Diplomatic Text
I cannot help adding a few
words to night to tell you how
much I was hurt 2 days ago
wth. some unpleasant conversation
reflections wth. regard to your dreʃs,
wch. was stiled coxcomical, &
particularly yr. Shoes & Buckles
wch. were remarkably tight &
large. It grieves me that such
reflections shd. always follow ye
mention of your name, instead
of any, upon your modesty -- sense --
greatneʃs of mind &c &c. It pro-
vokes me to see you so often &
repeatedly in ye. papers as a Hero
of some ridiculous adventure, or
silly letter frm. a Brighthelmstone
Miʃs[1] -- I am quite in a Paʃsion
upon this Subject for I cannot but
be much interested in ye. establish-
ment of your Character.[2]
I can discover thro' ye. foibles of
Youth & may I add ye. errors of
too strict an education,? -- an ------ good under
standing, gentleneʃs of manners,
& what I set ye. highest value
on, a feeling heart -- O may I,
as you aʃsure me, eternally
feel ye. satisfaction of having
rendered it conduceive to
glorious purposes! Our friendship
is virtuous pure amiable may
we enjoy it!
[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This disparaging sense of miss is used by Hamilton in GEO/ADD/3/83/8 and by other writers in, for instance, HAM/1/15/1/20 and HAM/1/19/34 (see OED s.v. miss n. 2, 4a).
2. Hamilton draws a line right across the page to conclude her complaint and separate it from the gentler conclusion.
3. The second page is blank.
Normalised Text
I cannot help adding a few
words to night to tell you how
much I was hurt 2 days ago
with some unpleasant
reflections with regard to your dress,
which was styled coxcombical, &
particularly your Shoes & Buckles
which were remarkably tight &
large. It grieves me that such
reflections should always follow the
mention of your name, instead
of any, upon your modesty -- sense --
greatness of mind &c &c. It provokes
me to see you so often &
repeatedly in the papers as a Hero
of some ridiculous adventure, or
silly letter from a Brighton
Miss -- I am quite in a Passion
upon this Subject for I cannot but
be much interested in the establishment
of your Character.
I can discover through the foibles of
Youth & may I add the errors of
too strict an education,? -- a good understanding
, gentleness of manners,
& what I set the highest value
on, a feeling heart -- O may I,
as you assure me, eternally
feel the satisfaction of having
rendered it conducive to
glorious purposes! Our friendship
is virtuous pure amiable may
we enjoy it!
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/3/83/53
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 8 December 1779
notBefore 8 December 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 8 December 1779 (precision: medium)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on hearing comments about his 'coxcomical' style of dress; his appearing in the papers; and on the virtues of his character.
Hamilton refers to his shoes and buckles 'which were remarkably tight & large'. She states that 'it provokes me to see you so often & repeatedly in the papers as a Hero of some ridiculous adventure, or silly letter from a Brighthelmstone Miss'. She refers to the 'errors of youth' and 'too strict an education'.
[Draft.]
Length: 1 sheet, 185 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 January 2020)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 10 December 2021