Diplomatic Text
29
29th- August 1779
Afternoon 5 o'Clock
Tell me my dearest, dearest, dearest, Friend
what it is I have done; it is a very wrong thing to condemn a
Culprit without hearing him or her in their own de - fense.
The situation of my mind can not be expreʃsed, it is beyond ye
power of Words, I know not, I am not conscious of having
done or said any thing to merit what you said of me in yr.
Letter, ye. coldneʃs of ye. Style as well as ye. expreʃsions of it
alarmed me to ye. highest degree but when I heard ye answers you
threw out to my hints you actually struck me quite dumb. For
God's sake, I entreat you by all that is dear to you, &
by yr. affection to me, if you have still ye. smallest spark
remaining, inform me what it is I have said, done, or been guilty
of to merit these bitter reproaches; to say I have forfeited
my word to you, is to say I have forfeited yr. good opinion, & if I
have lost that, I have lost every thing that constitutes my
happineʃs in this World. I will patiently suffer yr. re=
proaches My Friend tho' unmerited I hope, has given[1] if I find that
I have deserved them I am sure it will have been unintenti=
=onally. If you have any love or affection for me you will
strongly feel my unhappineʃs. Let me I again conjure
you know what language it is I have held, or in what
I have forfeited my Word to you. I already opened
my heart totally to you, and confeʃsed to you as ingenu=
=ously as was in my power all I remembered saying
and all I now think I did say, be not too cruel my dearest life
heel my already too much wounded heart, you know
how doatingly fond I am of you, & therefore how much
I must feel upon this occasion. Let me not lose ye.
greatest comfort of my life, in losing such a friend
as you are to whom I can impart all my little unhappineʃses
my little misfortunes, and private unhappinneasineʃses. Be not
too hasty in crediting ye. reports of prating idle pleople, who
will propagate ill & bad reports merely for ye. pleasure
of talking, I do not believe they do it with any other
bad design, for what way it wld.. answer to them I
can not understand. Be my friend, my ever loving
friend, my ever tender Friend, as you have hitherto been
my Sister, pardon the offences I have been guilty of if
I have been guilty of any, & receive me again into
that friendship which it had been ye. object of my
happineʃs, & in doing which I had been so happy
as to succeed. Advise me in my present situation
direct my conduct, for I know not what to do.
I have ever since you mentioned certain reports to
me this day week last, I have ever since treated ye
author of them with great appearing coolneʃs & civility
however nothing that was outré, he has perceived it
for he sent a meʃsage to me to day, by yr. Meʃsenger
that he was afraid he had offended me some how or
other for I had not spoke to him so frequently,
or treated him with that kindneʃs I generally do,
instruct me therefore I conjure you, how you wld..[have]
me conduct myself to him, or what I should
say to him if he asks me anyany questions what he has
done to merit such a conduct from me towards. ------ The
sooner you inform me of ye. return of yr. confidence
and which is ye. thing I am now most anxious about,
& for which I wait with ye. utmost[2] as well
as how you wld.. have me conduct myself towards
him, ye. better. Let me again
intreat you to inform yme of ye
------ causes I have been guilty, & I
repeat if I have been guilty
of any receive a truly repentant
heart which loves you beyond what ye
confined ideas of Man can expreʃs. Adieu
Adieu, Adieu, my dearest
dearest, dearest Friend,
you ever shall be so to me. I
am ------ yr. ever constant
& sincerely attached
Palemon
toujours de même mais
changé a vôtre goût
P.S.[3]
Pray inform my
Meʃsenger what time
to call for an answer
for I must have one tomorrow
at ye time that is most convenient to yourself & if poʃsible
when that infamous woman[4]
is out. my anxiety can not be imagined. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu.
[5]
[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The tortured syntax produced by the insertion of has given can perhaps be rearranged as 'I will patiently suffer yr. [recte ye.] reproaches My Friend has given, though unmerited, I hope'.
2. A word appears to be missing here.
3. The postscript begins to the left of the salutation and continues parallel to and then underneath the French words, curving round so that the last line is written vertically up the right-hand side of the sheet. Some of the readings are rather doubtful.
4. Probably the 'foolish, vulgar meddling Woman' of GEO/ADD/3/82/30 and quite likely also 'yt. designing Woman' in GEO/ADD/3/82/58.
5. The last three pages of the second sheet are blank.
6. The last three pages of the second sheet are blank.
7. The last three pages of the second sheet are blank.
Normalised Text
Tell me my dearest, dearest, dearest, Friend
what it is I have done; it is a very wrong thing to condemn a
Culprit without hearing him or her in their own defence.
The situation of my mind can not be expressed, it is beyond the
power of Words, I know not, I am not conscious of having
done or said any thing to merit what you said of me in your
Letter, the coldness of the Style as well as the expressions of it
alarmed me to the highest degree but when I heard the answers you
threw out to my hints you actually struck me quite dumb. For
God's sake, I entreat you by all that is dear to you, &
by your affection to me, if you have still the smallest spark
remaining, inform me what it is I have said, done, or been guilty
of to merit these bitter reproaches; to say I have forfeited
my word to you, is to say I have forfeited your good opinion, & if I
have lost that, I have lost every thing that constitutes my
happiness in this World. I will patiently suffer your reproaches
My Friend though unmerited I hope, has given if I find that
I have deserved them I am sure it will have been unintentionally
. If you have any love or affection for me you will
strongly feel my unhappiness. Let me I again conjure
you know what language it is I have held, or in what
I have forfeited my Word to you. I already opened
my heart totally to you, and confessed to you as ingenuously
as was in my power all I remembered saying
and all I now think I did say, be not too cruel my dearest life
heal my already too much wounded heart, you know
how dotingly fond I am of you, & therefore how much
I must feel upon this occasion. Let me not lose the
greatest comfort of my life, in losing such a friend
as you are to whom I can impart all my little unhappinesses
my little misfortunes, and private uneasinesses. Be not
too hasty in crediting the reports of prating idle people, who
will propagate ill & bad reports merely for the pleasure
of talking, I do not believe they do it with any other
bad design, for what way it would answer to them I
can not understand. Be my friend, my ever loving
friend, my ever tender Friend, as you have hitherto been
my Sister, pardon the offences I have been guilty of if
I have been guilty of any, & receive me again into
that friendship which it had been the object of my
happiness, & in doing which I had been so happy
as to succeed. Advise me in my present situation
direct my conduct, for I know not what to do.
I have ever since you mentioned certain reports to
me this day week last, I have ever since treated the
author of them with great appearing coolness & civility
however nothing that was outré, he has perceived it
for he sent a message to me to day, by your Messenger
that he was afraid he had offended me somehow or
other for I had not spoken to him so frequently,
or treated him with that kindness I generally do,
instruct me therefore I conjure you, how you wouldhave
me conduct myself to him, or what I should
say to him if he asks me any questions what he has
done to merit such a conduct from me towards. The
sooner you inform me of the return of your confidence
which is the thing I am now most anxious about,
& for which I wait with the utmost as well
as how you would have me conduct myself towards
him, the better. Let me again
entreat you to inform me of the
causes I have been guilty, & I
repeat if I have been guilty
of any receive a truly repentant
heart which loves you beyond what the
confined ideas of Man can express. Adieu
Adieu, Adieu, my dearest
dearest, dearest Friend,
you ever shall be so to me. I
am your ever constant
& sincerely attached
Palemon
toujours de même mais
changé a vôtre goût
P.S.
Pray inform my
Messenger what time
to call for an answer
for I must have one tomorrow
at the time that is most convenient to yourself & if possible
when that infamous woman
is out. my anxiety can not be imagined. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu.
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/3/82/29
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.29 August 1779
notBefore 28 August 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 29 August 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, asking her to explain what he has done wrong.
The Prince describes his cool conduct towards a person responsible for 'certain reports'.
Written in the afternoon, 5 o'clock.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 2 sheets, 761 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 June 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021