Diplomatic Text
12
1782
And so, my dear Miʃs Hamilton,
I come to tell you why I dislike La Metaphysique.[1]
Indeed this is very unreasonable. Suppose I
had innocently said, I disliked Lambs wool, or
hard Dumpling, must I be obliged to show
Cause why? Perhaps ------------------------
I might say it was because they disagreed
with my Stomach: would you not allow that
to be a very Sufficient Answer? & is it not
just as Sufficient a Cause for my disliking
La Metaphysique, because it disagrees
with my Head?
To speak a little leʃs flippantly,
I have a strong Objection to every mode
of Reasoning & perplexed Speculation
which has any Tendency to weaken
the Authority of the simple & natural
dictates of common Sense. It appears to
me that the human understanding is formed
to walk soberly on in a strait path upon
Solid Ground, & not to dance upon Ropes
in the Air.
Well, say you, but is there
no such Faculty in our Composition as
Imagination? Yes, certainly: & a most
delightful play Fellow it is, graciously
allotted to Enliven & relax us amidst
the Duties of our serious Task of Life.
But let it not aʃsume a profeʃsor's
Cap & Gown, call it self La metaphysique & exalt it's sportive Re
-veries into a Standard of Truth.
I mortally hate you for setting
me to scribble with an aching Head, &
so sans Rancune, am very affectionately
Your's
ECarter
Chapple Street Ap: 2d. 1782[2] [3]
april
[4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. It is unclear at present whether Carter is discussing metaphysics in general or a specific French work.
2. Carter maintained lodgings at Chapel Street, Mayfair, for some time after the death of her landlady, later removing to 21 Clarges Street. Elwood asserts that she ‘had no other establishment than her maid-servant, nor indeed was it necessary, as she never dined at home, unless too ill to leave the house, and her friends' carriages and chairs were always at her service to convey her to and from her lodgings’ (Anne Katharine Curteis Elwood, Memoirs of the literary ladies of England from the commencement of the last century, Colburn: London, 1843 [G. B. Zieber: Philadelphia, 1845. I.119]). Chapel Street in Mayfair is no longer found under that name, having been renamed Aldford Street in 1886; a different Chapel Street in Belgravia is nearly a mile further south.
3. Hamilton clarifies the smudged abbreviation ‘Ap.’ below, as well as adding a superscript ‘d’ to the date.
4. This page is blank.
5. This page is blank.
Normalised Text
And so, my dear Miss Hamilton,
I come to tell you why I dislike La Metaphysique.
Indeed this is very unreasonable. Suppose I
had innocently said, I disliked Lambs wool, or
hard Dumpling, must I be obliged to show
Cause why? Perhaps
I might say it was because they disagreed
with my Stomach: would you not allow that
to be a very Sufficient Answer? & is it not
just as Sufficient a Cause for my disliking
La Metaphysique, because it disagrees
with my Head?
To speak a little less flippantly,
I have a strong Objection to every mode
of Reasoning & perplexed Speculation
which has any Tendency to weaken
the Authority of the simple & natural
dictates of common Sense. It appears to
me that the human understanding is formed
to walk soberly on in a strait path upon
Solid Ground, & not to dance upon Ropes
in the Air.
Well, say you, but is there
no such Faculty in our Composition as
Imagination? Yes, certainly: & a most
delightful play Fellow it is, graciously
allotted to Enliven & relax us amidst
the Duties of our serious Task of Life.
But let it not assume a professor's
Cap & Gown, call it self La metaphysique & exalt it's sportive Reveries
into a Standard of Truth.
I mortally hate you for setting
me to scribble with an aching Head, &
so sans Rancune, am very affectionately
Your's
Elizabeth Carter
Chapple Street April 2. 1782
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 12
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 2 April 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, wittily defending her dislike of ‘La metaphysique’.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapple Street, 1782 April 2.
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
