Diplomatic Text
[1]
Get up at 7. dreʃs as quick as poʃsible to divide myself as well as
I can between Pʃs. R. & Augusta (who are in different rooms) during
the time of their dreʃsing -- at 8 O'Clock to go to Chapel Tuesdays when
we return to attend their R H: to ye. Breakfast room -- stay till
I am dismis'd by ye. Queen to get my Breakfast, attend During
Princeʃs Royals leʃsons with her Masters from 9 O'Clock till 12.
from 12 till 2 to have to myself, an hour of which at least I
must give to my Maid for hair-dreʃsing &c. from 2 till 4 divide
myself as well as I can between Pʃs. Royal & Augusta -- a ¼
before 4 Princeʃs Elizabeth comes from the lower Lodge & remains
wth. me till ye. Pʃs's are sent for to Dinner -- the Dinner hour
is 4, but they are seldom at table at that time, some
time's 20 Min; ½ an Hour, sometimes 5 O'Clock. this depends
upon the length of the Kings rides &c. &c. I dine with Mrs.
Hagerdorn whose dinner hour depends upon ye. time their
Majesties- dine. -- immediately after dinner I go to the Queens
Room. -- She reads aloud -- the three Eldest Pʃs's- Miʃs Golds=
worthy & I sit & work. till the King comes, we then walk
upon the terrace -- return to Tea of which I get a dish in ye.
Musick Room and generally finish the Eveng with Cards --
A little after ten their M. & Pʃs. R & A go to supper -- and
writing re ------
I attend Pʃs. Elizabeth (walking through ye. Garden to ye. lower
Lodge -- when I return ye. Pʃs's come up & I divide myself
between their rooms during the time they are undreʃsing
till they are both in bed -- It is seldom much before 12
before I retire to my room -- The only difference of the Eveng.
I am out of waiting is, that I do not walk upon ye.
Terrace but go to my room -- ye. hour is uncertain as it
depends upon ye. time they go out -- about 87 at present.
Miʃs G carries Pʃs Elizh. to ye. lower lodge and as she lives
there does not return therefore I must be ready to rec[eive]
ye. Pʃs's. when they come up every Night -- Till ye. Parlaiment
breaks up -- Their Majesties will go to Town once a week --
when it is broke up once a fortnight, On ye. Wednesday
Morng. after Chapel & Breakfast -- I go with Pʃs. R. &
A. to Kew -- on ye. Thursday we go to Town full dreʃs'd
about one O'Clock. return to Kew to Tea -- & on Friday
Afternoon come back to Windsor N B. during these 3
days I have not an instant to myself -- my nominal
Evengs. out of waiting are Sunday. Tuesday. & Thursday &
every other Saturday -- If Miʃs Goldsworthy is Ill. I am
in constant attendance. --
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. We have swapped the two pages in the image of this letter, as the original had the second page first. The image therefore differs from that in the University of Manchester LUNA catalogue.
Normalised Text
Get up at 7. dress as quick as possible to divide myself as well as
I can between Princess Royal & Augusta (who are in different rooms) during
the time of their dressing -- at 8 O'Clock to go to Chapel when
we return to attend their Royal Highnesses to the Breakfast room -- stay till
I am dismissed by the Queen to get my Breakfast, attend During
Princess Royals lessons with her Masters from 9 O'Clock till 12.
from 12 till 2 to have to myself, an hour of which at least I
must give to my Maid for hair-dressing &c. from 2 till 4 divide
myself as well as I can between Princess Royal & Augusta -- a ¼
before 4 Princess Elizabeth comes from the lower Lodge & remains
with me till the Princesses are sent for to Dinner -- the Dinner hour
is 4, but they are seldom at table at that time, some
time's 20 Minutes; ½ an Hour, sometimes 5 O'Clock. this depends
upon the length of the Kings rides &c. &c. I dine with Mrs.
Hagerdorn whose dinner hour depends upon the time their
Majesties- dine. -- immediately after dinner I go to the Queens
Room. -- She reads aloud -- the three Eldest Princesses Miss Goldsworthy
& I sit & work. till the King comes, we then walk
upon the terrace -- return to Tea of which I get a dish in the
Music Room and generally finish the Evening with Cards --
A little after ten their Majesties & Princess Royal & Augusta go to supper -- and
I attend Princess Elizabeth (walking through the Garden to the lower
Lodge -- when I return the Princesses come up & I divide myself
between their rooms during the time they are undressing
till they are both in bed -- It is seldom much before 12
before I retire to my room -- The only difference of the Evening
I am out of waiting is, that I do not walk upon the
Terrace but go to my room -- the hour is uncertain as it
depends upon the time they go out -- about 7 at present.
Miss Goldsworthy carries Princess Elizabeth to the lower lodge and as she lives
there does not return therefore I must be ready to receive
the Princesses when they come up every Night -- Till the Parliament
breaks up -- Their Majesties will go to Town once a week --
when it is broken up once a fortnight, On the Wednesday
Morning after Chapel & Breakfast -- I go with Princess Royal &
Augusta to Kew -- on the Thursday we go to Town full dressed
about one O'Clock. return to Kew to Tea -- & on Friday
Afternoon come back to Windsor N B. during these 3
days I have not an instant to myself -- my nominal
Evenings out of waiting are Sunday. Tuesday. & Thursday &
every other Saturday -- If Miss Goldsworthy is Ill. I am
in constant attendance. --
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Diary sheet of Mary Hamilton (between 1777 and 1782)
Shelfmark: HAM/1/1/1/27
Document Details
Author: Mary Hamilton
Date: between June 1777 and November 1782
Summary: Hamilton details her daily duties as sub-governess to the princesses.
Length: 1 sheet, 483 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 22 February 2021)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 29 December 2023