Diplomatic Text
Madam
Feeling as I do, attach'd to Your Majesty
by every sentiment of gratitude & personal affection, I find
it very difficult to summons resolution sufficient to acquaint
You with what I am but too conscious would be dishonorable
to delay longer, nor could I answer to myself, the indulgence
of remaining in a situation, merely to have the happineʃs
& honor of approaching You -- & which indeed has been my
sole motive for some time past. I am, Madam, every day
more & more sensible that I am by no means equal to the
situation I have the honor to be in, on many accounts,
but particularly, from the delicacy of my constitution, as
it from time, to time, prevents my paying the proper and
required attendance on their Royal Highneʃs's, and, I
know
my spirits are, from the same cause, inadequate to a constant
exertion; I therefore most humbly intreat Your Majesty
will take into consideration to find some other person more
worthy & able to supply my place; till that is done, Your
Majesty may depend on my continuing to fulfill my duty
to the utmost of my abilities. As this determination
proceeds from the most dis-interested & honorable motive,
I am fully persuadedI rest secure on Your Majestyies will have too muchgoodneʃs that you will
goodneʃs & candor tonot disapprove my quitting Your Service;
& I beg leave to be allow'd to add, that I shall ever
retain the liveliest gratitude for the many marks of
gracious attention & condescendingsioning goodneʃsregard wch- You Madam --
have so often favor'dshewn Your Majesties most Dutiful
most Faithful, & most Dutiful most Respectful
Servant;
Mary Hamilton.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Madam
Feeling as I do, attached to Your Majesty
by every sentiment of gratitude & personal affection, I find
it very difficult to summon resolution sufficient to acquaint
You with what I am but too conscious would be dishonourable
to delay longer, nor could I answer to myself, the indulgence
of remaining in a situation, merely to have the happiness
& honour of approaching You -- & which indeed has been my
sole motive for some time past. I am, Madam, every day
more & more sensible that I am by no means equal to the
situation I have the honour to be in, on many accounts,
but particularly, from the delicacy of my constitution, as
it from time, to time, prevents my paying the proper and
required attendance on their Royal Highness's, and, I
know
my spirits are, from the same cause, inadequate to a constant
exertion; I therefore most humbly entreat Your Majesty
will take into consideration to find some other person more
worthy & able to supply my place; till that is done, Your
Majesty may depend on my continuing to fulfill my duty
to the utmost of my abilities. As this determination
proceeds from the most disinterested & honourable motive,
I rest secure on Your Majesties goodness that you will
not disapprove my quitting Your Service;
& I beg leave to be allowed to add, that I shall ever
retain the liveliest gratitude for the many marks of
gracious attention & condescending regard which You Madam --
have so often shown Your Majesties
most Faithful, & most Dutiful
Servant;
Mary Hamilton.
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Draft letter from Mary Hamilton to Queen Charlotte
Shelfmark: HAM/1/1/2/8
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Queen Charlotte
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 June 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Draft letter from Mary Hamilton to Queen Charlotte. Hamilton writes of her gratitude and affection for the Queen, and that she finds it 'very difficult to summon resolution sufficient to acquaint You with what I am but too conscious would be dishonourable to delay longer'. In the letter she offers her resignation from her post at Court and notes that she does not feel equal to the situation 'particularly from the delicacy of my constitution, as it from time, to time, prevents my paying the proper and required attendance on their Royal Highness's'. She writes that her health makes her 'inadequate to a constant exertion'. She asks that a more able person be found to take her position and that 'Your Majesty may depend on my continuing to fulfil my duty to the utmost of my abilities'. She crosses through 'I am fully persuaded Your majesties will have too much goodness and candour to disapprove' and instead writes that she rests 'secure on Your majesties goodness that You will not disapprove my quitting Your Service'. She finishes the letter by thanking their Majesties for their attentions and signs herself 'most dutiful, most faithful servant'.
Length: 1 sheet, 266 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: Research Assistant funding in 2016/17 provided by The John Rylands Research Institute.
Research assistant: Isabella Formisano, former MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Andrew Gott, dissertation student, University of Manchester (submitted June 2012)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 17 December 2021