Diplomatic Text
[1]
2
1780
As you desire ------ , my dear
Miʃs Hamilton, that I should give you my
opinion of Agathon,[2] I cannot refuse it,
though I know not well what to say, about
so strange a Composition.
As I had formed a very advantageous
Idea of Wieland from his Sophia Sternheim,[3]
you cannot think how I was surprised and
disappointed to find him metamorphosed
from a moral writer, into a pert flippant
french wit, & a painter of libertine scenes.
If he intended any moral purpose from
this Book for the instruction of young people,
he has taken a very unwarrantable Method
to Effect it, & acted like a physician who
Should give his patient poison, in order to
try the Force of an Antidote.
I suppose there is Genius
in this work, but Genius miserably twisted &
deformed. The Author seems to have been
spoiled by an Imitation of the French
------ scribblers, the pernicious Corrupters of all good
principles, & of all good writing.
The character of danae is well
drawn, & conducted with delicacy so as
to prevent the Reader from being shocked
at the Continuance of Agathon's Attachment,
as her Faults seem to arise more from
accidental Circumstances, than from vicious
Inclinations. -- Yet upon the whole it is
a very dangerous Leʃson for young people.
The only unexceptionable part of the Book
Seems to be the Character of Archytas &
his Family, which is charmingly described.
He has not done the same Justice to Plato
Whom he treats with a true french Insolence
& Impertinence.
You need not my dear, have
Cautioned me against supposing that the
Queen approved this Book. I have much
too high a Reverence for her majesty's
Character to imagine it poʃsible that
she should.
I have writ my self into the
Head ach & can only add most affectionately
Yours
E. Carter.
March 3. 178[0]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Four lines from MS Eng 1778 3a are visible behind the sheet at the top of the image.
2. This is Christoph Martin Wieland's novel Geschichte des Agathon (1766-67), published in German and translated into English in 1773.
3. The novel Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771) was actually written by Sophie von La Roche, cousin and close friend of Wieland, who edited and published it. It was translated into English by J. Collyer under the title The history of Lady Sophia Sternheim: attempted from the German of Mr. Wieland (London, 1776), which may explain Carter's attribution.
Normalised Text
As you desire , my dear
Miss Hamilton, that I should give you my
opinion of Agathon, I cannot refuse it,
though I know not well what to say, about
so strange a Composition.
As I had formed a very advantageous
Idea of Wieland from his Sophia Sternheim,
you cannot think how I was surprised and
disappointed to find him metamorphosed
from a moral writer, into a pert flippant
french wit, & a painter of libertine scenes.
If he intended any moral purpose from
this Book for the instruction of young people,
he has taken a very unwarrantable Method
to Effect it, & acted like a physician who
Should give his patient poison, in order to
try the Force of an Antidote.
I suppose there is Genius
in this work, but Genius miserably twisted &
deformed. The Author seems to have been
spoiled by an Imitation of the French
scribblers, the pernicious Corrupters of all good
principles, & of all good writing.
The character of danae is well
drawn, & conducted with delicacy so as
to prevent the Reader from being shocked
at the Continuance of Agathon's Attachment,
as her Faults seem to arise more from
accidental Circumstances, than from vicious
Inclinations. -- Yet upon the whole it is
a very dangerous Lesson for young people.
The only unexceptionable part of the Book
Seems to be the Character of Archytas &
his Family, which is charmingly described.
He has not done the same Justice to Plato
Whom he treats with a true french Insolence
& Impertinence.
You need not my dear, have
Cautioned me against supposing that the
Queen approved this Book. I have much
too high a Reverence for her majesty's
Character to imagine it possible that
she should.
I have written my self into the
Head ache & can only add most affectionately
Yours
Elizabeth Carter.
March 3. 1780
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Houghton Library Repository, Harvard University
Archive: Elizabeth Carter and Hannah More letters to Mary Hamilton
Item title: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 2
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London (certainty: medium)
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 3 March 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, giving her assessment of the German novel Geschichte des Agathon (1766-67) by Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813), translated into English as The History of Agathon (London, 1773); it is unclear whether Carter has read it in German or English. Assuming mistakenly that Wieland had been the author, rather than editor and publisher, of another German novel translated as The history of Lady Sophia Sternheim, Carter is surprised by his apparent metamorphosis ‘into a pert flippant [F]rench wit, & a painter of libertine Scenes’. While praising the treatment of Danae and of Archytas and his family, she finds that Plato is treated ‘with a true [F]rench Insolence & Impertinence’. So ‘strange a Composition’ is morally unsuitable for young readers, and she is sure that Queen Charlotte could not approve of it.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Clarges Street, 1780 March 3.
Length: 1 sheet, 309 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: XML version first created without transcription as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1. Transcription added after the funded period under the supervision of David Denison and Nuria Yáñez-Bouza.
Transliterator: Pete Morris, Artificial Intelligence and Ideas Adoption (AIIA), The University of Manchester Library (Plain text transliteration submitted 13 January 2026)
Cataloguer: Bonnie B. Salt, Archivist, Houghton Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 7 April 2026
