Diplomatic Text
Septr. 7th. 1779
Tuesday Morng.[1]
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,
Allow me to thank you for ye.
kind present you was so good as to make
me in giving me that little Book, such
little marks of friendship especially when
they convey such good advice are infi=
=nitely more pleasing than great presents
where frequently nothing but oʃtentation
is ye. principal object. Allow me
also to expreʃs my gratitude for
the kindneʃs, attachment, & sincere
affection, you say you have for me, in yr.
last Letters. A mark of yr. esteem
is dearer than any thing to me, &
there is nothing upon Earth I wld.. not
do to merit it. I hope I always ʃhall
and if ever I do any thing to forfit it
I am sure it will be unintentionally
but I hope that will never be ye. case.
I know from yr. sympathising disposition
& from Yr. friendʃhip. you will be happy
to hear that William is in perfect
health, & goes on in a manner fully
sufficient to answer our most sanguine
desires. His Admiral, Admiral Digby
I mean gives this ace following account of him I saw ye.
Letter he wrote to ye. King about William
“He says that he thinks William
“will make a very great Sea Officer
“that his talents are surprising, that
“ye moment he ʃaw they were preparing
“for action, his spirits rose to that degree
“that he was almost in a ʃtate of insanity
“& that ye. moment ye. Fleets were
“separated his spirits immediately ʃunk
“very low, & they did not reaʃsume their
“usual ebb for some time after.” We
are now every moment to expect an
invasion,[2] the moment our Enemies[3]
the K——g & my B——r as well as
myself go immediately, ye. only thought
that enters into my head, totally void
from ye smallest sensation of fear, is
that perhaps when I take leave of
you it will be for ye. last time,
if that is ye. case
Let Friendship's faithful heart attend my bier
Heave ye. sad sigh, & drop ye. pitying tear.
Answer of Solon's to one of his Friends.
Never talk to me of there being of yr.
dying before, it is not likely my dearest
Friend, for you are now come to an age,
where there is not near ye. danger,
that there is at mine, besides you are
a Young Woman, I am a Young Man,
you have none of ye. hazards, risks, &
dangers young Men have to go thro',
however whatever be ye. case never
I entreat of you if you have any affection
for me, mention yr. death to me, it really
pains me too much. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
dearest, tenderest, delightfullest Friend,
Yr. for ever attached Palemon.
P.S.
I send you with this little Note a copy of Verses
which I think you will not think they are bad, they
are an imitation of a Copy of Verses which ye
A. B—— of Y—— my late P——r[4] com
=posed in Latin upon ye. death of my Grandfather,
they are reputed to be beautiful beyond expreʃsion he left my Grandmother then with a Child of
8 Months old which was my Uncle Frederick,
& 4 Month with Child, of the unfortunate
Queen of Denmark.[5] Adieu, Adieu,
Adieu,
toujours chère[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The writer of the date has drawn a circle above ‘Tuesday’.
2. From the allied Franco-Spanish forces (see GEO/ADD/3/82/18 p.5 n.1).
3. A verb appears to be missing here.
4. The Archbishop was William Markham, formerly the Prince's preceptor or tutor, whose 'literary talents and wide-ranging classical scholarship flowered' during his years at Christ Church, Oxford (ODNB).
5. The ‘unfortunate’ Princess Caroline Matilda, youngest sibling of King George III, was married to the unfaithful and mentally unstable King Christian VII of Denmark, was later divorced and her own lover executed, and died in exile some four years prior to this letter.
6. Any remaining words are torn away.
7. The last page is blank.
Normalised Text
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,
Allow me to thank you for the
kind present you was so good as to make
me in giving me that little Book, such
little marks of friendship especially when
they convey such good advice are infinitely
more pleasing than great presents
where frequently nothing but ostentation
is the principal object. Allow me
also to express my gratitude for
the kindness, attachment, & sincere
affection, you say you have for me, in your
last Letters. A mark of your esteem
is dearer than any thing to me, &
there is nothing upon Earth I would not
do to merit it. I hope I always shall
and if ever I do any thing to forfeit it
I am sure it will be unintentionally
but I hope that will never be the case.
I know from your sympathising disposition
& from Your friendship. you will be happy
to hear that William is in perfect
health, & goes on in a manner fully
sufficient to answer our most sanguine
desires. His Admiral, Admiral Digby
I mean gives the following account of him I saw the
Letter he wrote to the King about William
“He says that he thinks William
“will make a very great Sea Officer
“that his talents are surprising, that
“the moment he saw they were preparing
“for action, his spirits rose to that degree
“that he was almost in a state of insanity
“& that the moment the Fleets were
“separated his spirits immediately sank
“very low, & they did not reassume their
“usual ebb for some time after.” We
are now every moment to expect an
invasion, the moment our Enemies
the King & my Brother as well as
myself go immediately, the only thought
that enters into my head, totally void
from the smallest sensation of fear, is
that perhaps when I take leave of
you it will be for the last time,
if that is the case
Let Friendship's faithful heart attend my bier
Heave the sad sigh, & drop the pitying tear.
Answer of Solon's to one of his Friends.
Never talk to me of there being of your
dying before, it is not likely my dearest
Friend, for you are now come to an age,
where there is not near the danger,
that there is at mine, besides you are
a Young Woman, I am a Young Man,
you have none of the hazards, risks, &
dangers young Men have to go through,
however whatever be the case never
I entreat of you if you have any affection
for me, mention your death to me, it really
pains me too much. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
dearest, tenderest, delightfullest Friend,
Your for ever attached Palemon.
P.S.
I send you with this little Note a copy of Verses
which I think you will not think they are bad, they
are an imitation of a Copy of Verses which the
Archbishop of York my late Preceptor composed
in Latin upon the death of my Grandfather,
they are reputed to be beautiful beyond expression he left my Grandmother then with a Child of
8 Months old which was my Uncle Frederick,
& 4 Month with Child, of the unfortunate
Queen of Denmark. Adieu, Adieu,
Adieu,
toujours chère
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/3/82/33
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.7 September 1779
notBefore 6 September 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 7 September 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on the threat of invasion, and the painful thought of her death.
The Prince refers to Prince William's health and Admiral Digby's praise of his talents. The Prince fears that in the case of invasion, he may take leave of Hamilton for the last time. He writes that his death is more likely to occur than hers, as 'you have none of the hazards, risks, & dangers young men have to go thro''. In a separate fragment, the Prince writes in postscript that he sends Hamilton a copy of '[?Jenses], an imitation of a copy of verses which the [Archbishop of York] my late P composed upon the death of my Grandfather...he left my Grandmother then with a child of 8 months old which was my Uncle Frederick, & 4 month with child, of the unfortunate Queen of Denmark'.
Written Tuesday morning.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 2 sheets, 546 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