Diplomatic Text
1779
Your amiable M—— has at this place renew'd
her kind attention to me, I mention this,
because you know how easily my feelings
take the alarm -- I cannot bear the least
slight from any person I am attach'd to,
-- I require no attention -- I am perfectly indifferent
to the behaviour of People (let their situation
in life be what it will) -- if I either dislike,
or have reason to despise them --
I am afraid your friend has a very proud
heart.
I have chose the rose color but I like ye darkother. -- my Ideas
wth. respect to Dreʃs either of Man or
Woman is -- that to be perfectly Elegant it
should be simple as poʃsible. -- I
wld. have character, dreʃs, manner writing all
make for that simplicity I adore --
I mean that elegant refin'd simplicity
what marks sincerity -- do you
comprehend me?.
to me every thing that has ye. least appearance
of art or design in a character is to me detestable
& I never will continuewdcan have a perfect esteem for a friendship wth-
any one if I find out they ever deviated
from the truth -- I can hardly make
allowance for it in any shape -- or under any
circumstances.
I do once more beg that my friend will
guard himself against swearing -- you
have now so habituated yourself to
that vile vulgar shocking vice that I
fear it will be some time before you lose
it -- I take ye. liberty of again making
mention of this as ye. last time we
were together you (without being aware
of it I am certain) was - guilty of it
continually -- I have many more reproofs
hoarded up for you at proper times &
seasons -- & I shall not be so cruelunkind
as to be silent & you cannotmust not be so
unkind as to be offended[1]
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------[3]
before I bid you adieu my friend I must just give yo. a
hint that there is not an expreʃsion of yours at ye. different Breakfasts
lately yt. has not been repeated & turn'd into every different mode
poʃsible -- ye. “P said this & that” “ye. P. sadid so & so Miʃs J. innocently --
without being aware I was interested -- told me all ye. various reports
remember, remember -- that yo- have faithfully promised
me to endeavour to aʃsume a manly steady
conduct -- such a one yt. may hereafter establish
You a great & amiable Character -- Adieu
your friend Your true friend
------------ [4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This paragraph is quoted in Anson & Anson (1925: 86).
2. This annotation appears in the lower right-hand corner of the upper section of p.3, written at an angle, and a wavy line up the right margin of that page and the left margin of p.2 marks the passage in question, corresponding exactly to the portion excerpted in the book.
3. A section has been cut out from the middle of this page.
4. Various cancelled and illegible scribbles appear below this line.
Normalised Text
17
Your amiable M—— has at this place renewed
her kind attention to me, I mention this,
because you know how easily my feelings
take the alarm -- I cannot bear the least
slight from any person I am attached to,
-- I require no attention -- I am perfectly indifferent
to the behaviour of People (let their situation
in life be what it will) -- if I either dislike,
or have reason to despise them --
I am afraid your friend has a very proud
heart.
I have chosen the rose colour but I like the other. -- my Ideas
with respect to Dress either of Man or
Woman is -- that to be perfectly Elegant it
should be simple as possible. -- I
would have character, dress, manner writing all
make for that simplicity I adore --
I mean elegant refined simplicity
-- do you
comprehend me?.
every thing that has the least appearance
of art or design in a character is to me detestable
& I never can have a perfect esteem for a friend
if I find out they deviate
from the truth -- I can hardly make
allowance for it in any shape -- or under any
circumstances.
I do once more beg that my friend will
guard himself against swearing -- you
have now so habituated yourself to
that vile vulgar shocking vice that I
fear it will be some time before you lose
it -- I take the liberty of again making
mention of this as the last time we
were together you (without being aware
of it I am certain) was guilty of it
continually -- I have many more reproofs
hoarded up for you at proper times &
seasons -- I shall not be so unkind
as to be silent & you must not be so
unkind as to be offended
before I bid you adieu my friend I must just give you a
hint that there is not an expression of yours at the different Breakfasts
lately that has not been repeated & turned into every different mode
possible -- the “Prince said this & that” “the Prince did so & so Miss innocently --
without being aware I was interested -- told me all the various reports
remember, remember -- that you have faithfully promised
me to endeavour to assume a manly steady
conduct -- such a one that may hereafter establish
You a great & amiable Character -- Adieu
your friend Your true 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/3/83/13
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 10 October 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on the kind attentions of the Queen; her opinions on style; and on the Prince's habit of swearing.
Hamilton refers to her 'very proud heart'. She states that in terms of dress for men or women, 'to be perfectly Elegant it should be simple as possible', and that she prefers simplicity and truth in all things.
Written Sunday afternoon.
[A section has been cut out, and the end of the letter is obscured with an ink mark].
[Draft.]
Length: 1 sheet, 398 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: 10 December 2021