Diplomatic Text
Caldas June 23d. 1781
My Dear Miʃs ——
I have not only a very kind Letter to thank you
for to myself, but also for that directed to Mrs. Fielding, which
came too Late by a few hours for her to receive, and was brought me
by Mr. Fielding, who came into Lisbon just at the same time with
the Packet,[1] and consequently miʃs'd of her, which really was so
mortifying a Circumstance that it quite disturbed the unexpected
Pleasure his Arrival gave us; She saild the 17th. and he got into
Lisbon the very next day. had they but deferr'd their sailing
for a few hours, she would have receiv'd a Letter from him by
the Packet informing her he was coming, and of course it would
have stopt her going. I cannot tell you how vext I feel about
it, for I'm sure it will be a sad Mortification to her when she
knows it, as it was a very great one to him to find her gone.
She had been Obliged to leave us above a fortnight before, that she
might be ready at Lisbon to embark when the Packet saild.
I hope in God she will get safe over, but shall feel very anxious
till I hear of her Arrival, as the packets are always liable to be
taken.[2] I have not given her a Letter for you, as the seeing her
herself, you could satisfy yourself of all particulars about us at
the time she left us. I have charged her with my humble
request to their Majesties for permiʃsion to prolong my stay with
my Son,[3] till his health is more establish'd, for he is too much of
an Invalid still, to enable me to quit him without great anxiety,
which I am sure their Goodneʃs, (of which I have had so much Expe=
=rience) will consider. I certainly have, thank God, great room to
hope
hope, Time and Care will restore him, but his strength returns slow=
=ly and has not of late made so much Progreʃs as when first
he began to recover; I mean particularly with respect to his Limbs,
which still continue to Swell very much, and tho' he can take
Exercise on Horseback (which is a great Circumstance) he is not
Equal to walking, without uneasineʃs to himself, and never can
attempt it for any time together, his Pulse is rather too quick
and he has a Disposition to be rather bloated and heated, that must
require great Attention to be properly managed. his Appetite is
very good rather too much so, and he sleeps generally well, his
Spirits are also very equal, and he is always forming hopes,
that we may compaʃs a return to England, sooner than they
Physical People[4] prescribe. Could he be well enough for me
to leave him with any Satisfaction or Comfort, I hope their Majesties
will believe, nothing should detain me a Moment from my Duty, for
I really suffer to think of the length of my Absence from the Happineʃs,
I should enjoy in performing it, but to leave him ill, and my Mind
Under Anxiety and Uncertainty about him, I know would make me
Unfit for any thing. Mr. Fielding told me how gracious their Majes=
=ties were, in their mention of our situation. I beg my Dear you will
present my Duty and grateful Thanks for it, as well as to all the
dear Princes and Princeʃses. Mrs. Fielding is charged with Letters
from me to their Royal Highneʃses, which I hope she will have
had the honor of delivering before this reaches you. I write by this
same Packet to Miʃs Hamilton, but beg you will charge yourself
with kind remembrances from me to Every body else. I am in some
fear that your next Letter may be directed to Mrs. Fielding and I of course
shall not get it, as hers are all order'd to be stopt at Falmouth now
She is gone, if it should be so, and you recollect any thing in it that
that was meant to me, I must beg you will be so good as to repeat it.
My Health, which you so kindly enquire after, is vastly mended, and
we have nothing to fear from heat, for contrary to all I had ever heard
of Portugal, we have not yet experienced one Day so hot as by Mr-
Fieldings Account you have had in England, and never hardly are
without rain, and Northerly Winds. You will know from Mrs. Fielding
all I could tell you about Caldas, so I will now only add how
sensible I am of all your kind Anxieties about me and how
Sincerely & Affectionately, I am, and ever shall be, Yrs. -- C. Finch
Caldes July 4th. 1781
My Dear Miʃs ——,
I am writing a few Lines by way of Duplicate,
to a long Letter that I have this Moment finish'd to you, to acquaint
you of the distreʃsing and Mortifying Intelligence we received last
Night of the Mercury Packet being taken, that was carrying Mrs-
Fielding to England, together with Mr. & Mrs. Graham; they are
thank God well, and landed at Vigo, in Spain. It was an
American Privateer that took them, after a Chace of 12 hours,
2 Days after they sail'd from Lisbon. Their Horror was great
to find that they were fallen into such hands, but they proved
very humane to them, the 26th. of June they were landed at
Vigo, from whence Mrs. Fielding wrote me a Letter that was
8 Days coming. You may imagine how distreʃs'd we are about
it, but hope we shall be able to get her back here safe, all the
Particulars I have sent you in my Letter that goes by sea, but
least any Accident or delay should retard the Veʃsel that carries it,
[5]
I determin'd to send this Duplicate by the Land Post. I have
enclosed in my other Letter a Note to Miʃs Hamilton, to say Mr. &
Mrs. Graham & Miʃs Cathcart were all well, that she might inform
Ldy. Stormont of it, in case she had not receiv'd any Intelligence
about them. I am so hurried by the person that carries this
to Lisbon to save the Land Post that I can only add my Duty
and Love as due, and must refer you to my other Letter of this
same Date, for every thing else
from Yr- ever Afftne- CFinch
Lord Winchelsea goes on as well as when I wrote last, but is
slow in recovering Strength.
I wrote to you & to Miʃs Hamilton by a Packet that sail'd
the 1st. of this Month, and had long before wrote 3 Letters to
the Princeʃses with which poor Mrs. Fielding was charged.
(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
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Notes
1. The Post Office Packet Ship, which also carried passengers and private goods. The admiralty took over the service in 1823 and it was disbanded in 1850.
2. By privateers, as in fact happened in this case (see below).
3. George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea, who was at this time Lieutenant-colonel of the 87th Foot (deployed to the Leeward Isles during the American Revolutionary War). It is possible his illness described here is due to being wounded in action.
4. That is, physicians (OED s.v. physical adj. 1b).
5. The top third of this sheet is blank. Small crosses link the resumed text to the last word on p.3.
Normalised Text
Caldas June 23d. 1781
My Dear Miss Goldsworthy
I have not only a very kind Letter to thank you
for to myself, but also for that directed to Mrs. Fielding, which
came too Late by a few hours for her to receive, and was brought me
by Mr. Fielding, who came into Lisbon just at the same time with
the Packet, and consequently missed of her, which really was so
mortifying a Circumstance that it quite disturbed the unexpected
Pleasure his Arrival gave us; She sailed the 17th. and he got into
Lisbon the very next day. had they but deferred their sailing
for a few hours, she would have received a Letter from him by
the Packet informing her he was coming, and of course it would
have stopped her going. I cannot tell you how vexed I feel about
it, for I'm sure it will be a sad Mortification to her when she
knows it, as it was a very great one to him to find her gone.
She had been Obliged to leave us above a fortnight before, that she
might be ready at Lisbon to embark when the Packet sailed.
I hope in God she will get safe over, but shall feel very anxious
till I hear of her Arrival, as the packets are always liable to be
taken. I have not given her a Letter for you, as the seeing her
herself, you could satisfy yourself of all particulars about us at
the time she left us. I have charged her with my humble
request to their Majesties for permission to prolong my stay with
my Son, till his health is more established, for he is too much of
an Invalid still, to enable me to quit him without great anxiety,
which I am sure their Goodness, (of which I have had so much Experience
) will consider. I certainly have, thank God, great room to
hope, Time and Care will restore him, but his strength returns slowly
and has not of late made so much Progress as when first
he began to recover; I mean particularly with respect to his Limbs,
which still continue to Swell very much, and though he can take
Exercise on Horseback (which is a great Circumstance) he is not
Equal to walking, without uneasiness to himself, and never can
attempt it for any time together, his Pulse is rather too quick
and he has a Disposition to be rather bloated and heated, that must
require great Attention to be properly managed. his Appetite is
very good rather too much so, and he sleeps generally well, his
Spirits are also very equal, and he is always forming hopes,
that we may compass a return to England, sooner than the
Physical People prescribe. Could he be well enough for me
to leave him with any Satisfaction or Comfort, I hope their Majesties
will believe, nothing should detain me a Moment from my Duty, for
I really suffer to think of the length of my Absence from the Happiness,
I should enjoy in performing it, but to leave him ill, and my Mind
Under Anxiety and Uncertainty about him, I know would make me
Unfit for any thing. Mr. Fielding told me how gracious their Majesties
were, in their mention of our situation. I beg my Dear you will
present my Duty and grateful Thanks for it, as well as to all the
dear Princes and Princesses. Mrs. Fielding is charged with Letters
from me to their Royal Highnesses, which I hope she will have
had the honour of delivering before this reaches you. I write by this
same Packet to Miss Hamilton, but beg you will charge yourself
with kind remembrances from me to Every body else. I am in some
fear that your next Letter may be directed to Mrs. Fielding and I of course
shall not get it, as hers are all ordered to be stopped at Falmouth now
She is gone, if it should be so, and you recollect any thing in it
that was meant to me, I must beg you will be so good as to repeat it.
My Health, which you so kindly enquire after, is vastly mended, and
we have nothing to fear from heat, for contrary to all I had ever heard
of Portugal, we have not yet experienced one Day so hot as by Mr-
Fieldings Account you have had in England, and never hardly are
without rain, and Northerly Winds. You will know from Mrs. Fielding
all I could tell you about Caldas, so I will now only add how
sensible I am of all your kind Anxieties about me and how
Sincerely & Affectionately, I am, and ever shall be, Yours -- Charlotte Finch
Caldes July 4th. 1781
My Dear Miss ——,
I am writing a few Lines by way of Duplicate,
to a long Letter that I have this Moment finished to you, to acquaint
you of the distressing and Mortifying Intelligence we received last
Night of the Mercury Packet being taken, that was carrying Mrs-
Fielding to England, together with Mr. & Mrs. Graham; they are
thank God well, and landed at Vigo, in Spain. It was an
American Privateer that took them, after a Chase of 12 hours,
2 Days after they sailed from Lisbon. Their Horror was great
to find that they were fallen into such hands, but they proved
very humane to them, the 26th. of June they were landed at
Vigo, from whence Mrs. Fielding wrote me a Letter that was
8 Days coming. You may imagine how distressed we are about
it, but hope we shall be able to get her back here safe, all the
Particulars I have sent you in my Letter that goes by sea, but
lest any Accident or delay should retard the Vessel that carries it,
I determined to send this Duplicate by the Land Post. I have
enclosed in my other Letter a Note to Miss Hamilton, to say Mr. &
Mrs. Graham & Miss Cathcart were all well, that she might inform
Lady Stormont of it, in case she had not received any Intelligence
about them. I am so hurried by the person that carries this
to Lisbon to save the Land Post that I can only add my Duty
and Love as due, and must refer you to my other Letter of this
same Date, for every thing else
from Your ever Affectionate Charlotte Finch
Lord Winchelsea goes on as well as when I wrote last, but is
slow in recovering Strength.
I wrote to you & to Miss Hamilton by a Packet that sailed
the 1st. of this Month, and had long before written 3 Letters to
the Princesses with which poor Mrs. Fielding was charged.
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Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letters from Charlotte Finch to Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/29
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Caldas da Rainha
Addressee: Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
Place received: unknown
Date sent: from 23 June to 4 July 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Finch, written in two parts, with two dates. It seems to be written to Miss Goldsworthy and is addressed to ‘My Dear Miss ——' but makes reference to sending a letter to Hamilton by the same packet. In HAM/1/12/31 Finch notes that she has sent a fuller letter to Goldsworthy on the subject of Mrs Fielding’s ‘tragedy’. This subseries does contain other letters from Finch to Goldsworthy.
Dated at Caldas.
Length: 1 sheet, 1130 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).
All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.
Acknowledgements: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 24 April 2020)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021