Diplomatic Text
25th. July -- However imprudent my conductit may have
been in havg acknowledged to return your friend-
ship -- think not that I shall act so base a
part as to encourage such warm declarations --
You forget surely that Providence has
placed you in a situation wch. it is, & will
be your duty to support in every respect, &
act up to in every instance -- as your friend --
-- the character is a sacred one, it is my
duty to remind you what you owe yourself --
I must be much deceived in you, if you
ever want a monitor to remind of what
you owe to others. Indeed Indeed my friend
I tremble for you -- my God what will become
of you if you suffer yourself to be led away
with such impetuosity -- reflect I beseech
you upon what I am going to say -- you
have seen little of ye. world -- you fancy
yourself attached -- shall I paint the
Object? Inferior in Birth -- no beauty to
attract -- no person to captivate -- poʃseʃsed
only of ye. most common accomplishments,
an honest heart we will allow -- this
may be sufficient for a Friend, but wld-
disgrace -- for how disgraceful for you to
pretend to feel any thing more! Oh my friend
beware of suffering yourself to be led away --
2d
you will soon have captivating objects
present themselves -- vanity that ruling
paʃsion will make them encourage you,
& you will be drawn in to commit some
folly that will leʃsen you in the eyes of ye-
world -- I speak ye dictates of my Soul --
I had rather for ever forfeit ye. satisfaction
of your friendship than be guilty of con-
cealing any thing, however unpleasing to
your feelings, wch. I thought would prove
detrimental to your character, honor, &
real happineʃs -- Adieu I have time
only to add, that I ever will act up
to the character of Your friend, whatever
ever[2] event may happen, whatever
appearances things make take, judge not
from them -- but believe me no one
on earth has your happineʃs -- or your
credit more at heart than your faith-
ful & affte. Friend
Typed
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
25th. July -- However imprudent my conduct may have
been in having acknowledged to return your friendship
-- think not that I shall act so base a
part as to encourage such warm declarations --
You forget surely that Providence has
placed you in a situation which it is, & will
be your duty to support in every respect, &
act up to in every instance -- as your friend --
-- the character is a sacred one, it is my
duty to remind you what you owe yourself --
I must be much deceived in you, if you
ever want a monitor to remind of what
you owe to others. Indeed my friend
I tremble for you -- my God what will become
of you if you suffer yourself to be led away
with such impetuosity -- reflect I beseech
you upon what I am going to say -- you
have seen little of the world -- you fancy
yourself attached -- shall I paint the
Object? Inferior in Birth -- no beauty to
attract -- no person to captivate -- possessed
only of the most common accomplishments,
an honest heart we will allow -- this
may be sufficient for a Friend, but would
disgrace -- for how disgraceful for you to
pretend to feel any thing more! Oh my friend
beware of suffering yourself to be led away --
you will soon have captivating objects
present themselves -- vanity that ruling
passion will make them encourage you,
& you will be drawn in to commit some
folly that will lessen you in the eyes of the
world -- I speak the dictates of my Soul --
I had rather for ever forfeit the satisfaction
of your friendship than be guilty of concealing
any thing, however unpleasing to
your feelings, which I thought would prove
detrimental to your character, honour, &
real happiness -- Adieu I have time
only to add, that I ever will act up
to the character of Your friend, whatever
event may happen, whatever
appearances things make take, judge not
from them -- but believe me no one
on earth has your happiness -- or your
credit more at heart than your faithful
& affectionate Friend
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 Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales
Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/83/5
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 July 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on the responsibility of his station; and on not allowing himself to be 'led away with such impetuosity'.
Hamilton states that she will not 'act so base a part as to encourage such warm declarations'; and lists objections to their attachment.
[Draft.]
Length: 1 sheet, 347 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: 10 December 2021