GEO/ADD/3/83/35
Incomplete letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales
Diplomatic Text
[1] [2]
Though my profeʃsions were perfectly
innocent -- I cannot resist the impulse of
a melancholy apprehension wch. has seiz'd my
spirits -- wch. whispers me that I have done
wrong -- forget then, I conjure you the impropriety
I have been guilty of in accepting your
friendship; forgive me too, If I beseech
you to withdraw your friendly attentions --
I have a certain presentiment that ye. contin-
uance of our friendship will only render me
wretched -- for to you, from the difference of our
situation, it will be of little consequence now --
& none hereafter -- yet do not imagine me of
so capricious a temper that I am already chang'd
-- that I no longer feel that friendship I
profeʃs'd -- no -- I shall cherish it to the end
of my existence.
Adieu hencef ------------ -- I ------------------------------
------ I have not fortitude enough to bear a
gust of malevolence, & shoud it ever paʃs over
my head -- I shd- bow down & be crush'd --
never to rise again. -- Adieu -- yet before I
bid you farewell let me add, that it wd. be
a painful reflection if I thought you wd. soon
utterly forget me -- I say soon, because I am
very sensible ye. world & the allurements wth- wch. you
will be surrounded, will hereafter claim all
your attention -- not to mention ye. instability
of human nature; -- & bear wth- me yet again
if I repeat my wishes -- for they proceed from ye-
heart -- May you enjoy every felicity this world
is capable of bestowing -- May fools never lead
you astray -- May the flattery of Knaves never
betray you
For well I know how rare the human race
Show aught of truth or friendship b - t[3] ye.. face
That Wit but lends to perfidy perfidy a dart
And speech scarce useful but to veil the heart.[4]
-- in short, I wish you to be[5]
▼
[6]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This undated draft fits perfectly as the letter preceding the Prince's GEO/ADD/3/82/65 of 21 November. On the order of letters around this date, see GEO/ADD/3/82/65 p.1 n.1.
2. The image here has four pages and differs from the Georgian Papers Online catalogue, which has a double-column layout for its middle page.
3. Hamilton has either corrected but to by and neglected to cancel the t, or (against the sense) she has changed by to but.
4. Moved verse insertion here from the foot of p.3. The intended insertion point is indicated by matching asterisks.
5. The rest of this sentence is lost with the cut-away portion of p.3. The verse addendum is written on the small strip that remains.
6. The last page, mostly cut away, is blank but for the remains of a wax seal in the corner. Hamilton may have drafted this letter on the remains of an envelope from which she later cut away the address.
Normalised Text
Though my professions were perfectly
innocent -- I cannot resist the impulse of
a melancholy apprehension which has seized my
spirits -- which whispers me that I have done
wrong -- forget then, I conjure you the impropriety
I have been guilty of in accepting your
friendship; forgive me too, If I beseech
you to withdraw your friendly attentions --
I have a certain presentiment that the continuance
of our friendship will only render me
wretched -- for to you, from the difference of our
situation, it will be of little consequence now --
& none hereafter -- yet do not imagine me of
so capricious a temper that I am already changed
-- that I no longer feel that friendship I
professed -- no -- I shall cherish it to the end
of my existence.
--
I have not fortitude enough to bear a
gust of malevolence, & should it ever pass over
my head -- I should bow down & be crushed --
never to rise again. -- Adieu -- yet before I
bid you farewell let me add, that it would be
a painful reflection if I thought you would soon
utterly forget me -- I say soon, because I am
very sensible the world & the allurements with which you
will be surrounded, will hereafter claim all
your attention -- not to mention the instability
of human nature; -- & bear with me yet again
if I repeat my wishes -- for they proceed from the
heart -- May you enjoy every felicity this world
is capable of bestowing -- May fools never lead
you astray -- May the flattery of Knaves never
betray you
For well I know how rare the human race
Show aught of truth or friendship b - t the face
That Wit but lends to perfidy a dart
And speech scarce useful but to veil the heart.
-- in short, I wish you to be
▼
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: Incomplete letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales
Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/83/35
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: between 18 and 20 November 1779
notBefore 18 November 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 20 November 1779 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on her feeling that she has done wrong; and asking him to withdraw his friendship.
Hamilton describes her feeling that 'the continuance of our friendship will only render me wretched', and discusses their different situations.
[Some text has been removed.]
[Draft.]
Length: 1 sheet, 300 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: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed February 2020)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 30 September 2023