Diplomatic Text
In answer to yrs on Th——y
Novbr-
past 6 oclock
Oh be not angry thou dearest
whimsical Creature yt. ever existed you
was not so, tho' you said it, you cld.. not
help being pleased with me notwithstand=
=ing I did to be sure give a little twist
to yr: meaning. I repeat I do not desist
from what I already said yt. you are
equally amiable, agreable, & dear in
whatever humor you are, but you are certainly a little
whimsical, odd, unaccountable, comical,
romantick creature. Now I have spit
my fire. As to yr. desiring me to
advise you concerning yr. conduct
towards, yt. impudent little liar,
who is so proper to give it you as
yrself. I will now give you a little
information with regard to his conduct
towards, & then I will give you my
advice; he has been very shy of speaking
to me, & rather appeared afraid of me,
perceiving with what reserve I treat
him, he is conscious I suppose of his
ill behaviour towards me, by making
such free mention of my name, now
my dearest Miranda, ye first time
he offers to conduct you over ye way
or his hand to yr. Chair, I wld.. have
you treat him with yt. cold reserve
encreasing it to fullsuch a degree, till
you think it time to drop his
acquaintance entirely, such is
my advice my Friend, I give it you
because I think it ye best, however
you had much better follow ye impulse
of yr. own mind, nothing can be a
better guide to you than ye. rectitude
of yr. intentions. I wish to know
how you escape at this time of ye.
Year, catching Cold, my Brother
hads a bad Cold, & Cough, & as for
me I am now beginning I believe
to have one too, for I have a great
soarneʃs on my breast, & Cough,
however I hope with proper care
it will be nothing. I wish you
to instruct my Meʃsenger, as far
as you know, what Days, or what
hours wld.. be most convenient for
him to call upon you when we arrive in ##[2] I wish you
wld.. give ym- me in writing. After
ye. first - week of yr. arrival, I shall
expect to see, hear & find you just
such a Madcap as you used to be,
when you get among yr. Friends,
what a giddy thing thou wilt be,
however I need not caution you to
think of me wherever you go, my
heart will always attend you. I
am doubting very much whether
or no I shall send you ye. Book I
intended to send you, I certainly
shall not send it you till you have
been among yr. friends, together
with a little diʃsipation for more
than a Month, for I understand
it is a Book filled with ye. finest
tenderest & most delicate feelings.
& such a Book in short, yt. wld.. a
good deal lower my Miranda's spirits
therefore I am determined not to
send such a Book until I am convinced
her spirits are better than they are at
present. Ad. Ad. Ad. My Friend,
my Sister, my Miranda, may you
ever be as fortunate & happy, as
yr. virtues deserve, I am
Yr. ever sincerely affectionate
Brother
Palemon.
toujours de même.
P.S.[3]
I am in hopes of seeing you to morrow Evening
pray keep yrself disingaged for I shall be
unhappy if you are not. A. A. A.. toujours chére
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This complex annotation by Mary Hamilton has been rearranged in three logical parts in apparent accord with the sequence of writing. The year appears on the same line as 'Friday 19th', while 'past 6 oclock' appears in line with the month.
2. The place seems to be represented by a graphical symbol, a square box with three vertical and three horizontal bars, represented here by '##'.
3. The label P.S. appears to the left of the final salutation.
4. This page is left blank.
Normalised Text
Oh be not angry thou dearest
whimsical Creature that ever existed you
was not so, though you said it, you could not
help being pleased with me notwithstanding
I did to be sure give a little twist
to your meaning. I repeat I do not desist
from what I already said that you are
equally amiable, agreeable, & dear in
whatever humour you are, but you are certainly a little
whimsical, odd, unaccountable, comical,
romantic creature. Now I have spit
my fire. As to your desiring me to
advise you concerning your conduct
towards, that impudent little liar,
who is so proper to give it you as
yourself. I will now give you a little
information with regard to his conduct
towards, & then I will give you my
advice; he has been very shy of speaking
to me, & rather appeared afraid of me,
perceiving with what reserve I treat
him, he is conscious I suppose of his
ill behaviour towards me, by making
such free mention of my name, now
my dearest Miranda, the first time
he offers to conduct you over the way
or his hand to your Chair, I would have
you treat him with that cold reserve
increasing it to such a degree, till
you think it time to drop his
acquaintance entirely, such is
my advice my Friend, I give it you
because I think it the best, however
you had much better follow the impulse
of your own mind, nothing can be a
better guide to you than the rectitude
of your intentions. I wish to know
how you escape at this time of the
Year, catching Cold, my Brother
has a bad Cold, & Cough, & as for
me I am now beginning I believe
to have one too, for I have a great
soreness on my breast, & Cough,
however I hope with proper care
it will be nothing. I wish you
to instruct my Messenger, as far
as you know, what Days, or what
hours would be most convenient for
him to call upon you when we arrive in ## I wish you
would give them me in writing. After
the first week of your arrival, I shall
expect to see, hear & find you just
such a Madcap as you used to be,
when you get among your Friends,
what a giddy thing thou wilt be,
however I need not caution you to
think of me wherever you go, my
heart will always attend you. I
am doubting very much whether
or no I shall send you the Book I
intended to send you, I certainly
shall not send it you till you have
been among your friends, together
with a little dissipation for more
than a Month, for I understand
it is a Book filled with the finest
tenderest & most delicate feelings.
& such a Book in short, that would a
good deal lower my Miranda's spirits
therefore I am determined not to
send such a Book until I am convinced
her spirits are better than they are at
present. Adieu Adieu Adieu My Friend,
my Sister, my Miranda, may you
ever be as fortunate & happy, as
your virtues deserve, I am
Your ever sincerely affectionate
Brother
Palemon.
toujours de même.
P.S.
I am in hopes of seeing you to morrow Evening
pray keep yourself disengaged for I shall be
unhappy if you are not. 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/3/82/64
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.19 November 1779
notBefore 18 November 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 19 November 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on her conduct towards the 'little liar'; on catching a cold; on Hamilton's personality; and on sending her a book.
The Prince advises that she gradually increase her coldness towards [?W R] 'till you think it time to drop his acquaintance entirely'. He refers to her as 'a little whimsical, odd, unaccountable, comical, romantick creature', and states that 'after the first week of your arrival, I shall expect to see, hear and find you just such a Madcap as you used to be, when you get among your friends'.
Received Friday afternoon at ¼ past 6 o'clock.
Length: 2 sheets, 574 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited 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: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed December 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021