The Mary Hamilton Papers : Letter from John Hope to Mrs Mary Catherine Hamilton (née Dufresne)

Hope, John

The Mary Hamilton Papers

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter from John Hope to Mary Hamilton's mother. He returns money that Mary Hamilton had enclosed to him, writing 'I can not but suppose I was equally indebted to your kindness for the Loan of it'. He writes that he would wish to have taken leave of 'you & Miss Hamilton in these lines of Mr. Pope. – "Absent or dead, still let a Friend be dear;" | "A Sigh the absent claims, the Dead a Tear"'. However, he has instead had a 'severe Lesson, that however disgusting Flattery may be to Women of Understanding, Sincerity is not the Virtue to retain their Friendship'. He writes that 'whatever I have done to forfeit your friendship, was not intentionally done to offend you'.</p>