn] /
the same, and thinks it right [^ necessary] to apologise for every thing she does; In their / progress among the beau monday she will find it hard work now and / then _ Uncle Geoffrey grains over their folly _ Good night to you + all:
Saturday Ev’e February 11th The French Courier set off last night but as the stories of / the “Cabinet noir” in Paris, and the liberties then taken with soft wax, are quite [current?correct?] / We have waited for the English man tonight _ the weather continues raw and chilly and / eyt in the Garden under our windows the rose bushes are in leaf and the almond / tree in bloom:
To night we go to the English Embassy to hear the second act of / The Pirate [Verdi’s Il corsaro] which I expect will be delightfully given: young Arcos, with one of the / fairest voices I have ever heard affords us this pleasure: The Dresses, scenery + / Orquestra are, I am told, admirably managed _
Mr. Irving has bought a very clever [^pair] of [some?] Spanish Horses, which altho / 6 + 7 years old + matched have yet to be broken to harness; meantime he + Brevoort / hold learned consultations over Great Coats, Capes, and Cockades, and the result / promises to be a very quiet respectable equipage _ In looking at your letter /
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[unrecovered]
Hours, tho I confess to you I find the days very short for all that I wish to / accomplish _ I have been busy of late with Dan Oakey who leaves on the 1st / of March and perhaps Brevoort accompanies him _ Oakey is so entirely wanting / in the foreign lingos that a friend who can speak either French or Spanish is absolutely / necessary:
It is the greatest comfort to me that you are all in such good health / and apparently in good spirits and I pray sincerely that it may be so when I return / to you again: Tho a separation could not increase, it has shown me how /
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[CROSSED ON PAGE 1]
Strong is my attachment to you all and how entirely every other consideration in the / world sinks before it: love to Mama, Angel + Papa. your affectionate A. H.
[ADDRESS]
[one third of page missing]
13 Laight St [in blue ink]
James A Hamilton Esq.
(for Miss M. H)
Nevis
Westchester C-
New Yor-
U..-
[RED POSTMARK, faint, partially illegible] New- MAR 21
[RED WAX SEAL, no imprint visible]
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
-ander
-adrid
Feb.y 9th
1843Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
