| Title: | Mary Cumming, London to Margaret Craig, Lisburn. |
|---|---|
| ID | 798 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Cumming, Mary/119 |
| Year | 1811 |
| Sender | Cumming (n. Craig), Mary |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | middle class housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | London, England |
| Destination | Lisburn, Co. Antrim, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Craig, Margaret |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | sisters |
| Source | T 1475/2 pp19-22: Copied by Permission of Miss A. McKisack, 9 Mount Pleasant, Belfast. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9404186 |
| Date | 07/09/1811 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | LET |
| Log | Document added by LT, 25:04:1994. |
| Word Count | 1300 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Camden Town. September 7th. 1811. My dearest Margaret, I cannot express how much I am disappointed at not hearing from you before this. I am beginning to feel very uneasy, but I hope most sincerely I will have a letter from you to-day. We left Liverpool for London on Tuesday last, and arrived on Wednesday evening. I was very much fatigued being out all night. We did not stop at Mr Brown's as they live two miles out of London, we went to an inn where we stayed till yesterday evening. On Thursday I saw St. Paul's, the Tower, and all the things worth seeing in it, and in the evening we went to the Lyceum, a very nice little theatre which is open at present. Mr Brown called to see me on Thursday, he is uncle to Mr Brown of Liverpool. I like him very much indeed. He told me Mrs Brown would call the next day and go with me to any place I wished. She did so, and is very attentive to me, I like them both very much. I have got some very handsome silk and cotton stockings, some lace and cotton for morning gowns. Yesterday I bought some very pretty muslin for a gown, it is rather thin with a satin sprig. I also got some striped muslin for morning gowns. Mr Cumming wished me to get a velvet pelisse to take out to America with me. I got it and a hat of the same. It is the most beautiful colour I ever saw, it is a bright green and yellow shot. I think I might venture to send a little bit in my letter, it is quite a new kind. Yesterday I saw Westminster Abbey, which I think better worth seeing than any place in London. You cannot conceive, my dear Margaret, anything so grand and magnificent. St. Paul's is larger and a superb building it is true, but there is something so elegant and noble in Westminster Abbey that surpasses anything I could have imagined. I have this moment got my dear dear Father's letter, which has put London and all other things out of my head. How delighted I am to hear he is well and that you all got safe home. I am so happy that I hardly know what I am doing and saying, I believe I was talking about the Abbey, which I cannot get out of my head. Oh, my dearest Margaret, how I wish you had been with us! I also saw Westminster Hall, and the House of Lords, and crowns and kings and sceptres, and long pikes that belonged to the Spaniards, and as many guns I think as would arm all the men in Europe, and a great hatchet that Queen Mary was beheaded with, I could hardly lift it, and a hundred other things that I do not remember: for believe me seeing so many different objects makes my poor head quite confused. We all dined in London yesterday, and in the evening came to Camden Town where I am now. Mrs Brown has two children, a son and a daughter. Her son is married and lives in Liverpool, Miss Brown is in Ireland at present. But I have got a delightful piece of news to tell you, which is that Mr and Mrs Brown of Liverpool intend to go out to America with us, to spend a few months with their friends in Baltimore. You cannot think how rejoiced I am, as I like them both very much. Mrs Brown is an Irishwoman, they have a lovely little daughter about ten months old. They intend taking a servant with them, she can do anything for me that is necessary. Our passage is taken, we intend going with the "Mentor", a very fine new ship that is now in Liverpool. Mr Brown has taken one of the staterooms and Mr Cumming the other, so that we shall be as comfortable. She will sail on the fifteenth of this month, however I will write to you the day before we leave Liverpool. We think of leaving London on Wednesday next. Mr Cumming went into town to-day on business. The weather here is most delightful, to-day is as warm as any day I ever felt in Ireland. I suppose my Father is busy with his harvest. The country between Liverpool and London is most charming, there is hardly a cottage without a flower garden before the door, and they are all so neat and clean. You will laugh at me when I tell you that I was quite provoked to find that England was so superior to my darling Ireland; but it is not so in every respect, the country is too flat, and when you look around it appears like a great wood. I was quite tired of fine houses and planting, and I felt very pleased when we came within sight of a mountain, which is very seldom met with in England. I think very little of Liverpool, it is a great uninteresting town as ever I saw, and as for London, it is very fine to be sure but I would tire of it in a month. Some of the shops are very superb, but then it is like going through a fair from morning to night. Covent Garden will open on Monday next, we intend going. I was at the Liverpool theatre, it is much the same as the Belfast one, only a little larger. We have not, nor shall we see Mr Crawford, we did not come up through Coventry, so that we could not meet with him, I am very sorry for it. I suppose you have got the last elegant epistle that came from me, I think this is little better, but when I go to America I will take more pains. I hope I will hear from you soon again. You did not mentioned my dear Rachel's name in your letter. Tell her to write a postscript. This is a very pleasant place and I feel quite at home. I wish I was at the buttermilk in the pantry, I think I would take a drink of it. I spoke to Mr Cumming of the sarsnets [sarsenets?], he says he does not know how they would be sent to Ireland, as he does not know anyone going, and it would be uncertain to send them by a stranger. He thinks I could send anything much safer from America with some friend going to Ireland. I feel disappointed as I would very much like to send Miss McCully and my dear Meg some little remembrance, but I will when I go to America. Be sure to write so that I will get your letter before I leave England. I never was better than I am at present, I believe the sea-sickness was of great use to me. I think the ladies dress much the same here as they do in Ireland; the hair is worn very thick in front, and shaded quite to the one side. I expect to be very much entertained on Monday night. The King is not going to die yet, I hope most sincerely he will live till I get away. Has Rachel got her frock made yet, does she go to school this winter? I saw St. James's Palace, it is a great big ugly black building as ever I saw. Give my most affectionate love to all my friends at Strawberry Hill, and to Miss McCully and Margaret. I fear they would charge double postage if I sent a pattern of the velvet, but I will send it at the first opportunity. Farewell! my darling Margaret! Write soon, and believe me Your most sincerely attached Mary Cumming. Miss Craig, Strawberry Hill, Lisburn. IRELAND. |
