Diplomatic Text
recd- Sunday Morng.
14th. Novbr. 1779 ½ past 8 o'Clock
My dearest, dearest, dearest Miranda, my Sister, my Friend,
I am always sorry when I conbegin to converse
with my Miranda upon trifles, however I think
she will pardon me, & not look upon ym- as trifles
when she knows yt. I am interested in ym-. Know
then my Miranda I have learnt from ye. very best authority
but it is at present a grand secret, yt. my Brother &
I go to my future House, viz. Carlton House this
Winter as --- my Father wants our Appartments for some=
=body else. We are to continue still with our Governors
the whole of this Winter as I believe, & yt. in ye. Spring
or towards Midsummer we are both of us to dash into
ye. wide World, however be persuaded My Miranda,
yt. wherever I am my heart will never be absent from
you, you are so imprinted in it, yt. Iall my feelings must
be obliterated before I forget youbecome indifferent about you, I hope
we shall meet as often this Winter, as we did last. I am
certain we shall meet in ye. Evening of New year's day
as it is a Gala Day & as we also met last Year, therefore
I shd.. think we shd.. meet this, but we must leave
every thing to Providence, we must submit chearfully
to ye allwise decrees of ye. Almighty, we are conscious
both of us, of a true, disinterested, virtuous, affection
for each other, our hearts are irrevocably united,
Oh my God I beseech thee on my knees, shower
down thy almighty bleʃsings upon my dearest Sister & Friend, [2]
strengthen her with thy grace, to undergo with
fortitude & resignation ye. viciʃsitudes of this life
& at last receive her in thyine everlasting Kingdom,
testify we beseech thee almighty Father, unto us
ye. continuance of thy grace upon us & may our
friendship, affection, & tenderneʃs be everlasting
these things ever gracious Father, we intreat & beseech most
earnestly of thee in ye. name of thy only Son, our
bleʃsed Redeemer. Such My Miranda are my
constant Prayers unto my God, you who constitute
ye. greatest part of my life, are ye principal
subject of ym-. I hope our heavenly Father
will incline his ear unto us & grant us our
requests, however my dearest Friend I will
no longer dwell upon this subject as I fear
it will be rather too much for yr. tender
spirits, therefore will only add yt. we must
trust every thing unto God, & never venture
to look into futurity ourselves, for yt. is only
forestalling either ye. pleasures or pains he has in ʃtore
for us which must ever be unknown to us until they befall us.
So my Miranda you are again left alone
& I am again to be deprived of ye. pleasure of yr.
Company, however thank heaven yt. can not
last long, there will come a time when I shall
be able to enjoy it at liberty, & in a manner I
wish, continue to keep yr. spirits up you little
idle, giddy, naughty Puʃs, & be no longer
low spirited, notwithstanding I admire yr.
Julia[3] so much, & every paʃsage you have marked
alluding to melancholy. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
ma trés chere Sœur, mon Amie, ma Miranda,
soyez persuadée que rien au monde ne vous
effacera du coeur de
Vôtre trés affectionné Frére Palemon
toujours de même
P.S.[4]
Pray let me have a little Answer to this early on M——y M——g
Even if but 3 lines, you shall else have a little Note, as ye greatest happineʃs I enjoy is
writing to you. Pray pardon my scrawl & my uncorrect style, as I am greatly hurried. Encore Ad. Ad. Ad toujours chére.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
My dearest, dearest, dearest Miranda, my Sister, my Friend,
I am always sorry when I begin to converse
with my Miranda upon trifles, however I think
she will pardon me, & not look upon them as trifles
when she knows that I am interested in them. Know
then my Miranda I have learnt from the very best authority
but it is at present a grand secret, that my Brother &
I go to my future House, viz. Carlton House this
Winter as my Father wants our Apartments for somebody
else. We are to continue still with our Governors
the whole of this Winter as I believe, & in the Spring
or towards Midsummer we are both of us to dash into
the wide World, however be persuaded My Miranda,
that wherever I am my heart will never be absent from
you, you are so imprinted in it, that all my feelings must
be obliterated before I become indifferent about you, I hope
we shall meet as often this Winter, as we did last. I am
certain we shall meet in the Evening of New year's day
as it is a Gala Day & as we also met last Year, therefore
I should think we should meet this, but we must leave
every thing to Providence, we must submit cheerfully
to the all-wise decrees of the Almighty, we are conscious
both of us, of a true, disinterested, virtuous, affection
for each other, our hearts are irrevocably united,
Oh my God I beseech thee on my knees, shower
down thy almighty blessings upon my dearest Sister & Friend,
strengthen her with thy grace, to undergo with
fortitude & resignation the vicissitudes of this life
& at last receive her in thine everlasting Kingdom,
testify we beseech thee almighty Father, unto us
the continuance of thy grace upon us & may our
friendship, affection, & tenderness be everlasting
these things ever gracious Father, we entreat & beseech most
earnestly of thee in the name of thy only Son, our
blessed Redeemer. Such My Miranda are my
constant Prayers unto my God, you who constitute
the greatest part of my life, are the principal
subject of them. I hope our heavenly Father
will incline his ear unto us & grant us our
requests, however my dearest Friend I will
no longer dwell upon this subject as I fear
it will be rather too much for your tender
spirits, therefore will only add that we must
trust every thing unto God, & never venture
to look into futurity ourselves, for that is only
forestalling either the pleasures or pains he has in store
for us which must ever be unknown to us until they befall us.
So my Miranda you are again left alone
& I am again to be deprived of the pleasure of your
Company, however thank heaven that can not
last long, there will come a time when I shall
be able to enjoy it at liberty, & in a manner I
wish, continue to keep your spirits up you little
idle, giddy, naughty Puss, & be no longer
low spirited, notwithstanding I admire your
Julia so much, & every passage you have marked
alluding to melancholy. Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
ma trés chere Sœur, mon Amie, ma Miranda,
soyez persuadée que rien au monde ne vous
effacera du coeur de
Vôtre trés affectionné Frére Palemon
toujours de même
P.S.
Pray let me have a little Answer to this early on Monday Morning
Even if but 3 lines, you shall else have a little Note, as the greatest happiness I enjoy is
writing to you. Pray pardon my scrawl & my incorrect style, as I am greatly hurried. Encore Adieu Adieu Adieu toujours chére.
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/3/82/61
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 14 November 1779
notBefore 14 November 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 14 November 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on hearing of plans for [Prince Frederick] and himself to go to Carlton House that winter; where towards midsummer they will 'dash into the wide world'
The Prince writes that these arrangements have been made because the King requires their apartments for somebody else. He hopes to see Hamilton on New Year's Day, as it is a Gala Day, and writes that 'all my feelings must be obliterated before I become indifferent about you'. The Prince writes a prayer for Hamilton, and requests that she keep her spirits up, calling her a 'little idle, giddy, naughty Puss'.
Received Sunday morning at ½ past 8 o'clock.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 1 sheet, 621 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 August 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021