Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/82/13

Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


13

15th. July 1779

My dearest dearest dearest Friend,

      I hope yr. sejour has been very
agreable, at least more so than you thought
it would have been. As to ye. invitation
you mentioned, I could not help doing otherwise
than I did.[1] I was a told by a friend of
ye Inviterd
that he had seen him where
you know, and that he had invited him,
but that the other had said he could not
come just then, but should be glad to
come another time, but that it must be soon
for he had busineʃs of consequence
that would call him into ye Country
within a day oracc two, accordingly I was



obliged to invite him immediately.
      I flatter myself that my
sweet friend
was not much offended
with the little caution I gave, if that
ever should ever happen again, pray
attribute it only to inadvertency. I
know you so well that I am certain
you do not ʃtand in need of it. I
beg you will give me an account how
you paʃsed yr. time and how you amused
yourself at —— I am sure that
every thing is nothing to me asif you are
not present. Pray inform me also
if you have heard any reports, whether
we are to take another jaunt to ——



soon or not. You must think that
what I write is very unconnected pray
excuse it wherever you find it so for
whenever I write it is at little moments
which I ʃteal par ci par là. Do not
be afraid of writing, for I am sure what
you write would do honor to any body,
Remember what Pope says upon Letters
      Heav'n first taught Letters, for some Wretches aid,
Some banished Lover, or some captive Maid;
They live, they speak, they breathe, what Love inspires,
Warm from ye Soul, and faithful to its fires,
The Virgins wish without her fears impart
Excuse ye blush, and pour out all ye heart.
Spead ye soft intercourse from Soul to Soul.
And waft a Sigh from Indus to ye. Pole.

I have now nothing more to add my sweetest
Friend
, than that I ever shall be
                             yr. sincerely affectionate Friend
                                 & Admirer.


[2]



Part of No 13

      Since I wrote this Letter I understand
from ye ——[3] that we are to go to —— to morrow
Evening. Let me also know when you write
whether I am to have ye happineʃs of meeting
you there, or not. Believe me I ever shall be
yr. sincere admirer and affectionate Friend.
                                                         Adieu.

15 July 1779


[4]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. The sentence blends ‘could not do otherwise than I did’ and ‘could not help doing what I did’.
 2. This page is blank.
 3. In view of the deleted ye, the informant is most likely the King or Queen.
 4. This page is blank.

Normalised Text




My dearest dearest dearest Friend,

      I hope your sejour has been very
agreeable, at least more so than you thought
it would have been. As to the invitation
you mentioned, I could not help doing otherwise
than I did. I was told by a friend of
the Invited that he had seen him where
you know, and that he had invited him,
but that the other had said he could not
come just then, but should be glad to
come another time, but that it must be soon
for he had business of consequence
that would call him into the Country
within a day or two, accordingly I was



obliged to invite him immediately.
      I flatter myself that my
sweet friend was not much offended
with the little caution I gave, if that
should ever happen again, pray
attribute it only to inadvertency. I
know you so well that I am certain
you do not stand in need of it. I
beg you will give me an account how
you passed your time and how you amused
yourself at —— I am sure that
every thing is nothing to me if you are
not present. Pray inform me also
if you have heard any reports, whether
we are to take another jaunt to ——



soon or not. You must think that
what I write is very unconnected pray
excuse it wherever you find it so for
whenever I write it is at little moments
which I steal par ci par là. Do not
be afraid of writing, for I am sure what
you write would do honour to any body,
Remember what Pope says upon Letters
      Heav'n first taught Letters, for some Wretches aid,
Some banished Lover, or some captive Maid;
They live, they speak, they breathe, what Love inspires,
Warm from the Soul, and faithful to its fires,
The Virgins wish without her fears impart
Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart.
Spead the soft intercourse from Soul to Soul.
And waft a Sigh from Indus to the Pole.

I have now nothing more to add my sweetest
Friend, than that I ever shall be
                             your sincerely affectionate Friend
                                 & Admirer.







      Since I wrote this Letter I understand
from —— that we are to go to —— to morrow
Evening. Let me also know when you write
whether I am to have the happiness of meeting
you there, or not. Believe me I ever shall be
your sincere admirer and affectionate Friend.
                                                         Adieu.




(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. The sentence blends ‘could not do otherwise than I did’ and ‘could not help doing what I did’.
 2. This page is blank.
 3. In view of the deleted ye, the informant is most likely the King or Queen.
 4. This page is blank.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: Windsor Castle, The Royal Archives

Archive: GEO/ADD/3 Additional papers of George IV, as Prince, Regent, and King

Item title: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/82/13

Correspondence Details

Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)

Place sent: unknown

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: c.15 July 1779
notBefore 14 July 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 15 July 1779 (precision: high)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on his reasons for inviting someone at short notice; and discussing when he will next see her.
    Includes a poem by Alexander Pope, 'Heaven first taught letters...' [Eloisa to Abelard].
   

Length: 2 sheets, 416 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: XML version: Transcription and Research Assistant funding in 2018/19 provided by the Student Experience Internship programme of the University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Emma Donington Kiey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Emma Donington Kiey (submitted June 2019)

Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors

Revision date: 2 November 2021

Document Image (pdf)