Single Letter

HAM/1/14/5

Letter from Martha Carolina Goldsworthy to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


91

Kew House Friday Afternoon --


I most sincerely hope to hear my Dearest, that you begin
to feel some benefit from change of Air, & trust that
you have had some sleep, pray let Mrs Goodyer write
me a couple of lines to inform me of these good
tidings, as I can not situated as we both are hear
as frequently as I wish, believe me it has not been
for want of anxiety or inclination that you have
not heard from me sooner, but I litteraly have
not had time either the two days before we
left London, or since we have been here, for tho
we are quite alone, the airings twice a day
the uncertninty of their Majesties coming
the amusing the Dear Child & the nurse
leaving her, fully employs my time, which
from the happineʃs of seeing her mend hourly



paʃses very chearfully & quickly, you could not
my Love have an Idea of her amendment, it is
more then I dared hope would have been
in a fortnight, She sleeps perfectly quiet, her
Apetite is perfectly good & her Strength very
near recovered, she goes up & down Stairs without
any aʃsistance, & I daresay in a couple of days
will run, She desires her Love to you; & frequently
talks of you, Prʃs Mary says Poor Ham Ham
Tick[1], she is more delightful then Ever, & is
a very great entertainment, & amusement to
us all, we are lodged in Mrs Schwellenburgs
& Mrs Hagerdorns Rooms, & to vary the
Scene we drink Tea alternately with the
Princeʃs's
Mrs Cheveleys & your Humble Servant.
I felt most exceedingly your very friendly
congratulations as did my Brother, he is
now at Canterbury & I have no chance of
seeing him till he comes into waiting, which



I believe will be the begining of June.
God Bleʃs you my Dear Friend may you
recover as fast as I wish you to believe me
                             I am most Afftly
                                                         Yr
                                                         MC Goldsworthy
I beg my Comps to
Mrs Hamilton if she is with you
Mrs Cheveley begs her kind ones to




Miʃs Hamilton
      St James's
           Palace --

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Notes


 1. Imitation of childish sick, perhaps.

Normalised Text



Kew House Friday Afternoon --


I most sincerely hope to hear my Dearest, that you begin
to feel some benefit from change of Air, & trust that
you have had some sleep, pray let Mrs Goodyer write
me a couple of lines to inform me of these good
tidings, as I can not situated as we both are hear
as frequently as I wish, believe me it has not been
for want of anxiety or inclination that you have
not heard from me sooner, but I literally have
not had time either the two days before we
left London, or since we have been here, for though
we are quite alone, the airings twice a day
the uncertainty of their Majesties coming
the amusing the Dear Child & the nurse
leaving her, fully employs my time, which
from the happiness of seeing her mend hourly



passes very cheerfully & quickly, you could not
my Love have an Idea of her amendment, it is
more than I dared hope would have been
in a fortnight, She sleeps perfectly quiet, her
Appetite is perfectly good & her Strength very
near recovered, she goes up & down Stairs without
any assistance, & I dare say in a couple of days
will run, She desires her Love to you; & frequently
talks of you, Princess Mary says Poor Ham Ham
Tick, she is more delightful than Ever, & is
a very great entertainment, & amusement to
us all, we are lodged in Mrs Schwellenburgs
& Mrs Hagerdorns Rooms, & to vary the
Scene we drink Tea alternately with the
Princess's Mrs Cheveleys & your Humble Servant.
I felt most exceedingly your very friendly
congratulations as did my Brother, he is
now at Canterbury & I have no chance of
seeing him till he comes into waiting, which



I believe will be the beginning of June.
God Bless you my Dear Friend may you
recover as fast as I wish you to believe me
                             I am most Affectionately
                                                         Yours
                                                         Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
I beg my Compliments to
Mrs Hamilton if she is with you
Mrs Cheveley begs her kind ones too




Miss Hamilton
      St James's
           Palace --

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 1. Imitation of childish sick, perhaps.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Martha Carolina Goldsworthy to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/14/5

Correspondence Details

Sender: Martha Carolina Goldsworthy

Place sent: Kew

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: London

Date sent: not after 1778
notAfter 1778 (precision: low)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Martha Carolina Goldsworthy to Mary Hamilton. She writes on Hamilton's health and hopes that she is feeling the benefit in the change of air and is able to sleep better. Goldsworthy has had little time to write. She has to take the air with her royal charges twice a day. She notes that the 'Dear Child' [one of the princesses] and the nurse busy her and employ many hours of her day, though she is happy to see that she improves. She writes of the Princess's improvements, which are more than she had hoped for. She goes to sleep quickly, has a good appetite, her strength is returning, and she is able to go up and down the stairs by herself. Goldsworthy notes that Princess Mary is delightful and says 'Poor Ham Ham' [the princesses called Hamilton 'Hammy']. She continues her letter with news of other acquaintances, including her brother, who is in Canterbury, and Mrs Cheveley.
    The letter is undated, but Goldsworthy sends her compliments to Mrs Hamilton, who died in 1778.
    Dated at Kew House.
    Original reference No. 91.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 360 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Arianna Losa, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2018)

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: 5 March 2024

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