Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3012
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE Feb 12 1805
AUTHOR Alice Ann Hoffman, (Mrs. Anne H Nicholas), (A. A. Hoffman)
RECIPIENT Judge Josiah Ogden Hoffman (New York)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Mrs. Ogden, Mamma, Eliza, Louise Livingstons, Miss Bard,
Cooper, Papa, Grandmama, Matilda, Ogden, Mary, Mr. D[unrecovered],
PLACES Abaellino, Albany, French Church
KEYWORDS Letter, 19th century, boarding school, women's education, female
education, family letters, child to parent letters, party at Louise
Livingstons, Miss Bard gives a ball, Tragedy of Hamlet, Ball, Party,
play, dissipations, box seating, performers, performance,
New York- Feb 12 1805-
My dear father,
According to your request I enclosed you a letter for Mrs. Ogden/ I have left it open for your perusal and hope it [inserted:will] please you better than the/ other one- Mamma received your affectionate letter this morning, and we/ all feel grateful to you for writing to us so often, as our anxiety about you/ is very great- I hope your visit to Albany this winter will be pleasanter/ than the last on your account, and that you will not be detained/ longer than you expect on our account- We all regret your absence/ very much- and the house is quite solitary without you- I have been/ but to one party since you left us, and I have made a resolution to go/ but but to very few, and you will see how well I keep it- Eliza and/ myself are invited to a party at Louise Livingstons this evening, and/ for particular reasons Mamma does not think proper we should go-/ Miss Bard gives a ball on Friday- and I am going to send a refusal/ I know my dear father this will please you better than if I was to/ go- and since I displeased you by my Dissipations when you were/ at home, I am determined to please you by my Retirement now/ you are away- and I hope it will serve to make amends for my/ former behavior-/
Now my dear Papa guess who has been to see us- some/ great man of course- why - Cooper!! Eliza and myself went to see/ him in Abaellino, and were very much delighted After the play Mr/ D[unrecovered] came into out box, and I asked him to bring Cooper to see/ us- he said if I would be at home Sunday at one o’clock he would bring/ him- I thought he was jesting, and never thought of it afterwards- I went/ to French Church on Sunday, and after Church paid one or two visits/ when I came home Eliza told me he had been here!! You may/ think how I regretted not being at home- Eliza was very much pleased/ with him- but Grandmama did not like it at all- she talked of it/ for a whole day, and woke me up at one o’clock at night to/ talk to me about it- The only reason she disliked it is because he is an/ actor and it seems that the tragedy of Hamlet has left so great an im-/ -pression on her mind, that she has an aversion to all performers-/ she thinks that as he happened to come here once that we of course/ must be intimately acquainted with him- but don’t believe that/ he will ever come again-/
[END OF PAGE 1]
The baby quite misses you- and so do we all- We have not heard from/ Matilda since you left us- Nor from Ogden- Mary sends her love/ to you and so does Mamma and Eliza-/
My hand is so cramped, and my pen is so bad/ I can scarcely write-/
But believe me my dear father,
Ever and forever-/
Your affectionate Child-/
A. A. Hoffman
[END OF PAGE 2]
[Address]
Alice Ann Hoffman
New York/ Feb/ 12
Josiah Ogden Hoffman Esqr/
Albany/
[Postmark: New York, Feb 13]
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
