Diplomatic Text
Wed[1]
Suffer me my dearest, dearest
dearest, friend to thank you for ye kind
expreʃsions you made use of, on my account
in yr. little Note, which is dearer
to me than whatany thing I can expreʃs.[2] If
you think by what I wrote to you, that
I meant to give you an instant's
uneasineʃs you are much mistaken
you are too dear to me for that; however
I solemnly aʃsured you that I only spoke
ye. real sentiments of my heart; why
should I fear death I hope in God
I have committed no so very bad action as by repentance
it may not be pardoned, my only regret
would be
to leave you whom I so tenderly love.
If I am called out I know you so well
that you would have yr. friend do his
duty & act up to his own Character,
& set an example to others, this
with ye. Almighty's aʃsistance I hope
I ʃhall do, if ever I am called upon
to ye. last drop of my Blood, suppose
I do perish in ye. attempt, it will
be a glorious exit, & no more than
many & indeed I believe I may say
numberleʃs other great & good young
men have done for their Country's
sake long before ever I was --
Whatever happens to me I ʃhall
always be sincerely attached to you, My
friend, & shall always think my ʃelf
interested in whatever befalls you. I
am sorry to be obliged to break off
my Letter so abruptly, but let me
only say, that by ye friendly kindneʃs
of yr. behaviour you made me compleatly
happy, unleʃslast night I ʃhld.. have been com=
=pleatly so if I had heard that you was
also to make one in ye. Jaunt to W——
The moment you hear any thing of it either
one way or other concerning yrself, I
beg you will inform me,[3] I hope it will turn out as
I shld.. wish. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
my dearest, dearest, dearest Friend, if
ye. most perfect admiration of yr. superior virtues, ye most
watchful observance of all yr. advice, ye most ardent affection,
& ye. most resigned submiʃsion to whatever you desire are qua=
=lities you wish to find in a friend you will find them reunited
in ye breast of yr. Pale
Yr. Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.[4]
I had not a moment of time more, therefore I cld..
not make my Letter longer, but you shall have ano=
=ther Tomorrow, at what time you will tell ye
Bearer. Encore une fois. Adieu, Adieu
Adieu toujours chére.
2d PS. Pray when you see M—— G——
tomorrow, tell her I enquired after
her & pray present my compliments
to her. Adieu, Adieu Adieu
my Friend, my Friend, my Friend,[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. 8 September 1779 was a Wednesday. As such, it could be that George, Prince of Wales, wrote this letter on 8 September, a day before Mary Hamilton received it.
2. With his references to death in service, the Prince is almost certainly recurring to Hamilton's letter of the previous Sunday (GEO/ADD/3/83/10).
3. The mark of insertion is accidentally placed after the comma rather than before.
4. The label P.S. appears to the left of the signature and salutation.
5. The second postscript, as also some of the insertions and punctuation marks in the earlier part of the letter, have been gone over again in a blacker ink.
Normalised Text
Wednesday
Suffer me my dearest, dearest
dearest, friend to thank you for the kind
expressions you made use of, on my account
in your little Note, which is dearer
to me than any thing I can express. If
you think by what I wrote to you, that
I meant to give you an instant's
uneasiness you are much mistaken
you are too dear to me for that; however
I solemnly assure you that I only spoke
the real sentiments of my heart; why
should I fear death I hope in God
I have committed no so very bad action as by repentance
it may not be pardoned, my only regret
would be
to leave you whom I so tenderly love.
If I am called out I know you so well
that you would have your friend do his
duty & act up to his own Character,
& set an example to others, this
with the Almighty's assistance I hope
I shall do, if ever I am called upon
to the last drop of my Blood, suppose
I do perish in the attempt, it will
be a glorious exit, & no more than
many & indeed I believe I may say
numberless other great & good young
men have done for their Country's
sake long before ever I was --
Whatever happens to me I shall
always be sincerely attached to you, My
friend, & shall always think my self
interested in whatever befalls you. I
am sorry to be obliged to break off
my Letter so abruptly, but let me
only say, that by the friendly kindness
of your behaviour you made me completely
happy, last night I should have been completely
so if I had heard that you was
also to make one in the Jaunt to Windsor
The moment you hear any thing of it either
one way or other concerning yourself, I
beg you will inform me, I hope it will turn out as
I wish. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
my dearest, dearest, dearest Friend, if
the most perfect admiration of your superior virtues, the most
watchful observance of all your advice, the most ardent affection,
& the most resigned submission to whatever you desire are qualities
you wish to find in a friend you will find them reunited
in the breast of
Your Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.
I had not a moment of time more, therefore I could
not make my Letter longer, but you shall have another
Tomorrow, at what time you will tell the
Bearer. Encore une fois. Adieu, Adieu
Adieu toujours chére.
2d PS. Pray when you see Miss Gunning
tomorrow, tell her I enquired after
her & pray present my compliments
to her. Adieu, Adieu Adieu
my Friend, my Friend, my Friend,
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/3/82/35
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.9 September 1779
notBefore 8 September 1779 (precision: high)
notAfter 9 September 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on doing his duty and not fearing death; and on her kind behaviour the previous night.
Written Wednesday.
Length: 1 sheet, 459 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