HAM/1/12/35
Letters from Charlotte Finch and Harriet Finch to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
To write a few Lines only in answer to so long, kind,
& entertaining a Letter as that I recd from you at Madrid, I'm
afraid will make me appear but unworthy of it, & yet the
hurry I write in to save the Post, could you but know it, would ex-
-cuse me. In few words therefore be aʃsured it gave me great
pleasure in every Sense & that I feel very sincerely all your
kindneʃs & friendship, & value it as it deserves. Your Enve-
-loppe contain'd an Inestimable Treasure, in the dear Prince
of Wales's gracious remembrance of us all in his own hand-
-writing, & I believe had not the distance between the Lines
allow'd of dividing the Paper, Harriet & I shd. have been at
variance for the rest of our Lives about the Poʃseʃsion of
it. pray with the Grateful Duties of Ld Winchilsea & myself
tell his Royl Highneʃs how happy he made us; Harriet is to
Speak for herself on the other Side of this Paper. I must
just mention without entering into the Detail of our Journey
that we had the good fortune to meet Mr & Mrs Graham
at Madrid, & to continue our travels together all thrō
Spain to Bayonne where we parted, they to go to Toulouʃe
for the Winter where Lord Winchilsea will join them, when
we leave Bordeaux. Mrs Graham bore all her fatigues vastly
well. Adieu my dear Miʃs Hamilton, thō I hope not for
long, as you may expect to ʃee me ʃoon after you receive
this, in ye mean while believe me
Most Affly. & Sincerely
Yours
C Finch
[1]
My dr Miʃs Hamilton -- It seems very ungracious, to begin by saying, that I do
not addreʃs a Word to you, after having been so long, without seeing, or Speaking
to you -- But I have no time, nor any Paper -- & yet cannot receive such a
Little Note, as I did on my Arrival at Madrid; & not intreat you to say
the P of W from me -- How much I --- thought myself honor'd --- by his
Remembrance & that I was vastly flatter'd by it -- I enter most heartily
into ye Plan of Returning to dear England -- where I have too many
Friends, & Amusements, & intreating Concerns, not to be most
anxious to revisit & reenter into them -- I must however sing ye Praises
of One of the 3 Countries I have Visited (since I left my own) As --- it is
One, of Which I am More AEpris, than I ever was of any thing in
my Life -- It is ye Charming little Kingdom of Portugal -- not
only in itself Charming But its Natives are ye first People in ye World -- &
talk ye most delightful Language poʃsible -- They are likewise
of a most beautiful Hue -- But not at all like ye Chev. Pinto[2] --
If it was not for England, I know not how I should have resolved
to have quitted that little Paradis terrestre --
Believe me my dr. Miʃs H. I could say a great Deal
to you -- but have really not a moment to do so -- & you know
that may sometimes be really the Case, tho' 'tis often only an Excuse
▼
But in time I hope to tell you part, of my Memoirs when itsn this
Part of ye World, that may amuse You -- I hear a great deal of
News from your World, & so many Marriages, that I do not believe I shall
find one of my Friends left to amuse me -- Miʃs Boughton's with
ye Bp of Durham[3] I quite Rejoice in, as she will no longer be neceʃsitated
to pick up ye Crumbs from her Mothers Table -- But still I cannot
help being amused with the Idea of Made L'Ebegue -- I cannot
say that I envy Miʃs Thynne my little Ugly Cousin -- Adieu
I really could write on a Great deal more -- Altho' you have never
given me a Single Line, tho' you promised me to do so when we parted:
but once more adieu & believe me yr obliged & ------ ------ muita Sua Amiga Enriqueta
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter starts towards the middle of the page. There are remains of a seal in the right margin.
2. 'The Chevalier Pinto' was Luis Pinto de Sousa Coutinho, later 1st Viscount of Balsemão, a Portuguese diplomat who was at this time envoy to Great Britain.
3. John Egerton married Mary Boughton (as his second wife) on 31 March 1782.
4. Moved address here from the middle of the page, written vertically.
5. The envelope bears two Bishop marks, above and to the right of the address. The envelope is marked to indicate postage paid.
Normalised Text
My Dear Miss Hamilton
To write a few Lines only in answer to so long, kind,
& entertaining a Letter as that I received from you at Madrid, I'm
afraid will make me appear but unworthy of it, & yet the
hurry I write in to save the Post, could you but know it, would excuse
me. In few words therefore be assured it gave me great
pleasure in every Sense & that I feel very sincerely all your
kindness & friendship, & value it as it deserves. Your Envelope
contained an Inestimable Treasure, in the dear Prince
of Wales's gracious remembrance of us all in his own handwriting
, & I believe had not the distance between the Lines
allowed of dividing the Paper, Harriet & I should have been at
variance for the rest of our Lives about the Possession of
it. pray with the Grateful Duties of Lord Winchilsea & myself
tell his Royal Highness how happy he made us; Harriet is to
Speak for herself on the other Side of this Paper. I must
just mention without entering into the Detail of our Journey
that we had the good fortune to meet Mr & Mrs Graham
at Madrid, & to continue our travels together all through
Spain to Bayonne where we parted, they to go to Toulouse
for the Winter where Lord Winchilsea will join them, when
we leave Bordeaux. Mrs Graham bore all her fatigues vastly
well. Adieu my dear Miss Hamilton, though I hope not for
long, as you may expect to see me soon after you receive
this, in the mean while believe me
Most Affectionately & Sincerely
Yours
Charlotte Finch
My dear Miss Hamilton -- It seems very ungracious, to begin by saying, that I do
not address a Word to you, after having been so long, without seeing, or Speaking
to you -- But I have no time, nor any Paper -- & yet cannot receive such a
Little Note, as I did on my Arrival at Madrid; & not entreat you to say
the Prince of Wales from me -- How much I thought myself honoured by his
Remembrance & that I was vastly flattered by it -- I enter most heartily
into the Plan of Returning to dear England -- where I have too many
Friends, & Amusements, & entreating Concerns, not to be most
anxious to revisit & reenter into them -- I must however sing the Praises
of One of the 3 Countries I have Visited (since I left my own) As it is
One, of Which I am More Epris, than I ever was of any thing in
my Life -- It is the Charming little Kingdom of Portugal -- not
only in itself Charming But its Natives are the first People in the World -- &
talk the most delightful Language possible -- They are likewise
of a most beautiful Hue -- But not at all like the Chevalier Pinto --
If it was not for England, I know not how I should have resolved
to have quitted that little Paradis terrestre --
Believe me my dear Miss Hamilton I could say a great Deal
to you -- but have really not a moment to do so -- & you know
that may sometimes be really the Case, though 'tis often only an Excuse
▼
But in time I hope to tell you part, of my Memoirs when in this
Part of the World, that may amuse You -- I hear a great deal of
News from your World, & so many Marriages, that I do not believe I shall
find one of my Friends left to amuse me -- Miss Boughton's with
the Bishop of Durham I quite Rejoice in, as she will no longer be necessitated
to pick up the Crumbs from her Mothers Table -- But still I cannot
help being amused with the Idea of Madame L'Ebegue -- I cannot
say that I envy Miss Thynne my little Ugly Cousin -- Adieu
I really could write on a Great deal more -- Although you have never
given me a Single Line, though you promised me to do so when we parted:
but once more adieu & believe me muita Sua Amiga Enriqueta
Miss Hamilton
St James's
London
Angleterre
via Ostende
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: Letters from Charlotte Finch and Harriet Finch to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/35
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Bordeaux
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 19 November 1781
Letter Description
Summary: The sheet contains two letters, one from Charlotte Finch and the second from her daughter, Harriet [Henrietta Finch (1751-1818)], both addressed to Mary Hamilton.
Charlotte Finch apologises for the short length of her letter but she is trying to catch the post. Finch values Hamilton’s kindness and friendship. She is pleased with the Prince of Wales remembrance of them all and of his writing it in his own hand in Hamilton’s letter. She believes ‘had not the distance between the Lines allow[e]d of dividing the Paper, Harriet & I s[houl]d have been at variance for the rest of our Lives about the possession of it’. She sends her own and her son’s duty to the Prince via Hamilton and to let him know how happy he had made them. She notes that Harriet will speak for herself at the back of the letter. Finch informs Hamilton that she had the good fortune to meet Mr and Mrs Graham in Madrid.
In the second letter, Harriet Finch writes of missing England and her many friends and the many amusements there.
Dated at Bordeaux.
Length: 1 sheet, 703 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 5 June 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