Diplomatic Text
[1]
H3.
To Lady Wake
King Georges advice as to Eton
Windsor 17th. August
1782
My Dearest friend
The Illneʃs of Prince Alfred
has for some time so entirely unsettled us that
I have no leisure for the pleasant occupation
of writing to my friends -- but as I am apprehen
sive you may impute my silence to ------------ a wrong cause
I will not defer writing because I can only
send a few lines written in haste. this poor
Child has been return'd fm. Deal near 3 weeks
he had fever, & ye. Doctor thought it proper
to have him more immediately under his
Care & intended when that was removed to
send him back to ye. Sea-air -- We have
now every reason to apprehend that he can
not recover and even his Parents are prepared
for the worst -- You who are a fond & tender
Mother can judge what these Affectionate
Parents must suffer -- You ask if Prince
William's accident was as represented in the
Papers, I did not see that account, but I can
tell you that he had ye. misfortune to put
out his shoulder by a fall, & that it will be
sometime before he can recover ye. use of his
arm, as it was a month before it was set, owing
to ye. part being so much swell'd that ye. Surgeon
did not find out ye. dislocation.
Lady Dartrey was the Queens guest for three
day's & invited for ye. Prince of Wales's Birth
day -- she went away last tuesday, I never saw
her in better health or spirits -- I desire you
will not imagine I am to be envy'd for being
under the same roof with her, for except ye.
pleasure of looking at her, I have none.
for I am so situated in this family, in ye. Country that
I cannot enjoy ye society of any one
I am much disappointed that Sir Wm. is
not already at Buxton -- I shall see Sr. R. Jebb
to day & certainly will tell him of Sr. Wms. --
innattention to his advice -- I am particularly
sorry you delay'd going to Buxton for Sr. R. Jebb
has been there for his own health some time,
he is but just return'd from thence, you would
have therefore have had ye. advantage of being
able to consult him, & Sr. Wm. would have
been kept in good order -- pray tell him from
me that the best proof he can give you of
his affection is not to triffle with his
health; ------ surely he has not forgot his sufferings
of last Winter? & will he not to endeavour to guard against
paʃsing ye. next in ye. same manner?
I am extremely delighted to find you are
so well satisfied with Mr. Cotten & Miʃs Rowston.
You did not mention any thing about my Dr.
Godson -- what are your intentions with respect
to him -- have you yet found a proper place
to send him to, or do you intend keeping him
at home? If ye. King was to advise -- he wld.
say send him to Eaton -- his M. is very partial
to this school & thinks, Boys ought to go
even at ye. early age of five or 6 Years old
& not go to a Nurse School as he terms them,
first.
I recd.. a letter from Miʃs King from Tunbridge
in wch. she mentions Mr. Smith[2] -- perhaps
it may amuse an idle moment to know
what is going forward thither -- dont shew ye.
letter & return it -- I think if I get any
letters yt. have matter or entertainment, I will
sometimes inclose ym. -- as I can depend upon Your
prudence & discretion. I wish you would sometimes
treatindulge me in ye. same manner.
Adieu my Dr. friend
Ever Yours
M Hamilton
I am very well -- pray write soon, the only
real pleasure I have is hearing from my friends.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter is catalogued out of sequence. The undated HAM/1/8/8/32, addressed to Hamilton at the house in James Street where her mother had lived, is almost certainly earlier and so in this edition has been placed first in the sub-series. The catalogue sequence at the end of the sub-series has also been changed; see HAM/1/8/8/31.
2. See HAM/1/7/7/4 p.2, which Mary Wake evidently did return to Hamilton.
Normalised Text
Windsor 17th. August
1782
My Dearest friend
The Illness of Prince Alfred
has for some time so entirely unsettled us that
I have no leisure for the pleasant occupation
of writing to my friends -- but as I am apprehensive
you may impute my silence to a wrong cause
I will not defer writing because I can only
send a few lines written in haste. this poor
Child has been returned from Deal near 3 weeks
he had fever, & the Doctor thought it proper
to have him more immediately under his
Care & intended when that was removed to
send him back to the Sea-air -- We have
now every reason to apprehend that he can
not recover and even his Parents are prepared
for the worst -- You who are a fond & tender
Mother can judge what these Affectionate
Parents must suffer -- You ask if Prince
William's accident was as represented in the
Papers, I did not see that account, but I can
tell you that he had the misfortune to put
out his shoulder by a fall, & that it will be
sometime before he can recover the use of his
arm, as it was a month before it was set, owing
to the part being so much swollen that the Surgeon
did not find out the dislocation.
Lady Dartrey was the Queens guest for three
day's & invited for the Prince of Wales's Birth
day -- she went away last tuesday, I never saw
her in better health or spirits -- I desire you
will not imagine I am to be envied for being
under the same roof with her, for except the
pleasure of looking at her, I have none.
I am much disappointed that Sir William is
not already at Buxton -- I shall see Sir Richard Jebb
to day & certainly will tell him of Sir Williams --
inattention to his advice -- I am particularly
sorry you delayed going to Buxton for Sir Richard Jebb
has been there for his own health some time,
he is but just returned from thence, you would
therefore have had the advantage of being
able to consult him, & Sir William would have
been kept in good order -- pray tell him from
me that the best proof he can give you of
his affection is not to trifle with his
health; surely he has not forgotten his sufferings
of last Winter? & will he not endeavour to guard against
passing the next in the same manner?
I am extremely delighted to find you are
so well satisfied with Mr. Cotten & Miss Rowston.
You did not mention any thing about my Dear
Godson -- what are your intentions with respect
to him -- have you yet found a proper place
to send him to, or do you intend keeping him
at home? If the King was to advise -- he would
say send him to Eaton -- his Majesty is very partial
to this school & thinks, Boys ought to go
even at the early age of five or 6 Years old
& not go to a Nurse School as he terms them,
first.
I received a letter from Miss King from Tunbridge
in which she mentions Mr. Smith -- perhaps
it may amuse an idle moment to know
what is going forward thither -- don't show the
letter & return it -- I think if I get any
letters that have matter or entertainment, I will
sometimes enclose them -- as I can depend upon Your
prudence & discretion. I wish you would sometimes
indulge me in the same manner.
Adieu my Dear friend
Ever Yours
Mary Hamilton
I am very well -- pray write soon, the only
real pleasure I have is hearing from my friends.
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: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Lady Mary Wake (née Fenton)
Shelfmark: HAM/1/8/8/1
Correspondence Details
Sender: Mary Hamilton
Place sent: Windsor
Addressee: Lady Mary Wake (née Fenton)
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 17 August 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to Lady Wake. Hamilton writes that she has had
little time to write because of Prince Alfred's ill health (1780-1782).
He has now been ill for some time and there is little hope that he will
now recover and even the King and Queen are 'prepared for the worse'.
Hamilton informs Lady Wake that she has not seen the account of Prince
William's accident in the newspapers that Lady Wake mentions but reports
that the Prince had injured his shoulder in a fall and that it will be
some time before he is able to use his arm as normal. Lady Dartrey
visited Windsor for the Prince of Wales's birthday, at the request of the
Queen, and Hamilton notes that she was in good health and spirits.
Hamilton is disappointed that Sir William Wake has not yet
arrived in Buxton for the benefit of his health. She asks Lady Wake to
inform him on her behalf that the 'best proof he can give you of
his affection is not to trifle with his health, surely he has not forgot
his sufferings of last Winter?'
Hamilton enquires if Lady Wake has decided what school Hamilton's godson
is to be sent and notes that if it was to be the decision of the King
then he would send him to Eton as his Majesty is 'very partial to this
school & thinks, Boys ought to go even at as early age of five or 6
years old & not go to a nurse school as he terms them first'.
Hamilton ends her letter by asking Lady Wake to write soon as the only
real pleasure she has is 'hearing from my friends'.
Dated at Windsor.
Length: 1 sheet, 616 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 23 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: 9 January 2023