Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/83/23

Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales

Diplomatic Text


23

      (Copy)
      Though I do not deserve all the little
severities in your last I Kiʃs ye. Rod & promise
amendment -- So you are vain engough to
suppose I shall, from all Your fine Speeches
& protestations begin to imagine You are
the only person in ye world that really cares for
poor Miranda -- to convince You to ye.
Contrary please to readperuse ye. letters I send, or&
let me have ym. again tomorrowMonday Morng. --
      I am quite in a fright at ye. thought of seeing
My —— Uncle Frederick[1] -- he has not seen me since I was 16these
6 or 7 Years
-- he is observing, scrutinizing,
exact -- I for am however happy he will be
in LondonTown -- it will help to relieve my
Mind for Oh how I dread the first
fatal week. that week last Year --
but I have done -- I will resume
my thoughtleʃs Style -- 'twill please
You better --
      Did yo. receive a note of mine last SundayMonday ye. second
time I return'd your present of ye. Seal -- there was nothing in it



to answer for ye. Sub. was concerning ye. doner of
yt. Seal -- I only wish always to be certain as to ye rect
of my letters -- wch. I cannot be if there is no
leading subject[2]
I am very very happy you came to an eclairciʃsement[3] with the Queen[4]
tis a load weight off my Mind --
I have been highly pleas'dsatisfied wth. yt. same persons (NB. The Queen)[5]
behaviour to me -- I have had opportunity of
conversing & being a good deal wth. her --- these
two last days -- the conversations were of last night was an interesting
ones -- & I wld. relate ym.it to you for we think
allike upon these subjects but I've not time
for so much writing -- this Morng. she read two
very affecting stories -- she felt ym. our tears
started in in unisonsympatheticallyy[6] & ye. Eldest daughter
sat by unmov'd -- It is quite[7] a comfort to
me yt. I have one person to whom I can say
I love yt. person
(Yo. understand me) -- & talk of her as I think &
feel -- to a mind of sensibility what are
ye. vain barriers of Grandeur --
      I know You will congratulate me when I tell you
I recd. yt. 3d. letter to day from M G.[8] she is better -- I can not
send you those letters for she makes quite an angel



of me, & God knows Once again my friend
permit me to beg of you to cure yourself of
swearing -- every creature remarks it, & I
cannot bear to hear these remarks, I feel
offended, & I dare say nothing. -- You allow
Yourself too, to appear weak -- what silly trifling
conversations does M M. repeat paʃses between you &
her at W. -- my friend may surely be
lively & gay without talking nonsense.
Remember my friend You are to be
all I expect -- lively -- sensible --
amiable, great -- &c &c -- & yet
as lively as You please.
Adieu Adieu Adieu[9]

Your sincere, ------------ & truest Friend

To adopt Yor. method I ought to make at least
half a dozen apologies for ye. style, writing &c -- [10]



Sent 134th. Novbr. 1779

Sunday[11]


[12]

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


Notes


 1. Hamilton first blanked the name with a dash, only later inserting Uncle Frederick above the line.
 2. It may be this request that leads the Prince to start adding a subject heading from GEO/ADD/3/82/64 and intermittently thereafter.
 3. Here in the sense of coming to a ‘mutual explanation of equivocal conduct’ (OED s.v. éclaircissement n. 2. Accessed 09-09-2022).
 4. A cross before these three words ties them to a cross at the intended point of insertion.
 5. Once again, explicit identification is a later insertion.
 6. Hamilton first wrote in unison, crossed it out and wrote sympathetically instead, then altered that word to sympathy and inserted in to the left.
 7. There is an ink smudge above it is quite which may possibly be a cancellation.
 8. The identity of 'Miss G' here is uncertain. Usually in the Prince's letters it refers to Miss (Charlotte) Gunning and might well do so here, but Hamilton did receive a letter from Miss (Martha) Goldsworthy dated 14 November (HAM/1/14/30) and reporting an improvement in her health.
 9. The line under the Adieus becomes a loop around & truest Friend.
 10. A section has been cut out at the foot of this page.
 11. The dateline appears on the right side of the final page, written vertically.
 12. The lines at the bottom of the page mirror the lines at the bottom of p.2.

Normalised Text



      (Copy)
      Though I do not deserve all the little
severities in your last I Kiss the Rod & promise
amendment -- So you are vain enough to
suppose I shall, from all Your fine Speeches
& protestations begin to imagine You are
the only person in the world that really cares for
poor Miranda -- to convince You to the
Contrary please to peruse the letters I send, &
let me have them again Monday Morning --
      I am quite in a fright at the thought of seeing
My —— Uncle Frederick -- he has not seen me these
6 or 7 Years
-- he is observing, scrutinizing,
exact -- I am however happy he will be
in Town -- it will help to relieve my
Mind for Oh how I dread the first
fatal week. that week last Year --
but I have done -- I will resume
my thoughtless Style -- it will please
You better --
      Did you receive a note of mine last Monday the second
time I returned your present of the Seal -- there was nothing in it



to answer for the Subject was concerning the donor of
that Seal -- I only wish always to be certain as to the receipt
of my letters -- which I cannot be if there is no
leading subject
I am very very happy you came to an eclaircissement with the Queen
tis a weight off my Mind --
I have been highly satisfied with that same persons (NB. The Queen)
behaviour to me -- I have had opportunity of
conversing & being a good deal with her these
two last days -- the conversation of last night was an interesting
one -- I would relate it to you for we think
alike upon these subjects but I've not time
for so much writing -- this Morning she read two
very affecting stories -- she felt them our tears
started in sympathy & the Eldest daughter
sat by unmoved -- It is quite a comfort to
me that I have one person to whom I can say
I love that person
(You understand me) & talk of her as I think &
feel -- to a mind of sensibility what are
the vain barriers of Grandeur --
      I know You will congratulate me when I tell you
I received that 3d. letter to day from Miss . she is better -- I can not
send you those letters for she makes quite an angel



of me, Once again my friend
permit me to beg of you to cure yourself of
swearing -- every creature remarks it, & I
cannot bear to hear these remarks, I feel
offended, & I dare say nothing. -- You allow
Yourself too, to appear weak -- what silly trifling
conversations does Miss M. repeat passes between you &
her at Windsor -- my friend may surely be
lively & gay without talking nonsense.
Remember my friend You are to be
all I expect -- -- sensible --
amiable, great -- &c &c -- & yet
as lively as You please.
Adieu Adieu Adieu

Your sincere, & truest Friend

To adopt your method I ought to make at least
half a dozen apologies for the style, writing &c --



Sent 14th. November 17

Sunday


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



 1. Hamilton first blanked the name with a dash, only later inserting Uncle Frederick above the line.
 2. It may be this request that leads the Prince to start adding a subject heading from GEO/ADD/3/82/64 and intermittently thereafter.
 3. Here in the sense of coming to a ‘mutual explanation of equivocal conduct’ (OED s.v. éclaircissement n. 2. Accessed 09-09-2022).
 4. A cross before these three words ties them to a cross at the intended point of insertion.
 5. Once again, explicit identification is a later insertion.
 6. Hamilton first wrote in unison, crossed it out and wrote sympathetically instead, then altered that word to sympathy and inserted in to the left.
 7. There is an ink smudge above it is quite which may possibly be a cancellation.
 8. The identity of 'Miss G' here is uncertain. Usually in the Prince's letters it refers to Miss (Charlotte) Gunning and might well do so here, but Hamilton did receive a letter from Miss (Martha) Goldsworthy dated 14 November (HAM/1/14/30) and reporting an improvement in her health.
 9. The line under the Adieus becomes a loop around & truest Friend.
 10. A section has been cut out at the foot of this page.
 11. The dateline appears on the right side of the final page, written vertically.
 12. The lines at the bottom of the page mirror the lines at the bottom of p.2.

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 Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales

Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/83/23

Correspondence Details

Sender: Mary Hamilton

Place sent: unknown

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

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 14 November 1779

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on her happiness at the improved relations between the Prince and the Queen; the behaviour of the Queen towards herself; and on seeing her Uncle Frederick [Hamilton].
    Hamilton sends the Prince letters from her friends following his insinuation that he is 'the only person in the world that really cares for poor Miranda'. She refers to the Prince swearing, and states that 'my friend may surely be lively & gay without talking nonsense'.
    Sent Sunday.
    [Section has been cut from the final page].
    [Copy.]
   

Length: 1 sheet, 516 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 August 2019)

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

Revision date: 10 December 2021

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