Diplomatic Text
My dear Hammy
This mourning in am to put on my
jacet and Moumou[1] her gown she has taken of her mus-
ling and she has put on the border[2] you ded get her
and so she tels me that we shall have a --- uniform.
Thank god gouly is better I will be very good to
please Mama and to make every Body happy
and do my Lesons quit well give my love
to all my Brothers and sisters and to plan[ny]
and to Neve[3] and to CheChe[4]
I am ever yours
Elizabeth
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Probably Mlle Suzanne Moula, a Swiss appointed as French teacher in 1779. (Less likely: her sister Marianne, or the governess who taught needlework, Mlle Charlotte-Salomé de Montmollin.) Also mentioned by Martha Carolina Goldsworthy in HAM/1/14/36 and other letters.
2. ‘A piece of ornamental work round the edge of a garment, cap, etc.’ (OED s.v. border n. 5b).
3. Miss Nevin, Dresser to the Princesses (Burney, Journals II.94). See also HAM/1/1/3/7, HAM/1/7/2/10, HAM/1/14/105.
4. Also spelt Chi-Chi or Chi Chi, apparently the pet-name of Mrs Louisa Cheveley, nurse to Princess Amelia (Stuart 1939, citing Burney). See HAM/1/7/2.
Normalised Text
My dear Hammy
This morning i am to put on my
jacket and Moumou her gown she has taken off her muslin
and she has put on the border you did get her
and so she tells me that we shall have a uniform.
Thank god gouly is better I will be very good to
please Mama and to make every Body happy
and do my Lessons quite well give my love
to all my Brothers and sisters and to planny
and to Neve and to CheChe
I am ever yours
Elizabeth
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: Letter from Princess Elizabeth to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/1/3/4
Correspondence Details
Sender: Princess Elizabeth
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: between 1779 and 1782
notBefore 1779 (precision: high)
notAfter 1782 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Princess Elizabeth to Mary Hamilton. She addresses her letter to 'My dear Hammy' and writes that she continues with her lessons quite well and asks that her love be sent to all her brothers and sisters. She is thankful that 'gouly' [Martha Carolina Goldsworthy (1777-1811) sub-governess to the Princesses] is better and asserts that she will be good to please the Queen and to make everybody happy.
Length: 1 sheet, 92 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: 31 August 2023