Diplomatic Text
Miʃs G.
Kew House Tuesday Afternoon
20 June 1780
Whilest I was wondering that I had not received a
Letter from you by the Post as I know that you never
promise without a full intent of performing, your
welcome Epistle my dear Friend was brought to
me, believe me it gave me most sincere pleasure, it
would have been more compleat, if you had mentioned
your own Health, & whether you had any intention
of Dipping, pray remember in your next to be
sincere as to that Article, it is the only one in which
I shall ever doubt your Sincerity, “mais sur ce
Sujet je suis un peu infidelle”. The description
of your paʃsing your Time appears very comfortable
& I sincerly rejoice in it, & I wish I could
make you a Visit, believe me our Life here
is not to be envied, last Week we went three
Times to the Queens House, the Time we spend
there might be agreable, but it is quite
the reverse & I return back to this Dungeon
worn & heated to Death, & wishing what I never
did before in my Life for the hour of going to
Bed, we have endeavoured to vary our Evenings
as much as poʃsible, Mrs Fielding has been
with us once, but when Mr Fielding is here
it is cruel to take her from him, Mrs Hotham
has likewise been here, & we have alternately
drank Tea in my Room, Yesterday Evg, at
eight o'Clock the Duke of Cumberland came
to see the Princeʃs's, the Elder Princes brought
him, we received him in the Gallery (I had
her Majestys Commands about it) the three
little Princes came likewise, he staid about
half an hour during which time the Elder
Princes a l'ordinaire made the little ones as
noisy as poʃsible they then conducted
him back to their own House where I believe
he staid till near ten o'Clock, & we took
our Work & Book, & glad I am that
Ceremony is over, he was very lively & civil
& I agree perfectly with you as to the good
Effects of the Reconciliation, the D of
Gloucester has not been at the Drawing Room
it is said on account of his Health --
I see no Prospect of their Majesties return,
I have order to carry the Princeʃs's to morrow
to be at the Queens House by ½ pt nine.
I have not my dear forgot your kind
request, & will send it you this Week, I
hoped to have done so before this time, & it
has not been my Fault that I have not
Publick News the Papers I daresay inform
you, & as to Private except our dull Routines
I know of more. The Kings Speech is
universally aproved of, & I believe likewise
that it is much suspected that the Americans
have been at the bottom of the Riot,[1] I hope
soon the truth --- of it will be known &
punished. I am happy to hear Pʃs Elizt
behaves so well, God grant it may continue, for
her own sake as well as yours, she is capable
of it if she chooses, but it is a tender Subject,
& what I am so much dispirited about by
my own fatal experience, that I endeavour
to think as little about it as poʃsible, I beg
you will give my Affte Duty & thanks to
H R H for her Letter, which I have not time
to do to day, there was no Secret in it I aʃsure
you. I beg my love to dear Ly C. who I shall
write to on Thursday, I inclose a Letter
from P. Royal to her, & another to you,
Prʃs Augusta sends her love, I delivered
all your kiʃses, & have many Loves in return.
I have desired Miʃs Nevin to thank Mrs
Cheveley, you will find her the more you know
her the more really amiable & sincere.
Mlle is as usual, not any help to raise
one Spirits, she desires her Tendres Amitié
Adieu my Dear, dear Friend, believe mine
is very sincere for you, & to hear of your
Happineʃs will be an addition to that
of Yr Affectionate
MCGolʃdworthy --
Kiʃs from Pʃs Sophia --
Planny sends her love & will
write soon -- [2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Kew House Tuesday Afternoon
Whilst I was wondering that I had not received a
Letter from you by the Post as I know that you never
promise without a full intent of performing, your
welcome Epistle my dear Friend was brought to
me, believe me it gave me most sincere pleasure, it
would have been more complete, if you had mentioned
your own Health, & whether you had any intention
of Dipping, pray remember in your next to be
sincere as to that Article, it is the only one in which
I shall ever doubt your Sincerity, “mais sur ce
Sujet je suis un peu infidelle”. The description
of your passing your Time appears very comfortable
& I sincerely rejoice in it, & I wish I could
make you a Visit, believe me our Life here
is not to be envied, last Week we went three
Times to the Queens House, the Time we spend
there might be agreeable, but it is quite
the reverse & I return back to this Dungeon
worn & heated to Death, & wishing what I never
did before in my Life for the hour of going to
Bed, we have endeavoured to vary our Evenings
as much as possible, Mrs Fielding has been
with us once, but when Mr Fielding is here
it is cruel to take her from him, Mrs Hotham
has likewise been here, & we have alternately
drunk Tea in my Room, Yesterday Evening, at
eight o'Clock the Duke of Cumberland came
to see the Princess's, the Elder Princes brought
him, we received him in the Gallery (I had
her Majestys Commands about it) the three
little Princes came likewise, he stayed about
half an hour during which time the Elder
Princes a l'ordinaire made the little ones as
noisy as possible they then conducted
him back to their own House where I believe
he stayed till near ten o'Clock, & we took
our Work & Book, & glad I am that
Ceremony is over, he was very lively & civil
& I agree perfectly with you as to the good
Effects of the Reconciliation, the Duke of
Gloucester has not been at the Drawing Room
it is said on account of his Health --
I see no Prospect of their Majesties return,
I have order to carry the Princess's to morrow
to be at the Queens House by ½ past nine.
I have not my dear forgot your kind
request, & will send it you this Week, I
hoped to have done so before this time, & it
has not been my Fault that I have not
Public News the Papers I daresay inform
you, & as to Private except our dull Routines
I know of more. The Kings Speech is
universally approved of, & I believe likewise
that it is much suspected that the Americans
have been at the bottom of the Riot, I hope
soon the truth of it will be known &
punished. I am happy to hear Princess Elizabeth
behaves so well, God grant it may continue, for
her own sake as well as yours, she is capable
of it if she chooses, but it is a tender Subject,
& what I am so much dispirited about by
my own fatal experience, that I endeavour
to think as little about it as possible, I beg
you will give my Affectionate Duty & thanks to
Her Royal Highness for her Letter, which I have not time
to do to day, there was no Secret in it I assure
you. I beg my love to dear Lady Charlotte who I shall
write to on Thursday, I enclose a Letter
from Princess Royal to her, & another to you,
Princess Augusta sends her love, I delivered
all your kisses, & have many Loves in return.
I have desired Miss Nevin to thank Mrs
Cheveley, you will find her the more you know
her the more really amiable & sincere.
Mademoiselle is as usual, not any help to raise
one Spirits, she desires her Tendres Amitié
Adieu my Dear, dear Friend, believe mine
is very sincere for you, & to hear of your
Happiness will be an addition to that
of Your Affectionate
Martha Carolina Golsdworthy --
Kiss from Princess Sophia --
Planny sends her love & will
write soon --
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 Martha Carolina Goldsworthy to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/14/43
Correspondence Details
Sender: Martha Carolina Goldsworthy
Place sent: Kew
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 20 June 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Martha Carolina Goldsworthy to Mary Hamilton, relating to
Goldsworthy’s workload and life at Kew. She notes that her life at Kew is
not to be envied and details how her time is spent. She writes that the
previous week ‘we went 3 times to Queen’s House the time we spend there
might be agreeable, but it is quite the reverse, & I return back to this
Dungeon [...] heated to Death & wishing, what I never did before in my
Life, for the hour of going to Bed’. She continues to detail her duties at
court and of the princes. Goldsworthy writes that as for news, the
newspapers will be able to inform of all there is know as there is no
private news, excepting ‘our dull routine’. She continues on the King’s
speech which she notes was universally approved of and ‘I believe likewise
that it is much suspected that he Americans have been at the bottom of the
Riot’. Goldsworthy is glad to hear that Princess Elizabeth is behaving well
and hopes that it will continue as she is ‘capable of it if she’ chooses and
continues her letter on other acquaintances at court.
Dated at Kew House.
Original reference No. 44.
Length: 1 sheet, 717 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 December 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: 15 February 2024