Diplomatic Text
Thursday Morng
My ever dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend, my Miranda,
Think only what I must feel, were ever ye - .
slightest imputation thrown upon yr. Character,
yr. honor is dearer to me than my own, there is
nothing upon earth that I wld.. not sooner undergo
than see you uneasy upon yt. account. I am
now talking in ye. language of a Brother to a
Sister, you know my Miranda yt. you are
dearer to me than life itself, therefore judge of
my feelings by yr. own. Yr. wishes construe themsel=
=ves in my ideas into Commands accordinly I have
again ʃpoke to my M——r only to attend you on
S——ys & Th-ys. when he brings you ye. N——[2]
Your amiable, tender, & commiserating
heart will be happy to hear yt.. our chace was so
agreable to us, especially as ye. life of ye poor
Animal was again saved. No accident to me
tho' I rode as hard as any body could well do, ye.
only fall yt.. I saw w - llas Lt.. Col. L——ke whose
Horse having overreached, pitched over & roled over
& over him, but by a great mercy he received no sort
of hurt, not even ye. most trifling bruise.
I have observed my promise, my Miranda
of being as little as poʃsible with ye. Servants, &
of keeping low Company off from me when hunting
so much so yt.. my dear Father commended me strongly
for it, especially for ye. propriety of my conduct
in yt. instance, which he seldom does upon occasion, howeve[r]
this pleased him so much, yt. he cld.. not help testifying it
to me.
I understand my dearest Miranda, yt. I
go to W——r again on M——y to dinner in order
to hunt on T——y & so come back as I did this time
on ye W——y; & then on ye. Sa——y following I go
again to stay, till ye We——y fortnight, by wh:
means I shall again have ye. happineʃs of seeing
you, & of conversing with you. As to every very
publick attention, such as walking constantly
by yr. side upon ye. Terraʃs, & conversing with
you, I will avoid them, but as to every little
attention, when we are at home of an Evening,[3] such as sitting by you & conversing with
you & treating you with gaiety, & spirits, & a certain
degree of polite familiarity, my friendship, & my affection for you as well as my
gratitude to you, will never be able to restrain themselves
from these liberties which constitute a part of true friendship.
Believe me my true friend when I aʃsure you
yt. I will to ye. best of my endeavours try to cure myʃelf,
of yt. wicked, vile, low practice of swearing, I am
but too conscious yt. you heard lame frequently guilty
of it ye. last time we met, but it was involuntarily
because it is grown quite habitual to me, so yt whenever
I am ye. least warmed, I can not help expreʃsing
myʃelf in a manner unbecoming me, however
I repeat it again I will do my utmost to cure
myself of it. Pray my Miranda ye. next time
we meet wh: will now be soon let me see your
charming spirits themselves, & let me feel them,
however let yr. friendship biaʃs you so much as
to let me always perceive yt.. you treat me with
yt.. sympathetick tenderneʃs & affection, which
you dearest Sister shall ever find in ye breast of,
Yr. ever affectionate Brother
Palemon toujours de même,
P.S.
My Mother does not chuse I shd..
have a Velvet now for she says I have
[e]nough of ym.. in a year, therefore am sorry I have given you so much trouble about those
[paterns] [however] I shall take ye liberty of sending you some of some other sorts of stuffs, & of begging you to
------------------------------[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. On the order of letters from mid-October 1779, see GEO/ADD/3/83/16 p.1 n.1.
2. On the shortened N——, see GEO/ADD/3/82/18 p.6 n.1.
3. The mark of insertion is accidentally placed after the comma rather than before.
4. The label P.S. of the postscript appears to the left of the signature. The whole postscript is quoted in Anson & Anson (1925: 87); see also GEO/ADD/3/82/46 and GEO/ADD/3/82/51.
Normalised Text
My ever dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend, my Miranda,
Think only what I must feel, were ever the
slightest imputation thrown upon your Character,
your honour is dearer to me than my own, there is
nothing upon earth that I would not sooner undergo
than see you uneasy upon that account. I am
now talking in the language of a Brother to a
Sister, you know my Miranda that you are
dearer to me than life itself, therefore judge of
my feelings by your own. Your wishes construe themselves
in my ideas into Commands accordingly I have
again spoke to my Messenger only to attend you on
Sundays & Thursdays when he brings you the Nosegay
Your amiable, tender, & commiserating
heart will be happy to hear that our chase was so
agreeable to us, especially as the life of the poor
Animal was again saved. No accident to me
though I rode as hard as any body could well do, the
only fall that I saw was Lieutenant Colonel Lake whose
Horse having overreached, pitched over & rolled over
& over him, but by a great mercy he received no sort
of hurt, not even the most trifling bruise.
I have observed my promise, my Miranda
of being as little as possible with the Servants, &
of keeping low Company off from me when hunting
so much so that my dear Father commended me strongly
for it, especially for the propriety of my conduct
in that instance, which he seldom does upon occasion, however
this pleased him so much, that he could not help testifying it
to me.
I understand my dearest Miranda, that I
go to Windsor again on Monday to dinner in order
to hunt on Tuesday & so come back as I did this time
on the Wednesday; & then on the Saturday following I go
again to stay, till the Wednesday fortnight, by which
means I shall again have the happiness of seeing
you, & of conversing with you. As to every very
public attention, such as walking constantly
by your side upon the Terrace, & conversing with
you, I will avoid them, but as to every little
attention, when we are at home of an Evening, such as sitting by you & conversing with
you & treating you with gaiety, & spirits, & a certain
degree of polite familiarity, my friendship, & my affection for you as well as my
gratitude to you, will never be able to restrain themselves
from these liberties which constitute a part of true friendship.
Believe me my true friend when I assure you
that I will to the best of my endeavours try to cure myself,
of that wicked, vile, low practice of swearing, I am
but too conscious that you heard me frequently guilty
of it the last time we met, but it was involuntarily
because it is grown quite habitual to me, so that whenever
I am the least warmed, I can not help expressing
myself in a manner unbecoming me, however
I repeat it again I will do my utmost to cure
myself of it. Pray my Miranda the next time
we meet which will now be soon let me see your
charming spirits themselves, & let me feel them,
however let your friendship bias you so much as
to let me always perceive that you treat me with
that sympathetic tenderness & affection, which
you dearest Sister shall ever find in the breast of,
Your ever affectionate Brother
Palemon toujours de même,
P.S.
My Mother does not choose I should
have a Velvet now for she says I have
enough of them in a year, therefore am sorry I have given you so much trouble about those
patterns however I shall take the liberty of sending you some of some other sorts of stuffs, & of begging you to
------------------------------
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/3/82/50
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.14 October 1779
notBefore 13 October 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 14 October 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on his respect for her honour; providing an account of the hunt; and on the accident of [Lieutenant-Colonel Lake].
The Prince writes that he is avoiding low company and that his conduct during the hunt had been praised by the King. He looks forward to seeing her at [Windsor], although he must avoid 'very public attention' towards her. He refers to curing himself of that 'wicked, vile, low practice of swearing'.
Written Thursday morning.
Length: 1 sheet, 645 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 July 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021