Diplomatic Text
27
Thursday 26th August
1779 10 oClock --
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend,
I conjure of you by all that is
sacred, to relieve my anxiety and that as
expeditiously as you can. Yr. answer yr.
going to Town, these circumstances have
alarmed me very much, if it is any
thing concerning our separation which I dread, I conjure
you to inform by letting yr. answer be
to ye. Bearer, be simply Yes, if what
I hope it is, merely for some common
little affairs let ye answer be simply
No[1] pray let it be ye. latter, I
have not a moment to add any thing
more at present, except, that May
God preserve you wherever you go. Adieu
yr. Palemon toujours de même
[2]
[3]
[4]
Adieu for ye present. If love, affection
esteem, friendʃhip, regard can compensate
you My loveliest, dearest, sweetest
Friend. for any thing you have now
given up, you will alever[5] be sure of finding
all these paʃsions inherent, in ye.
heart of
Yr. sincerely affectionate
Friend.
P.S.[6]
I have order'd ye - [7] B—— I hope
I ʃhall have ye. happineʃs my ʃelf to
bind it upon yr. Arm on Saturday next at
W—— we all of us go on Friday Night. viz.
My two Brothers myself, & my 3 Sisters
with Sr.. George Meltam[8] (excuse that little
piece of ridicule), & on ye next morning you
arrive with ye. rest of ye. little Fry. I conjure
you to give me an answer concerning yr. disappoin-
=ting others. you gave me some little insight into yr.
situation when we were last at W—— My curiosityI do no[t] follow so much
ye. dictates of my curiosity, as of my gratitude
in asking this of you, do not do --- it tho' I
entreat of you if you think it will
cost you any pain -- Adieu Adieu
Adieu, My friend My friend, My
friend.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The word No is emphasised by size and by heavy underlining.
2. Three of the four pages on the first sheet are blank. The letter resumes on two sides of another sheet.
3. Three of the four pages on the first sheet are blank. The letter resumes on two sides of another sheet.
4. Three of the four pages on the first sheet are blank. The letter resumes on two sides of another sheet.
5. Presumably the insertion was going to be always, begun and then rejected in favour of ever.
6. The label P.S. appears to the left of Friend.
7. It is uncertain what these two strokes represent, possibly ‘1st’.
8. This surname would appear to be a punning blend of (Leonard) Smelt and (George) Hotham, the two sub-governors of the Prince's household. It is possible at least that the Prince's term ridicule is intended to disparage his own word-play rather than mock those individuals, if used in the now-obsolete sense ‘ridiculousness, absurdity’ (OED s.v. ridicule n. 1, 3b).
Normalised Text
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend,
I conjure of you by all that is
sacred, to relieve my anxiety and that as
expeditiously as you can. Your answer your
going to Town, these circumstances have
alarmed me very much, if it is any
thing concerning our separation which I dread, I conjure
you to inform by letting your answer
to the Bearer, be simply Yes, if what
I hope it is, merely for some common
little affairs let the answer be simply
No pray let it be the latter, I
have not a moment to add any thing
more at present, except, that May
God preserve you wherever you go. Adieu
your Palemon toujours de même
Adieu for the present. If love, affection
esteem, friendship, regard can compensate
you My loveliest, dearest, sweetest
Friend. for any thing you have now
given up, you will ever be sure of finding
all these passions inherent, in the
heart of
Your sincerely affectionate
Friend.
P.S.
I have ordered the - Bracelet I hope
I shall have the happiness my self to
bind it upon your Arm on Saturday next at
Windsor we all of us go on Friday Night. viz.
My two Brothers myself, & my 3 Sisters
with Sir George Meltam (excuse that little
piece of ridicule), & on the next morning you
arrive with the rest of the little Fry. I conjure
you to give me an answer concerning your disappointing
others. you gave me some little insight into your
situation when we were last at Windsor I do not follow so much
the dictates of my curiosity, as of my gratitude
in asking this of you, do not do it though I
entreat of you if you think it will
cost you any pain -- Adieu Adieu
Adieu, My friend My friend, My
friend.
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/3/82/27
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.26 August 1779
notBefore 25 August 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 26 August 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on the circumstances of her going to town, and on the gift of a bracelet.
The Prince asks if her going to town is linked to their separation, and seeks a yes or no answer.
Written Thursday, 10 o'clock.
Length: 2 sheets, 302 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