Diplomatic Text
My Dearest Miʃs ——,
My last Letter inform'd you of our Diʃsappointment
in Mrs. Fieldings having left us, just before Mr. Fielding arrived
at Lisbon, but now I have a much more distreʃsing Event to tell,
for last Night I was shock't with receiving a Letter from her,
dated Vigo in Spain June 26th. informing me that soon after
She sail'd in the Mercury Packet the 17th. from Lisbon, they were
chased for 12 hours, and at last taken by an American Privateer
the horror of finding what hands they wase[1] fallen into was
very great, but thank God they have met with humane
Treatment from them, and they have landed them at Vigo,
from whence she writes, having by great good fortune found
an Opportunity of sending a Letter hither. Mr. & Mrs. Graham
Miʃs Cathcart and herself are all lodged in a miserable House
like a Barn, but thankful to have so escaped. They have
sent for Paʃs-ports, and I hope will determine to go to Oporto
which is but two Days Journey from thence; there they will
be well off, both from the place itself, and from the kindneʃs
of a Mr. Brett, a Merchant of Oporto, who fortunately we had
made Acquaintance with here, and who has been so good
as to write to give them Credit and the Use of his House
and every Aʃsistance in their power till they can determine
what farther to do. This Letter we sent there by Expreʃs
last Night, but the Distance is very great and we are
not sure of finding them there, but hope it is impoʃsible
they can have taken any steps yet, that can have determin'd
them to go any other way. we also sent another Expreʃs to
Lisbon to Mr. Fielding to inform him of it, which will bring him
here again as soon as poʃsible, and we propose he should go
to Oporto and fetch her back here. I hope in God this Project
will succeed, for I shall be distreʃs'd and unhappy till I
have her again safe; I must not expect that comfort this
fortnight or three weeks, for there never was such a country
for Travelling in, no poʃsibility of change of Horses or Mules,
but the same pair goes all the way to an open chaise.
and they must be sent ōn purpose for there are none at
Oporto, and bett --- between Vigo and Oporto none can go,
they must have tillers. indeed my dear I am distreʃs'd and
vext beyond measure, tho I am sure I ought to feel happy
and thankful they were not carried to America. I had
pleas'd myself with thinking she must have been arriv'd
in England long since, and might have had the honor &
happineʃs of Seeing their Majesties and they dear Royal
Children, she went charged with my most Dutiful Thanks
to the King & Queen for all their goodneʃs & indulgence
to me, which I had long wish'd for an Opportunity
of expreʃsing in a more particular Manner than I have
ever been able to do, and also with Letters to the three
Princeʃses. pray my Dear mention this with my humble
Duty. the hurry I now write in does not permit of my
having the honor of writing my Letters to them over
again, but will take the first Opportunity of doing it.
Mrs. Fielding was also to have represented my situation
to their Majesties, with respect to my son, and requested
their Leave to prolong my stay, till I could leave him
with an easy mind. I thank God, he continues in a way
to be well, and has so much hopes of it himself, that
he has set at Liberty Dr. Payne his Physician who was
Originally going to England on his own private Affairs
And whose situation then, calls him back to America, Ld-
Wina. thought, whatever satisfaction he or I might derive
from keeping him with us a little longer, it was not fair
by him, but that as soon as it was poʃsible he ought to
let him go. I really flatter myself from what Dr. Payne
says, that Ld. Winchelsea is now in a manner free from
the illneʃs itself, but the Consequences of it still remain
and will sometime, which shew themselves, in the swelling
of his Legs, & weakneʃs in walking, or standing, attended
with pains in the joints, some fix't and some flying ones.
Dr. Payne says, with Care, Gentle Exercise, & great attention
to Diet, added to the pursuing of these waters, & some physical
Method he has put him in, he has the greatest hope
he will perfectly recover. I own his going away (tho I could
not oppose it) was rather distreʃsful to me, as he was
the only person that really knows the whole of his Case,
And as (Under God) we must impute his Recovery to his
Skill and Care. My son and I are both anxious on every
Account to see his recovery advance, so as to admit of my
Return, being fully and gratefully sensible of their Majesties
great kindneʃs & indulgence about my Absence, it shall not
be prolong'd a Moment beyond what is neceʃsary, but how my
dear Miss ——, I am to get home with safety, now the Seas
are so infested I do not know. A Land Journey would ruin
my finances, besides the difficulties of travelling thro Spain
& Portugal, and the tedious time it would take, and as
to the Packet I certainly now can never Venture it. A
Neutral Ship must be our resource, whenever the happy
time comes, that I can see my son so restor'd as to leave
him with ease & Hope. His paʃsing the Winter abroad seems
so neceʃsary, that he has not an Idea of coming to England
himself.
I Hope, I shall soon have the pleasure of a Letter from
You, & continued good Accounts of all the Royal Family,
And all my friends at Windsor. I shall write again as
soon as I here have any thing to say more about poor
Mrs. Fielding, who will at best have a long & very
Uncomfortable Journey to make, in order to come hither.
I am ever Most Affly.. & Sincerely
Yrs. CFinch
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. It seems the author switched from singular was to plural were but did not correct the entire word.
Normalised Text
My Dearest Miss ——,
My last Letter informed you of our Disappointment
in Mrs. Fieldings having left us, just before Mr. Fielding arrived
at Lisbon, but now I have a much more distressing Event to tell,
for last Night I was shocked with receiving a Letter from her,
dated Vigo in Spain June 26th. informing me that soon after
She sailed in the Mercury Packet the 17th. from Lisbon, they were
chased for 12 hours, and at last taken by an American Privateer
the horror of finding what hands they were fallen into was
very great, but thank God they have met with humane
Treatment from them, and they have landed them at Vigo,
from whence she writes, having by great good fortune found
an Opportunity of sending a Letter hither. Mr. & Mrs. Graham
Miss Cathcart and herself are all lodged in a miserable House
like a Barn, but thankful to have so escaped. They have
sent for Passports, and I hope will determine to go to Oporto
which is but two Days Journey from thence; there they will
be well off, both from the place itself, and from the kindness
of a Mr. Brett, a Merchant of Oporto, who fortunately we had
made Acquaintance with here, and who has been so good
as to write to give them Credit and the Use of his House
and every Assistance in their power till they can determine
what farther to do. This Letter we sent there by Express
last Night, but the Distance is very great and we are
not sure of finding them there, but hope it is impossible
they can have taken any steps yet, that can have determin'd
them to go any other way. we also sent another Express to
Lisbon to Mr. Fielding to inform him of it, which will bring him
here again as soon as possible, and we propose he should go
to Oporto and fetch her back here. I hope in God this Project
will succeed, for I shall be distressed and unhappy till I
have her again safe; I must not expect that comfort this
fortnight or three weeks, for there never was such a country
for Travelling in, no possibility of change of Horses or Mules,
but the same pair goes all the way to an open chaise.
and they must be sent ōn purpose for there are none at
Oporto, and between Vigo and Oporto none can go,
they must have tillers. indeed my dear I am distressed and
vexed beyond measure, though I am sure I ought to feel happy
and thankful they were not carried to America. I had
pleased myself with thinking she must have been arrived
in England long since, and might have had the honour &
happiness of Seeing their Majesties and the dear Royal
Children, she went charged with my most Dutiful Thanks
to the King & Queen for all their goodness & indulgence
to me, which I had long wished for an Opportunity
of expressing in a more particular Manner than I have
ever been able to do, and also with Letters to the three
Princesses. pray my Dear mention this with my humble
Duty. the hurry I now write in does not permit of my
having the honour of writing my Letters to them over
again, but will take the first Opportunity of doing it.
Mrs. Fielding was also to have represented my situation
to their Majesties, with respect to my son, and requested
their Leave to prolong my stay, till I could leave him
with an easy mind. I thank God, he continues in a way
to be well, and has so much hopes of it himself, that
he has set at Liberty Dr. Payne his Physician who was
Originally going to England on his own private Affairs
And whose situation then, calls him back to America, Lord
Winchelsea thought, whatever satisfaction he or I might derive
from keeping him with us a little longer, it was not fair
by him, but that as soon as it was possible he ought to
let him go. I really flatter myself from what Dr. Payne
says, that Lord Winchelsea is now in a manner free from
the illness itself, but the Consequences of it still remain
and will sometime, which show themselves, in the swelling
of his Legs, & weakness in walking, or standing, attended
with pains in the joints, some fixed and some flying ones.
Dr. Payne says, with Care, Gentle Exercise, & great attention
to Diet, added to the pursuing of these waters, & some physical
Method he has put him in, he has the greatest hope
he will perfectly recover. I own his going away (though I could
not oppose it) was rather distressful to me, as he was
the only person that really knows the whole of his Case,
And as (Under God) we must impute his Recovery to his
Skill and Care. My son and I are both anxious on every
Account to see his recovery advance, so as to admit of my
Return, being fully and gratefully sensible of their Majesties
great kindness & indulgence about my Absence, it shall not
be prolonged a Moment beyond what is necessary, but how my
dear Miss ——, I am to get home with safety, now the Seas
are so infested I do not know. A Land Journey would ruin
my finances, besides the difficulties of travelling through Spain
& Portugal, and the tedious time it would take, and as
to the Packet I certainly now can never Venture it. A
Neutral Ship must be our resource, whenever the happy
time comes, that I can see my son so restored as to leave
him with ease & Hope. His passing the Winter abroad seems
so necessary, that he has not an Idea of coming to England
himself.
I Hope, I shall soon have the pleasure of a Letter from
You, & continued good Accounts of all the Royal Family,
And all my friends at Windsor. I shall write again as
soon as I have any thing to say more about poor
Mrs. Fielding, who will at best have a long & very
Uncomfortable Journey to make, in order to come hither.
I am ever Most Affectionately & Sincerely
Yours Charlotte Finch
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 Charlotte Finch to an unidentified addressee
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/32
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Caldas da Rainha
Addressee:
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 4 July 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Finch. As with HAM/1/12/29 above, it is not clear whether this letter is addressed to Hamilton or Goldsworthy. Finch addresses her letter to ‘My dear Miss [...]’ at the start and in the middle of the letter. This subseries contains letters addressed to Goldsworthy from Finch.
The letter relates to Mrs Fielding’s distress on the capture of the ship she was on. In Vigo [Spain] Mrs Fielding and her companions are lodging in a ‘miserable’ house which is little more than a barn but they are all thankful that they have escaped. They are waiting for passports. One of Finch acquaintances, Mr Brett, a merchant in Oporto has offered them the use of his house and credit if they can make their way there. Mr Fielding has returned to Lisbon so Finch has written to him to inform him to return to Caldas again ‘and propose he should go to Oporto and fetch her back here. I hope to God this project will succeed’. She will be distressed until she has her daughter back with her and writes that this will take at least a fortnight or three weeks as travelling is difficult in this country with no possibility of changing horses or mules and the same pair for the whole journey. Finch continues about her distress at what has happened but notes that she should be joyful that Mrs Fielding was not ‘carried to America’. Finch writes that Mrs Fielding was to deliver letters to the Queen and the princesses on her behalf and to acquaint them of her situation. She asks Hamilton [or Goldsworthy?] if she would do this for her and that she will write to them at her first opportunity.
Finch writes on the health of her son and of her worries of how she is to get back to England safely ‘now the seas are so infested’. Besides the difficulties of travelling through Spain and Portugal, the expense of a Land journey would be too great. She will never attempt travelling back in the packet and writes that she will have to find a neutral ship to return in.
The letter ends by Finch hoping to receive news of the Royal family and all her friends at Windsor.
Dated at Caldas.
Length: 1 sheet, 1055 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 April 2020)
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: 2 November 2021