Diplomatic Text
Whilst I was at Mr —— a Gentleman came in &
related the following anecdote -- wch. perhaps had he known
I was in the family he would not have done -- “The Prince
of Wales is a great Coxcomb in his dreʃs -- but he is par
ticularly attentive to the appearance of his feet, & wears
such tight shoes & large Buckles that ye. King has
taken every method to make him leave them off but
without effect -- I heard, said he, the other day, that his
Majesty orderd Lt. Coll. Lake to speak to his R: H:
after having repeatedly spoke & havg. ordered Lt. Col: Lake
to try to persuade him out of this folly & finding that
he was obstinate upon ye. subject -- took the following
method: He took ye. Prince a remarkable long walk
through Bogs, up Hills, over stones &c. -- The Princes shoes
burst at ye. Sides & what with ye. weight of ye. Buckles & the
tightneʃs of ye. Shoes & ye. length of ye. walk his feet
were covered wth. Blisters, & he was quite lame -- the
King flattered himself he had gained his point, but
ye. Prince's obstinacy was proof against his
sufferings, & he appeared at Dinner, & ever since in
tight Shoes & large Buckles” This was a pretty sort of
conversation for me to hear -- I make no comments
Do you like being marked out for a Coxcomb?
The Letter[1] of Miʃs Saunders & to Miʃs Hodgsons[2] has been
improved upon & your name & hers has flourished in
the away in ye. public papers &c &c &c
The Queen very kind to day -- Dʃs of Argyle for ye 1st
time since her return gave me an affte. Kiʃs in the
Music Room &c -- &c --
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter was mentioned a month previously in GEO/ADD/3/82/57.
2. Hamilton has emended 'Letter of Miſs Saunders & Miſs Hodgsons' to 'Letter of Miſs Saunders to Miſs Hodgson' but failed to delete the conjunction '&'. A similar mark directly underneath the ampersand may in fact be a mark of insertion.
Normalised Text
Whilst I was at Mr —— a Gentleman came in &
related the following anecdote -- which perhaps had he known
I was in the family he would not have done -- “The Prince
of Wales is a great Coxcomb in his dress -- but he is particularly
attentive to the appearance of his feet, & wears
such tight shoes & large Buckles that the King has
taken every method to make him leave them off but
without effect -- I heard, said he, the other day, that his
Majesty
after having repeatedly spoken & having ordered Lieutenant Colonel Lake
to try to persuade him out of this folly & finding that
he was obstinate upon the subject -- took the following
method: He took the Prince a remarkable long walk
through Bogs, up Hills, over stones &c. -- The Princes shoes
burst at the Sides & what with the weight of the Buckles & the
tightness of the Shoes & the length of the walk his feet
were covered with Blisters, & he was quite lame -- the
King flattered himself he had gained his point, but
the Prince's obstinacy was proof against his
sufferings, & he appeared at Dinner, & ever since in
tight Shoes & large Buckles” This was a pretty sort of
conversation for me to hear -- I make no comments
Do you like being marked out for a Coxcomb?
The Letter of Miss Saunders & to Miss Hodgson has been
improved upon & your name & hers has flourished in
away in the public papers &c &c &c
The Queen very kind to day -- Duchess of Argyle for the 1st
time since her return gave me an affectionate Kiss in the
Music Room &c -- &c --
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/3/83/54
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 an anecdote about the Prince's obstinacy in wearing tight shoes with buckles; and the King's efforts to prevent him.
Hamilton refers to the letter of Miss [?Sanders] and Miss Hodgson; and states that the Duchess of Argyle 'for the first time since her return gave me an aff[ecctiona]te kiss in the music room'.
[Copy.]
Length: 1 sheet, 283 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 February 2020)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 10 December 2021