Diplomatic Text
Sunday Morng. 10 o'Clock
In answer to ------ Night:[2]
You can not imagine, my ever
dearest Miranda what this last Letter
of yrs. has cost me, chear up yr. spirits
and give us not so bad an omen you
know how violent my paʃsions are, were
I to conceive yt. yr. apprehensions had
ye. least grounds, I know not to what
lengths my dispair & grief, wld.. carry me
But we must resign every thing to
Providence, yr. friendship, love, &
affection my ever dearest Sister, are
ye. utmost object of my life, Oh
wld. to Heaven ye. Almighty had
placed me in such a situation as to
have called my Miranda, Mine
I then shd.. have looked upon myʃelf
as ye. happiest Being in ye. whole
Creation, however it does not become
us to murmur at ye. decrees of our
All merciful, all wise, allmighty
Parent, we must submit with
resignation to ym. & make ye. best
& chearfullest use of yt. line of
life, in wh.. it has pleased him to
place us.
Come my Miranda
chear up yr. spirits, & dry up yr.
precious tears, we have I trust
in God many long, long Years
yet to live, & our friendʃhip, if
my Prayers are heard will be as
unalterable ------ forever as ye. perpetual
decrees of Fate. I own I am vexed
we did not meet to night I had formed
many delicious, delectable diletante
charming, delightful ideas of our
meeting this Afternoon. & of ourCould
we have managed to have slipped out
into another Room I shd.. have taken my
leave only for a time, of my dearest
Friend in a manner wh.. I think wld.. have drawn
if not a tear, at leaʃt a ʃigh from her
tender heart. Yr. bosom my Miranda
is not formed for ye. vulgar coarse
feelings of ye. World in general, it
is too delicately, if I may say so framed,
too susceptible if poʃsible of refined
& deliate feelings. It is impoʃsible for
me to expreʃs my attachment to you,
it is something more than human, to
call it love, friendship, affection, is
undervaluing it, it is as it were
all those paʃsions refined into one,
(you will perhaps laugh at my mode
of expreʃsion, mais telle est ma façon)
you are as superior My Miranda
in yr. feelings to ye. World in general
as man is to ye. brute species.
I had a great deal more upon certain
topics to say to you had I seen you,
wh.. I shall preserve till I come
to London, as I promise & believe
you pray believe me when I say so
yt. my correspondance with you there
shall be as constant, as far as it is
in my power, as it is here. Ad. Ad. Ad.
my ever dearest Miranda, may
you ever enjoy these bleʃsings wh.
compose ye constant Prayers of,
Yr. Yr. Yr. Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.
I shall endeavour if poʃsible to write
to you again before we change our habitation.
I have a very bad cold to night, & a soar throat
throat, however hope by ye means of some
Hartshorn & a black Ribband to be well
Tomorrow, pray tell me how you escape
Colds this Weather. Let me recommend
to you to walk as much as poʃsible when it is fine
when you come to Town. (a little bit selfinterested) A. A. A.
toujours chére
[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The order of three letters from 19-21 November differs slightly from the sequence in the Georgian Papers Online catalogue, and one is moved here that was tentatively dated in December. The present letter was received on Sunday morning and seems an unlikely follow-up to either GEO/ADD/3/83/25 of the same date or the undated and rather 'saucy' GEO/ADD/3/83/59. Both of the latter find clear echoes in GEO/ADD/3/82/66, however, for example in the over-literal response to Hamilton's sarcasm about 'dissipation', and in compliance with the request to be 'minutious'; see also footnote 2 below. The suggested sequence is GEO/ADD/3/83/35, GEO/ADD/3/82/65, GEO/ADD/3/83/25, GEO/ADD/3/83/59, GEO/ADD/3/82/66.
2. This subject heading appears to the left of the day and time. The missing word is 'Thursday' or perhaps 'Yesterday'. The surviving letter which contains precisely the sort of 'apprehensions' referred to below is the undated GEO/ADD/3/83/35.
3. The last page is blank.
Normalised Text
You can not imagine, my ever
dearest Miranda what this last Letter
of yours has cost me, cheer up your spirits
and give us not so bad an omen you
know how violent my passions are, were
I to conceive that your apprehensions had
the least grounds, I know not to what
lengths my despair & grief, would carry me
But we must resign every thing to
Providence, your friendship, love, &
affection my ever dearest Sister, are
the utmost object of my life, Oh
would to Heaven the Almighty had
placed me in such a situation as to
have called my Miranda, Mine
I then should have looked upon myself
as the happiest Being in the whole
Creation, however it does not become
us to murmur at the decrees of our
All merciful, all wise, almighty
Parent, we must submit with
resignation to them & make the best
& cheerfullest use of that line of
life, in which it has pleased him to
place us.
Come my Miranda
cheer up your spirits, & dry up your
precious tears, we have I trust
in God many long, long Years
yet to live, & our friendship, if
my Prayers are heard will be as
unalterable forever as the perpetual
decrees of Fate. I own I am vexed
we did not meet to night I had formed
many delicious, delectable dilettante
charming, delightful ideas of our
meeting this Afternoon. Could
we have managed to have slipped out
into another Room I should have taken my
leave only for a time, of my dearest
Friend in a manner which I think would have drawn
if not a tear, at least a sigh from her
tender heart. Your bosom my Miranda
is not formed for the vulgar coarse
feelings of the World in general, it
is too delicately, if I may so framed,
too susceptible if possible of refined
& delicate feelings. It is impossible for
me to express my attachment to you,
it is something more than human, to
call it love, friendship, affection, is
undervaluing it, it is as it were
all those passions refined into one,
(you will perhaps laugh at my mode
of expression, mais telle est ma façon)
you are as superior My Miranda
in your feelings to the World in general
as man is to the brute species.
I had a great deal more upon certain
topics to say to you had I seen you,
which I shall preserve till I come
to London, as I promise & believe
you pray believe me when I say so
that my correspondence with you there
shall be as constant, as far as it is
in my power, as it is here. Adieu Adieu Adieu
my ever dearest Miranda, may
you ever enjoy these blessings which
compose the constant Prayers of,
Your Your Your Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.
I shall endeavour if possible to write
to you again before we change our habitation.
I have a very bad cold to night, & a sore
throat, however hope by the means of some
Hartshorn & a black Ribbon to be well
Tomorrow, pray tell me how you escape
Colds this Weather. Let me recommend
to you to walk as much as possible when it is fine
when you come to Town. (a little bit selfinterested) 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/3/82/65
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 21 November 1779
notBefore 21 November 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 21 November 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on his wish that he was in a station of life [which would allow them to marry]; and the superiority of her feelings.
The Prince describes his disappointment at being unable to see Hamilton that day, and states that he had 'formed many delicious, delectable diletante, charming, delightful ideas of our meeting this Afternoon'. In postscript the Prince describes his cold and sore throat.
Received Sunday morning at 10 o'clock.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 2 sheets, 559 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: 23 April 2022