Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/82/38

Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


38

                             17 Sept.
17 Thursday
187th AugSeptr
Septr- 1779[1]


My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,

      Here am I returned from a jaunt
which wld.. have been very pleasant &
indeed I may add very chearful, had
I had ye. happineʃs of enjoying yr.
Company, which is always ye. greatest
comfort to me I can enjoy. We
were at H——[2] on Saturday M——
ye. owners of ye. place  --- are very worthy
honest, good sort of people, mais pas
des plus eclairés, ni des plus agréables,
had it not been for L——y G——n[3] I know


not what I ʃhd.. have done, ye. place
is very beautifully situated, but I
am quite of yr. way of thinking that
ye. House is a very enjoyable one tho'
not suitable to ye. place itself.
On M—— M—— we went to Ca——m
ye. place is beautiful beyond imagi=
=nation, ye. House is just of ye
same sort as ye. one I have just
mentioned, L——y Cadogan looked
exceʃsively pretty, but that was her
least merit that day, for she was
all yt.. a Gentlewoman ought be,
perfectly easy, civil, quiet, yet very


lively, & chearful, & did ye. honors
of her Houʃe in ye. properest manner
poʃsible. T. M. we went to H——r
where we found Ld... & L——y B——n
got into thr. new Houʃe which is a
very good one we had them to play at
Cards with us in ye. Afternoon wch..
was decently dull -- So far for my
Journal, now let me come to ye.
most agreable part of my Letter, it is
now 10 minutes past 5 o clock in ye.
Afternoon, I will resume my Pen
as soon as I can --
      I am distreʃsed for time however


I can not help expreʃsing to you
ye. sincerity of my gratitude to you
for this last proof of confidence you
have given in shewing me Ld.. N.s.
& Mrs.. H——rs Letters,[4] you desire
my dearest Sister & Friend, to hear
what I think of L—— N—— character,
I think he is a very plain, open honest
brave, & rather warm young man, however I do
not say he is a bit too much upon this
subject, he is just such a sort of
Man as I shld.. like to attach to my ʃelf
& whom I hope hereafter to have
about me. It is now late my Friend this
Morning & I must dreʃs for Breakfast. ye.
next Letter ʃhall be longer, I have not as yet


part of 38

shame upon me thanked you for
yr. pretty Chain. I really admire
it very much, pray do not hurry
yrself about ye. Purse, I have still
ye. first carefully treaʃured up.
& I wld.. not begin to wear ye. one
before I had another ready to supply
its place. I fancy we shall meet
this Evening by M—— G—— going
to Town, if we do I will tell you
every thing -- Adieu evedr dearest
dearest, dearest, Sister Friend.
                             Yr. sincerely affectionate
                             Brother     Palemon
                                                         toujours de même.

[5]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. Even after the multiple corrections, the dating is amiss, as 17 September 1779 was a Friday.
 2. This could be Highclere Castle in Hampshire, whose owner was Henry Herbert, later first Earl of Carnarvon. The Prince's summary of his visit is not unlike a journal entry made some forty years later, in which Cobbett greatly admired the park (remodelled by Capability Brown in 1770) but 'did not care about' the large house (Wikipedia).
 3. Possibly Lady Gideon, who in 1782 is 'still very pretty, and extremely gentle, well bred, attentive, and amiable' (D'Arblay [Burney], Diary and Letters, part V), or the more fashionable (but Scots) Lady Jane Gordon.
 4. The first writer referred to is probably Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier (HAM/1/20/23). The second is possibly Lady Frances Harpur, though the earliest dated surviving correspondence from her in the archive is from 1782.
 5. The last page is blank.

Normalised Text



                            


My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,

      Here am I returned from a jaunt
which would have been very pleasant &
indeed I may add very cheerful, had
I had the happiness of enjoying your
Company, which is always the greatest
comfort to me I can enjoy. We
were at Highclere on Saturday Morning
the owners of the place are very worthy
honest, good sort of people, mais pas
des plus eclairés, ni des plus agréables,
had it not been for Lady G——n I know


not what I should have done, the place
is very beautifully situated, but I
am quite of your way of thinking that
the House is a very enjoyable one though
not suitable to the place itself.
On Monday Morning we went to Caversham
the place is beautiful beyond imagination
, the House is just of the
same sort as the one I have just
mentioned, Lady Cadogan looked
excessively pretty, but that was her
least merit that day, for she was
all that a Gentlewoman ought be,
perfectly easy, civil, quiet, yet very


lively, & cheerful, & did the honours
of her House in the properest manner
possible. Tuesday Morning we went to Hedsor
where we found Lord & Lady Boston
got into their new House which is a
very good one we had them to play at
Cards with us in the Afternoon which
was decently dull -- So far for my
Journal, now let me come to the
most agreeable part of my Letter, it is
now 10 minutes past 5 o'clock in the
Afternoon, I will resume my Pen
as soon as I can --
      I am distressed for time however


I can not help expressing to you
the sincerity of my gratitude to you
for this last proof of confidence you
have given in showing me Lord Napiers.
& Mrs.. H——rs Letters, you desire
my dearest Sister & Friend, to hear
what I think of Lord Napier character,
I think he is a very plain, open honest
brave, & rather warm young man, however I do
not say he is a bit too much upon this
subject, he is just such a sort of
Man as I should like to attach to my self
& whom I hope hereafter to have
about me. It is now late my Friend this
Morning & I must dress for Breakfast. the
next Letter shall be longer, I have not as yet



shame upon me thanked you for
your pretty Chain. I really admire
it very much, pray do not hurry
yourself about the Purse, I have still
the first carefully treasured up.
& I would not begin to wear the one
before I had another ready to supply
its place. I fancy we shall meet
this Evening by Miss Gunning going
to Town, if we do I will tell you
every thing -- Adieu ever dearest
dearest, dearest, Sister Friend.
                             Your sincerely affectionate
                             Brother     Palemon
                                                         toujours de même.

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 1. Even after the multiple corrections, the dating is amiss, as 17 September 1779 was a Friday.
 2. This could be Highclere Castle in Hampshire, whose owner was Henry Herbert, later first Earl of Carnarvon. The Prince's summary of his visit is not unlike a journal entry made some forty years later, in which Cobbett greatly admired the park (remodelled by Capability Brown in 1770) but 'did not care about' the large house (Wikipedia).
 3. Possibly Lady Gideon, who in 1782 is 'still very pretty, and extremely gentle, well bred, attentive, and amiable' (D'Arblay [Burney], Diary and Letters, part V), or the more fashionable (but Scots) Lady Jane Gordon.
 4. The first writer referred to is probably Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier (HAM/1/20/23). The second is possibly Lady Frances Harpur, though the earliest dated surviving correspondence from her in the archive is from 1782.
 5. The last page is blank.

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/3/82/38

Correspondence Details

Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)

Place sent: unknown

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: c.17 September 1779
notBefore 16 September 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 17 September 1779 (precision: high)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, describing his visit to 'H' and 'Ca...m' and the company met there; and his opinion of the character of 'L N'.
    The Prince thanks Hamilton for a pretty chain she has given him, and discusses a purse that she is to make for him.
    Written Thursday.
    Signed 'Brother Palemon'.
   

Length: 2 sheets, 489 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

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