Diplomatic Text
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton
This Letter was intended for Yesterdays Post
but I found it was too late & therefore was obliged to deferr it
till to day, when I can have the Satisfaction of continuing the good
Accounts I have been able hitherto to send constantly of our little
Prince, & which I beg you to communicate to their Majesties. I think
there is no doubt of the Sea bathing agreeing with him, his Nights
are so much mended & his Appetite so good, that he must gain Ground,
& thō his Face is not any thing like clear of the Irruption that disfigured
it, yet it rather appears to be the remains of what has been than any
fresh breaking out. The Eye-lid that seem'd so much affected is also
getting better, & therefore I hope will not have any effect of weak'ning
the Eye, which I was a little afraid of. You will have heard of the
happineʃs I have had of Seeing my Son at his first Landing, he
hurried away to London to be in time for his presentings preperatory
to appearing at the Birth-day,[1] for which I suppose you are all
now very busy in preparing. We shall open our Windows again for
the firing of the Guns, which shakes the Castle so, that if it was
not for that Precaution they would all be broke & the Sound is very
tremendous, P. Alfred however is very courageous upon the oc-
-casion & seems rather to like it, We have had that Ceremony twice
the first time in honor of his Arrival, & the last on the Restoration
Day.[2] Mrs Carter I have often the pleasure of Seeing, & except her
usual Head-achs, think She appears vastly well & cheerful.
My little Girls are quite delightful 'Companions to me, & if
the Weather was not so windy & cold I believe would prevail on
me sometimes to walk upon the Sands with them which they
are very fond of; but I have not yet been able to attempt, but
paʃs a great deal of my time by a Fireside (wch you will hardly
credit) in a pretty little room that has a delightful View of the
Sea. I have begun reading Antonis de Solis in Spanish, Mrs
Carter having furnish'd me with a Dictionary, (without which I
could not attempt it,) & am continuing Made de Genlis Adele &
Theodore; these, with my little Childrens Studies, & my own Letter
writing, fill my day very completely, & I generally retire to my
Bed Chamber by a little after ten, wch. enables me to rise early in
the Morning. I am glad to hear Madl de la Fite is mending,
& beg you will aʃsure her how concern'd I have been at hearing of
her Illneʃs. I hope the Influenza which is said to be so general, will
not affect the Queen's Houʃe or any thing belonging to it. I trust
to you my dear Miʃs Hamilton to make all my Duties & Comps
as you know I should wish to do there, & then will do the kindest
thing I can by You in concluding this, from
Yr. ever faithful & affcte.
Servant
C Finch
Be so good to let the enclosed Letter be sent to Mr Hawkins's 'tis
from Mrs Cheveley.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Presumably that of George III, born 4 June 1738.
2. Restoration Day (29 May), known coloquially as 'Oak Apple Day' or 'Royal Oak Day', was an English public holiday that celebrated the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. It was abolished under the Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859.
Normalised Text
My Dear Miss Hamilton
This Letter was intended for Yesterdays Post
but I found it was too late & therefore was obliged to defer it
till to day, when I can have the Satisfaction of continuing the good
Accounts I have been able hitherto to send constantly of our little
Prince, & which I beg you to communicate to their Majesties. I think
there is no doubt of the Sea bathing agreeing with him, his Nights
are so much mended & his Appetite so good, that he must gain Ground,
& though his Face is not any thing like clear of the Irruption that disfigured
it, yet it rather appears to be the remains of what has been than any
fresh breaking out. The Eye-lid that seemed so much affected is also
getting better, & therefore I hope will not have any effect of weakening
the Eye, which I was a little afraid of. You will have heard of the
happiness I have had of Seeing my Son at his first Landing, he
hurried away to London to be in time for his presentings preparatory
to appearing at the Birthday, for which I suppose you are all
now very busy in preparing. We shall open our Windows again for
the firing of the Guns, which shakes the Castle so, that if it was
not for that Precaution they would all be broken & the Sound is very
tremendous, Prince Alfred however is very courageous upon the occasion
& seems rather to like it, We have had that Ceremony twice
the first time in honour of his Arrival, & the last on the Restoration
Day. Mrs Carter I have often the pleasure of Seeing, & except her
usual Head-aches, think She appears vastly well & cheerful.
My little Girls are quite delightful 'Companions to me, & if
the Weather was not so windy & cold I believe would prevail on
me sometimes to walk upon the Sands with them which they
are very fond of; but I have not yet been able to attempt, but
pass a great deal of my time by a Fireside (which you will hardly
credit) in a pretty little room that has a delightful View of the
Sea. I have begun reading Antonis de Solis in Spanish, Mrs
Carter having furnished me with a Dictionary, (without which I
could not attempt it,) & am continuing Madame de Genlis Adele &
Theodore; these, with my little Childrens Studies, & my own Letter
writing, fill my day very completely, & I generally retire to my
Bed Chamber by a little after ten, which enables me to rise early in
the Morning. I am glad to hear Madame de la Fite is mending,
& beg you will assure her how concerned I have been at hearing of
her Illness. I hope the Influenza which is said to be so general, will
not affect the Queen's House or any thing belonging to it. I trust
to you my dear Miss Hamilton to make all my Duties & Compliments
as you know I should wish to do there, & then will do the kindest
thing I can by You in concluding this, from
Your ever faithful & affectionate
Servant
Charlotte Finch
Be so good to let the enclosed Letter be sent to Mr Hawkins's 'tis
from Mrs Cheveley.
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 Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/12/39
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Charlotte Finch (née Fermor)
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 30 May 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Charlotte Finch to Mary Hamilton. She writes that she can provide a good account of Prince Alfred and that the sea-bathing is benefiting him. He asks Hamilton to communicate this to the King and Queen. She reports that the Prince is sleeping better and that his appetite has improved. His skin and his eye-lids that had been affected seem to be getting better.
Finch writes of her happiness at seeing her son when he landed. He has now rushed to London to prepare for the Royal birthday which she supposes Hamilton and all at Court are very busy preparing. Windsor will be opened again for the firing of the guns ‘which shakes the Castle’. She has had the pleasure of seeing Mrs Carter whom she expects has her usual headache although she looked very well and was cheerful. Finch notes that the weather is so windy and cold that it makes walking on the sands very difficult and she has been spending most of the time in the fine side room which Hamilton may remember is a small room with a view of the sea. She has been reading Antonis de Solis in Spanish and Mrs Carter has provided her with a dictionary to aid her. Her time is spent reading, with her children studies and writing letters. She usually retires about 10 o’clock which allows her to rise early. Hamilton ends her letter by hoping that the ‘influenza’ that is said to be prevalent does not affect the Queen’s House.
Dated at Deal Castle [Kent].
Length: 1 sheet, 562 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 15 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