Diplomatic Text
10
1781
Though I have the Head Ach a
toute outrance, I cannot defer till another
post, the my dear Miʃs Hamilton, the conveyance
of the Letter which you so kindly communi
cated to me, & of my best Thanks for the
pleasure which I have received from it's
Contents. God send our dear Friends a prospe
rous Return to us, & a cheerful Enjoyment
of their Society next Winter.
You will certainly hear from
dear Miʃs Sharpe as soon as it is in her
power: but indeed for most part of the
Fortnight which she spent here, she was
very ill with the Epidemical disorder in
the Stomach & Bowels. By a Letter, which
I received from her, since She got to South
Lodge, She is returned pretty much to her
usual state, which is certainly much better
than it was last year, & I hope, by a Con
tinuance of the Bath waters will acquire
in Time a much greater Degree of Improve
ment. We are to go there about the
middle or latter End of November. En atten
dant, I am here in a state of very quiet
Retirement, & for most part of my Time as
Solitary as an owl. My wretched Head
will not suffer me to enjoy my Ivy Bush
to the degree which I wish: but I do as
well as I can.
I had a Letter last night
from Miʃs Cooper[1] whose Health poor Soul
has long been in a deplorable state, &
Still continues so: I hope however it is
upon the whole rather mended, which
gives some Encouragement for the Expectation
that she may poʃsibly recover to such a
degree, as to return to the Society of
her Friends, from which she has for some
Time been obliged to debar her self, as
the least Hurry encreases her Fever, &
hurts her nerves.
Adieu my dear Miʃs Hamilton.
I think it scarcely probable I can catch a
Glimpse of you in my way to Bath, but
hope to make my self Amends at my
Return, & am
your most obliged &
affectionate
ECarter
deal Oct 12. 1781
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Presumably the same Miss Cooper mentioned by Mary Sharpe the previous summer at Bath (see HAM/1/22/25 p.2 col.2), and probably the ‘Irish lady’ known to Mary Hamilton already by 1776 (see HAM/2/1 p.3).
2. This page is blank.
Normalised Text
Though I have the Head Ache a
toute outrance, I cannot defer till another
post, my dear Miss Hamilton, the conveyance
of the Letter which you so kindly communicated
to me, & of my best Thanks for the
pleasure which I have received from it's
Contents. God send our dear Friends a prosperous
Return to us, & a cheerful Enjoyment
of their Society next Winter.
You will certainly hear from
dear Miss Sharpe as soon as it is in her
power: but indeed for most part of the
Fortnight which she spent here, she was
very ill with the Epidemical disorder in
the Stomach & Bowels. By a Letter, which
I received from her, since She got to South
Lodge, She is returned pretty much to her
usual state, which is certainly much better
than it was last year, & I hope, by a Continuance
of the Bath waters will acquire
in Time a much greater Degree of Improvement
. We are to go there about the
middle or latter End of November. En attendant
, I am here in a state of very quiet
Retirement, & for most part of my Time as
Solitary as an owl. My wretched Head
will not suffer me to enjoy my Ivy Bush
to the degree which I wish: but I do as
well as I can.
I had a Letter last night
from Miss Cooper whose Health poor Soul
has long been in a deplorable state, &
Still continues so: I hope however it is
upon the whole rather mended, which
gives some Encouragement for the Expectation
that she may possibly recover to such a
degree, as to return to the Society of
her Friends, from which she has for some
Time been obliged to debar her self, as
the least Hurry increases her Fever, &
hurts her nerves.
Adieu my dear Miss Hamilton.
I think it scarcely probable I can catch a
Glimpse of you in my way to Bath, but
hope to make my self Amends at my
Return, & am
your most obliged &
affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
deal October 12. 1781
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 10
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 12 October 1781
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, returning a letter from friends abroad [possibly the family of Lady Charlotte Finch]. Carter gives news of the health of a Miss Cooper [possibly the future wife of M. de Luc].
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1781 October 12.
Length: 2 sheets, 000 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 26 February 2026)
Cataloguer: Bonnie B. Salt, Archivist, Houghton Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 27 July 2026
