GEO/ADD/3/82/72
Copy of letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Recd. 3. Decr 1779
Friday morng ½ past 9[2]
Dearest dearest dearest Miranda, my Sister, my Friend
As nothing upon earth is so dear to me as
yourself, nothing cld make me happier than to hear yt yr
Cold was so much better to allow you to go out. I have my
Miranda a new subject to inform you of -- I knew it
myself but yesterday & wld have informed you of it imme-
diately had you not absolutely forbid my ## not[3] to call
before Tomorrow -- My Father began to tell me Yesterday
Morning yt. there were some new arrangements going on
in the establishments belonging to the family to wh I had not
yet been made privy -- The whole transactions I cannot
inform you of at present, but I will the first time we
meet -- I can only at present say yt. General De Budé
remains Governor to my Brother William whenever he
returns together with young Majendie as his Preceptor
& yt a new Gentleman a Mr. Brucere[4] an Englishman
is appointed Governor to Edward & yt. Mr. Humphrey
has got an aʃsistant to him about Edward, who is also to
serve as a sort of Sub-Governor tho not superior to Mr. Hum-
phrey being brought at his recomendation, he is a Layman
& his Name is Farrell -- I saw Mr. Brucere in my Mother's
Appartment this afternoon, who seems really to be a very
Gentlemanlike good sort of a Man -- My dear dearest
Miranda my better half, We go to the Play tomorrow
how happy shd I be to see you there & agreeably entertained
with me -- How happy shd I be to poʃseʃs Prince Lulin's[5]
bonnet, wh. used to allow the Wearers, as Fables have it to
take what form & to transport themselves in it within the
space of a second wherever they wish, as well as to make them
selves invisible -- Then wld I paʃs every leisure moment
I had with my Miranda & be her constant Companion if She
wld. allow me so to be -- Adieu, Adieu, Adieu. God bleʃs you
& preserve you -- I think that Lady —— Letter speaks
merely of things in general & she means nothing but what
She litterally mentions -- I hope you continue better in health
& yt you will ever continue to prosper & be happy -- I believe
you do not doubt in the constant prayers of Yr Yr Yr
Palemon toujours de meme
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This is a copy of a letter of George, Prince of Wales, written in an unknown hand. The handwriting, writing practices and general layout of this letter differ from that of other letters written by the Prince. Additionally, the paper on which the letter was written appears to be of a different and possibly later make (see also the watermark 1824 on the right-hand side of p.2). The same hand has copied Hamilton's note of date and time of receipt. The circumstances of copying are not known, and the original letter appears to be lost.
2. Originally an annotation by the recipient, Mary Hamilton.
3. The messenger being forbidden not to call is an example of what has recently been called misnegation.
4. Possibly a misreading of Bruyeres.
5. A misreading, probably by the scribe, of Lutin, French for ‘imp, goblin, elf’. Le Prince Lutin was a fairy story by Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy (1697), in which the hero, Léandre, having been turned into an imp, is granted a little red hat which makes him invisible and able to traverse the universe (Wikipedia, ‘The Imp Prince’. Accessed 02-07-2020).
Normalised Text
Received 3. December 1779
Friday morning ½ past 9
Dearest dearest dearest Miranda, my Sister, my Friend
As nothing upon earth is so dear to me as
yourself, nothing could make me happier than to hear that your
Cold was so much better to allow you to go out. I have my
Miranda a new subject to inform you of -- I knew it
myself but yesterday & would have informed you of it immediately
had you not absolutely forbidden my ## not to call
before Tomorrow -- My Father began to tell me Yesterday
Morning that there were some new arrangements going on
in the establishments belonging to the family to which I had not
yet been made privy -- The whole transactions I cannot
inform you of at present, but I will the first time we
meet -- I can only at present say that General De Budé
remains Governor to my Brother William whenever he
returns together with young Majendie as his Preceptor
& that a new Gentleman a Mr. Brucere an Englishman
is appointed Governor to Edward & that Mr. Humphrey
has got an assistant to him about Edward, who is also to
serve as a sort of Sub-Governor though not superior to Mr. Humphrey
being brought at his recommendation, he is a Layman
& his Name is Farrell -- I saw Mr. Brucere in my Mother's
Apartment this afternoon, who seems really to be a very
Gentlemanlike good sort of a Man -- My dear dearest
Miranda my better half, We go to the Play tomorrow
how happy should I be to see you there & agreeably entertained
with me -- How happy should I be to possess Prince Lulin's
bonnet, which used to allow the Wearers, as Fables have it to
take what form & to transport themselves in it within the
space of a second wherever they wish, as well as to make themselves
invisible -- Then would I pass every leisure moment
I had with my Miranda & be her constant Companion if She
would allow me so to be -- Adieu, Adieu, Adieu. God bless you
& preserve you -- I think that Lady —— Letter speaks
merely of things in general & she means nothing but what
She literally mentions -- I hope you continue better in health
& that you will ever continue to prosper & be happy -- I believe
you do not doubt in the constant prayers of Your Your Your
Palemon toujours de meme
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: Copy of letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/82/72
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 3 December 1779
notBefore 3 December 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 3 December 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Copy of letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on changes in the establishments of Prince William and Prince Edward; Prince [?Lulin's] magic bonnet; and on going to the play the next day.
Received Friday morning at ½ past 9.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 1 sheet, 406 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed January 2020)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021