HAM/1/12/33
Copy of letter from Charlotte Finch to an unidentified addressee
Diplomatic Text
My dear Miʃs ——
The Letters arrived here but two days ago, that were
brought by the last packet, so that yours of June 5th. reach'd me no
sooner, then the last of June 23d. and many others of July 10th. which
is the reason I have not sooner acknowledged them, as well as my
dear Princeʃs Augusta's 2 delightful ones, I beg you will deliver
the enclosed to Her Royal Highneʃs, and tell her how much
I feel her kindneʃs in writing them. I shall by the next
post thank my dear Princeʃs Elizabeth for hers, and did my-
-self the honor of writing to dear Princeʃs Royal the 11th. of
this Month in a Letter inclosed to you that went by the
Land Post, and was directed to the Queen's House, which
I hope you have received. You cannot imagine how
Surprized and pleas'd I was, to hear of Princeʃs Royals
Appearance in the Drawing Room and at the Ball on
the Kings Birth-day, and give you a thousand thanks
for being so particular in your Account of her Dreʃs
Looks and Manner on the Occasion, and of the Universal
Approbation and Admiration she met with, which was
the only amends that could be made me, for my ill
fortune in being absent on so Interesting an Occasion
pray make my Affecate. Congratulations to her Royal Highneʃs
upon it. I am very happy nothing hinder'd you from being
an Eye Witneʃs of it it must give us both such singular
Satisfaction; and I feel delighted to think, what pleasure
it must have given to their Majesties to see her Acquit
herself so well; and answer every wish they could form
about her. That Day we celebrated here to the best of our
power, carrying our Band of Musick to a Beautiful Wood
about 5 Miles off, that stands on a Lake which we
croʃs'd, and almost cover'd with our number of little
boats, the Musick accompanying us. The Dinner Cold
and Hot was served on a stone Table under the Shade
of the Trees, at which Table as appears by an Inscription
near it on Stone John 4th. of Portugal (in whose Person this
Crown was restored to the house of Bragenze) dined him-
-self in the year 1645. One of his Succeʃsors John 5th.
which two of his Sons dined here in 1714. And this
Table has Obtain'd the Name of Mesa Real in Portuguese.
here we all drank his Majesty's health, and all our Royal
Family, which was accompanied with Hundreds of Viva's
from our Guests, which were as many English and Portuguese
as we could aʃsemble together. The Scene was beautiful, and
it concluded with a Universal dancing of all that could attempt
it. Poor Lord Winchilsea could not, tho' he was determin'd not
to be absent on a day he was so anxious to celebrate, so he
and I sat as Spectators only. I have not yet seen Mrs. Fielding
but am still every moment expecting her from Porto. Your
Account of the situation and Disposition of the Lower Lodge
at Windsor pleas'd me vastly and I do not wonder you
are so pleas'd with it. I beg to be kindly remember'd to
every body and am glad Madlle- Moula is return'd and in
such good Looks and Spirits. I form every day stronger
hopes of being able to return to England by some good
Opportunity that shall offer, after we leave this place
where Lord Winchilsea is now going to begin the Baths for
which they now think him strong enough to venture: he
is certainly mended lately in that respect; but is still
subject to the swelling of his Legs, and not free from
Pains about him. Adieu my dear you cannot make me
happier than by writing when you can. Hart. sends her
Love. I am ever most Affectly. and sincerely Yrs. CFinch
Copy of a letter from Lady C: F——
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
My dear Miss ——
The Letters arrived here but two days ago, that were
brought by the last packet, so that yours of June 5th. reached me no
sooner, than the last of June 23d. and many others of July 10th. which
is the reason I have not sooner acknowledged them, as well as my
dear Princess Augusta's 2 delightful ones, I beg you will deliver
the enclosed to Her Royal Highness, and tell her how much
I feel her kindness in writing them. I shall by the next
post thank my dear Princess Elizabeth for hers, and did myself
the honour of writing to dear Princess Royal the 11th. of
this Month in a Letter enclosed to you that went by the
Land Post, and was directed to the Queen's House, which
I hope you have received. You cannot imagine how
Surprised and pleased I was, to hear of Princess Royals
Appearance in the Drawing Room and at the Ball on
the Kings Birthday, and give you a thousand thanks
for being so particular in your Account of her Dress
Looks and Manner on the Occasion, and of the Universal
Approbation and Admiration she met with, which was
the only amends that could be made me, for my ill
fortune in being absent on so Interesting an Occasion
pray make my Affectionate Congratulations to her Royal Highness
upon it. I am very happy nothing hindered you from being
an Eye Witness of it it must give us both such singular
Satisfaction; and I feel delighted to think, what pleasure
it must have given to their Majesties to see her Acquit
herself so well; and answer every wish they could form
about her. That Day we celebrated here to the best of our
power, carrying our Band of Music to a Beautiful Wood
about 5 Miles off, that stands on a Lake which we
crossed, and almost covered with our number of little
boats, the Music accompanying us. The Dinner Cold
and Hot was served on a stone Table under the Shade
of the Trees, at which Table as appears by an Inscription
near it on Stone John 4th. of Portugal (in whose Person this
Crown was restored to the house of Bragenze) dined himself
in the year 1645. One of his Successors John 5th.
which two of his Sons dined here in 1714. And this
Table has Obtained the Name of Mesa Real in Portuguese.
here we all drank his Majesty's health, and all our Royal
Family, which was accompanied with Hundreds of Viva's
from our Guests, which were as many English and Portuguese
as we could assemble together. The Scene was beautiful, and
it concluded with a Universal dancing of all that could attempt
it. Poor Lord Winchilsea could not, though he was determined not
to be absent on a day he was so anxious to celebrate, so he
and I sat as Spectators only. I have not yet seen Mrs. Fielding
but am still every moment expecting her from Porto. Your
Account of the situation and Disposition of the Lower Lodge
at Windsor pleased me vastly and I do not wonder you
are so pleased with it. I beg to be kindly remembered to
every body and am glad Mademoiselle Moula is returned and in
such good Looks and Spirits. I form every day stronger
hopes of being able to return to England by some good
Opportunity that shall offer, after we leave this place
where Lord Winchilsea is now going to begin the Baths for
which they now think him strong enough to venture: he
is certainly mended lately in that respect; but is still
subject to the swelling of his Legs, and not free from
Pains about him. Adieu my dear you cannot make me
happier than by writing when you can. Harriet sends her
Love. I am ever most Affectionately and sincerely Yours Charlotte Finch
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Copy of letter from Charlotte Finch to an unidentified addressee
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/33
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Caldas da Rainha
Addressee:
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 27 July 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Copy of letter from Charlotte Finch. As with HAM/1/12/29 and HAM/1/12/32, 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 this series contains letters from Finch addressed to Goldsworthy. Written on the back of the sheet in Hamilton’s hand is a note saying this is a copy of a letter from Lady Finch which suggests that this letter was written to Goldsworthy rather than Hamilton.
Finch notes receiving letters from home brought by Packet some dated 26 June and others 11 July which she gives as the reason for not acknowledging them sooner. She writes of the princesses and of her surprise at hearing of the Princess Royal’s appearance in the Drawing Room and at the Ball on the King’s birthday. She writes her thanks for the description of her dress and manner which makes amends for not being there to see herself. Finch notes that they celebrated the King’s birthday at Caldas in the best way they were able. They took their ‘Band of Musick’ to a beautiful wood about five miles away next to a lake. Dinner was served on a stone table under the shade of trees. The letter describes the celebration which ended in dancing for all those who were able. Lord Winchilsea was not able so Finch and he watched as spectators.
Dated at Caldas.
Length: 1 sheet, 656 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 May 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