Diplomatic Text
[1]
16
typed
25th. July 1779
My dearest dearest dearest friend,
I have now but a moment, therefore
I will say what little I can to you now the rest
must be deferred till 5 o clock tomorrow Morning.
I have not forgot the situation Providence has
placed me in, I can not help however help lamenting
that I am of such rank as to prevent at least
for ye present, my being united to her, whom
alone I can love. I should look upon myself as
the most execrable wretch upon ye face of ye
Earth, if I was wanting in ye smallest tittle
to ye best of Parents, I would not be ye cause
of a moment's unhappineʃs to them for all the Earth
poʃseʃses. Impetuosity, ardor, no word is too
ʃtrong for my present sentiments. I see Beauty
Person, accomplishments, every thing in ʃhort
in you that could make my life happy. But after
tomorrow I will forever close my lips upon
that subject whatever my feelings may be
as it seems to be disagreable to you. Disgraceful
tdo you call it for me to feel such sentiments
for you, I look upon it as ye glory of my life.
I conjure you by all that's sacred to explain
yrself what you mean when you say whatever
appearance things may carry with them, or
however affairs may turn out you ------ will act up
to ye character of my friend. ever dear
ever precious name. You drive me to distraction,
think not I conjure you of ever going, if you
do at present, you will drive me notwith=
=standing all ye. strong principles of
Religion I have had instilled into me, from
my earliest Childhood, to commit some horrid
attempt upon myself, if hereafter you go & retire abroad I
will leave my Country, Parents, family
in short every thing that ought to be
dear to me on Earth, merely to follow
you in order to have ye happineʃs of seeing
her to whom I am so firmly attached. But
after tomorrow I again declare, I will never
for ye. future open my lips to you upon
that subject. Excuse I entreat of
you the violence of my terms, it is upon a
so mucha subject too much connected with my happineʃs
for mye to speak otherwise upon it. You
will ever be my friend, & I hope you
never will find any reason to think me
otherwise than yrs. Adieu
My dearest, dearest, dearest Friend.
P.S. Excuse my writing for I am in prodigious hast, as well as ye stile.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter was originally catalogued as a single item along with GEO/ADD/3/82/16(2), a draft response by Hamilton (to a different letter) written on the verso of p.3. The image has been split to separate the Prince's letter and Hamilton's draft and so differs from that in the Royal Archive, where the two appear as a single item under the original reference of GEO/ADD/3/82/16.
Normalised Text
My dearest dearest dearest friend,
I have now but a moment, therefore
I will say what little I can to you now the rest
must be deferred till 5 o'clock tomorrow Morning.
I have not forgotten the situation Providence has
placed me in, I can not however help lamenting
that I am of such rank as to prevent at least
for the present, my being united to her, whom
alone I can love. I should look upon myself as
the most execrable wretch upon the face of the
Earth, if I was wanting in the smallest tittle
to the best of Parents, I would not be the cause
of a moment's unhappiness to them for all the Earth
possesses. Impetuosity, ardour, no word is too
strong for my present sentiments. I see Beauty
Person, accomplishments, every thing in short
in you that could make my life happy. But after
tomorrow I will forever close my lips upon
that subject whatever my feelings may be
as it seems to be disagreeable to you. Disgraceful
do you call it for me to feel such sentiments
for you, I look upon it as the glory of my life.
I conjure you by all that's sacred to explain
yourself what you mean when you say whatever
appearance things may carry with them, or
however affairs may turn out you will act up
to the character of my friend. ever dear
ever precious name. You drive me to distraction,
think not I conjure you of ever going, if you
do at present, you will drive me notwithstanding
all the strong principles of
Religion I have had instilled into me, from
my earliest Childhood, to commit some horrid
attempt upon myself, if hereafter you go & retire abroad I
will leave my Country, Parents, family
in short every thing that ought to be
dear to me on Earth, merely to follow
you in order to have the happiness of seeing
her to whom I am so firmly attached. But
after tomorrow I again declare, I will never
for the future open my lips to you upon
that subject. Excuse I entreat of
you the violence of my terms, it is upon a
a subject too much connected with my happiness
for me to speak otherwise upon it. You
will ever be my friend, & I hope you
never will find any reason to think me
otherwise than yours. Adieu
My dearest, dearest, dearest Friend.
P.S. Excuse my writing for I am in prodigious haste, as well as the style.
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
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/3/82/16(1)
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 July 1779
when 25 July 1779 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, regretting that his rank does not allow him [to marry Hamilton].
The Prince vows to speak no more on the subject of his affections for Hamilton, and suggests that if she leaves he will 'commit some horrid attempt upon myself', or follow Hamilton abroad.
A draft note from Hamilton to the Prince, transcribed as GEO/ADD/3/82/16(2), is written on the same sheet and crossed out.
Length: 1 sheet, 423 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: 28 April 2023