Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/82/53

Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text

[1]

53

Thursday Morng. Octbr. 21st-
1779

                                                        
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend

      You was so kind in yr. last as to
expreʃs yt. you was in hopes ye. Weather
wld.. be favorable for us on S——y it was
very much so, & ye. Sport was most
delightful, ye. Stag after having gavegiven us almost
ye. longest Chace ever known, was saved
At a moderate computation, my B——
& myself rode, (what with riding to ye spot where
ye Stag was first turned out, & then
from ye. spot where ye. Stag was taken
to Billingbear,[2] & then from Billingbear
home together with ye Chace itself 60 miles. If my Miranda
had rode ye. chace with me I ʃhd.. have



been quite mad, as it was, I was crazy.
      I hope dearest Sister yr. health
continues as it ought to do, & yt. you
feel no more returns of yr. confounded pain
in yr. Side. Keep up yr. Spirits also
dearest Miranda according to yr. promise
to me, & let me as we shall now soon
meet see you ye. same lively, giddy,
wicked, severe, goodnatured, Satyrical
affectionate Puʃs I know you to ---be.
However to be serious let me oh let me
find you with ye. same kind sentiments
about me yt. you tell me you have, &
never, never, never let me forit be supposed
poʃsible for me to forfeit yr. esteem
friendship, & affection, if I ever do
I am sure it will be as I have frequent



Part of 53

=ly
said before involuntarily. Adieu
dearest, dearest, dearest, Sister, Friend
Miranda, & pardon not only ye.
shortneʃs, but ye bad Style of this
Billet, consider only my friend
yt. I have been obliged to catch
here & there a moment ever since
my arrival & then I have been
obliged to hurry myʃelf beyond
imagination, but ye. first oppor=
=tunity
I can lay hold of you ʃhall
have a longer & a better written
Letter. Adieu, Adieu, & believe
Miranda & believe yt. there is no
one upon Earth to whom you are
dearer than you are to
      Yr. ever affectionate Brother --
                             Palemon toujours de même



P.S. Pray inform me immediately
concerning every thing you hear
about W——r. & every concerning
yr dear self. I left pray inform
M—— G——[3] yt I told you So Mrs..
W——ingham
& her Sister M—— Han=
=bury
-- (I do not know whether or no
she is acquainted with ye latter
I knew she was with ye. former,
yt. made me name ym. both) in
perfect good health. Adieu Adieu
Adieu toujours chére.

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


Notes


 1. On the order of letters from mid-October 1779, see GEO/ADD/3/83/16 p.1 n.1.
 2. See also GEO/ADD/3/82/49.
 3. Probably Miss (Charlotte) Gunning.

Normalised Text




                                                        
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend

      You was so kind in your last as to
express that you was in hopes the Weather
would be favourable for us on Saturday it was
very much so, & the Sport was most
delightful, the Stag after having given us almost
the longest Chase ever known, was saved
At a moderate computation, my Brother
& myself rode, (what with riding to the spot where
the Stag was first turned out, & then
from the spot where the Stag was taken
to Billingbear, & then from Billingbear
home together with the Chase itself 60 miles. If my Miranda
had ridden the chase with me I should have



been quite mad, as it was, I was crazy.
      I hope dearest Sister your health
continues as it ought to do, & that you
feel no more returns of your confounded pain
in your Side. Keep up your Spirits also
dearest Miranda according to your promise
to me, & let me as we shall now soon
meet see you the same lively, giddy,
wicked, severe, goodnatured, Satirical
affectionate Puss I know you to be.
However to be serious let me oh let me
find you with the same kind sentiments
about me that you tell me you have, &
never, never, never let it be supposed
possible for me to forfeit your esteem
friendship, & affection, if I ever do
I am sure it will be as I have frequently



said before involuntarily. Adieu
dearest, dearest, dearest, Sister, Friend
Miranda, & pardon not only the
shortness, but the bad Style of this
Billet, consider only my friend
that I have been obliged to catch
here & there a moment ever since
my arrival & then I have been
obliged to hurry myself beyond
imagination, but the first opportunity
I can lay hold of you shall
have a longer & a better written
Letter. Adieu, Adieu, & believe
Miranda & believe that there is no
one upon Earth to whom you are
dearer than you are to
      Your ever affectionate Brother --
                             Palemon toujours de même



P.S. Pray inform me immediately
concerning every thing you hear
about Windsor. & every concerning
your dear self. I left pray inform
Miss —— that I told you So Mrs..
Walsingham & her Sister Miss Hanbury
-- (I do not know whether or no
she is acquainted with the latter
I knew she was with the former,
that made me name them both) in
perfect good health. Adieu Adieu
Adieu toujours chére.

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



 1. On the order of letters from mid-October 1779, see GEO/ADD/3/83/16 p.1 n.1.
 2. See also GEO/ADD/3/82/49.
 3. Probably Miss (Charlotte) Gunning.

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/3/82/53

Correspondence Details

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

Place sent: unknown

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 21 October 1779
notBefore 21 October 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 21 October 1779 (precision: high)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, giving an account of the hunt.
    The Prince describes the stag being saved, and the fact that he and his brother rode 60 miles. He wishes to see Hamilton being 'the same lively, giddy, wicked, severe, goodnatured, satyrical affectionate Puss I know you to be'.
    Signed 'Palemon'.
   

Length: 2 sheets, 418 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 July 2019)

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

Revision date: 2 November 2021

Document Image (pdf)