Diplomatic Text
Friday
I flatter myself, my dearest
Miʃs Hamilton that you are not
displeased at the confeʃsion I made
to you in my last Letter, as I do in
the solemnest manner declare and
protest, that had it been my good
fortune, to have been placed in
such a ʃtation in life, as to have
had the happineʃs of calling you
mine, I should have looked upon
it as the greatest happineʃsbleʃsing
that could have befallen me. For[2]
after the impetuous ardor of youth,
and the violent impulse of paʃsion, is
paʃsed, then it is that one wishes
to find in a Companion for life,
such sentiments and such feelings as you
poʃseʃs, and which I have known very
few Women enjoy to so superior a degree
as yourself. All I have now to say
is, that I flatter myself you are not
offended at the liberty I have taken in
so openly declaring my sentiments to
you, as it is to be attributed to the
mutual aʃsurances of trust and confidence
we made each other. If I have
offended, I beseech of you, the first
opportunity we meet, be it for ever so
so short a time, or wherever it be, either
in the Gardens when we are at our walk
or in their Majesties' Appartments, you
would by word of Mouth, or by some
sign which I may underʃtand, let me
perceive, either yr. approbation for this
act of my entire confidence, or yr. pardon
for this my indiscretion. Adieu
ever dear Miʃs Hamilton, and believe,
that it will always be my greatest
happineʃs to sign myself
Yr.
GP[3]
Typed[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter appears in Anson & Anson (1925: 73).
2. A loop over initial capital F (occasionally T) becomes a flourish in the Prince's hand over much of the word (see also GEO/ADD/3/82/5 to GEO/ADD/3/82/8).
3. The sheet has been cut around the GP and its flourishes, leaving one or two characters visible below.
4. The last page is otherwise blank.
Normalised Text
I flatter myself, my dearest
Miss Hamilton that you are not
displeased at the confession I made
to you in my last Letter, as I do in
the solemnest manner declare and
protest, that had it been my good
fortune, to have been placed in
such a station in life, as to have
had the happiness of calling you
mine, I should have looked upon
it as the greatest blessing
that could have befallen me. For
after the impetuous ardour of youth,
and the violent impulse of passion, is
passed, then it is that one wishes
to find in a Companion for life,
such sentiments and such feelings as you
possess, and which I have known very
few Women enjoy to so superior a degree
as yourself. All I have now to say
is, that I flatter myself you are not
offended at the liberty I have taken in
so openly declaring my sentiments to
you, as it is to be attributed to the
mutual assurances of trust and confidence
we made each other. If I have
offended, I beseech of you, the first
opportunity we meet, be it for ever so
short a time, or wherever it be, either
in the Gardens when we are at our walk
or in their Majesties' Apartments, you
would by word of Mouth, or by some
sign which I may understand, let me
perceive, either your approbation for this
act of my entire confidence, or your pardon
for this my indiscretion. Adieu
ever dear Miss Hamilton, and believe,
that it will always be my greatest
happiness to sign myself
Your
George Princeps
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/3/82/4
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.28 May 1779
notBefore 27 May 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 28 May 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on his previous declaration of love, and requesting she give him a sign of her approbation.
The Prince writes of his happiness, 'had it been my good fortune, to have been placed in such a station in life as to have had the happiness of calling you mine'.
Written Friday.
Signed.
A section of the last page has been removed.
Length: 1 sheet, 269 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:
Transliterator: David Denison, editorial team (completed October 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021