Diplomatic Text
13
1782
I will not always be got the
better of -- yes but I will: I may
as well comply with a good Grace, as I
find it impoʃsible, when any one whom I
love & who, I have Reason to hope,
loves me, sets me a Task, coute qu'il[1]
Coute, to refuse setting about it.
We both agree, my dear
Miʃs Hamilton in reprobating the Idea,
which many people entertain of their
being particularly Edified, by a favorite
preacher. This notion seems to arise
from a misapprehension of the nature
both of Edification & of public worship.
It is certainly a very important
Duty that Beings liable to the
Same common wants, & partakers of
the Same common Bleʃsings, Should, besides
the Exercise of private devotion, join in offering
up their Common Supplications, & Thanksgi
-vings to the universal parent & Benefact
or: & that they should listen with Reverence
& Gratitude to those Rules for the Conduct
of their Hearts & Actions, & those gracious
promises of the Rewards of obedience, which
hHe has so mercifully revealed in the Gos
-pel. Those who go to Church under such
Impreʃsions as these, are in no danger of
wanting Edification, whether the Reader
has a good or a bad Voice, or the preach
er an elegant, or a common Stile.
A preacher has no other Authority
than as he delivers the Doctrines of the
Gospel, & whether these be delivered with
a greater or leʃs degree of human Advantage,
they equally claim the Attention of the Au
dience, & will be, in the only eʃsential
points equally beneficial. Those, who without
murmuring or criticising, endeavour to receive
what Instruction they can, from a dull preacher,
by that very Exercise of Humility & obedience,
are truely & actually Edified: Those who
run away from their --- appointed Instructor,
to one more agreeable to their own
Fancy, whatever however they may
flatter themselves, they are not Edified,
they are only Entertained.
Adieu my dear. I hope[2]
to have the pleasure of meeting
You in Health & good Spirits
at our Appointment on Thursday. -- I
try to be in as good Spirits as I can
but my Heart is grievously wounded.[3]
Yours affectionately
ECarter
Chapple Street. Ap: 22d. 1782
April 22d: 1782
To dine at Mrs. Delanys together
[4]
To
Miʃs Hamilton[5]
At
The Queen's Lodge
Windsor
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. See the note on Carter's placement of apostrophes, Houghton MS Eng 1778 4a p.1.
2. Seal torn away, leaving remains in red wax.
3. Carter presumably alludes to the rift between herself and Mary Sharpe, which Sharpe had revealed to Hamilton a week earlier (see HAM/1/22/43 p.4).
4. Stamp reading ‘22 [AP]’ [the month is readable from behind p.3 using Mirador], indicating that the letter went through the post on 22 April.
5. A large numeral ‘2’ indicates postage due.
Normalised Text
I will not always be got the
better of -- yes but I will: I may
as well comply with a good Grace, as I
find it impossible, when any one whom I
love & who, I have Reason to hope,
loves me, sets me a Task, coute qu'il
Coute, to refuse setting about it.
We both agree, my dear
Miss Hamilton in reprobating the Idea,
which many people entertain of their
being particularly Edified, by a favourite
preacher. This notion seems to arise
from a misapprehension of the nature
both of Edification & of public worship.
It is certainly a very important
Duty that Beings liable to the
Same common wants, & partakers of
the Same common Blessings, Should, besides
the Exercise of private devotion, join in offering
up their Common Supplications, & Thanksgivings
to the universal parent & Benefactor
: & that they should listen with Reverence
& Gratitude to those Rules for the Conduct
of their Hearts & Actions, & those gracious
promises of the Rewards of obedience, which
He has so mercifully revealed in the Gospel
. Those who go to Church under such
Impressions as these, are in no danger of
wanting Edification, whether the Reader
has a good or a bad Voice, or the preacher
an elegant, or a common Style.
A preacher has no other Authority
than as he delivers the Doctrines of the
Gospel, & whether these be delivered with
a greater or less degree of human Advantage,
they equally claim the Attention of the Audience
, & will be, in the only essential
points equally beneficial. Those, who without
murmuring or criticising, endeavour to receive
what Instruction they can, from a dull preacher,
by that very Exercise of Humility & obedience,
are truly & actually Edified: Those who
run away from their appointed Instructor,
to one more agreeable to their own
Fancy, however they may
flatter themselves, they are not Edified,
they are only Entertained.
Adieu my dear. I hope
to have the pleasure of meeting
You in Health & good Spirits
at our Appointment on Thursday. -- I
try to be in as good Spirits as I can
but my Heart is grievously wounded.
Yours affectionately
Elizabeth Carter
Chapple Street. April 22. 1782
To
Miss Hamilton
At
The Queen's Lodge
Windsor
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 13
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Windsor
Date sent: 22 April 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton on the topic of edification. She argues that worshippers who avoid a dull preacher and seek out a more ‘agreeable’ one are not ‘edified’ but merely ‘entertained’.
In closing, she refers to her heart being ‘grievously wounded’, presumably by the rift with Mary Sharpe (see HAM/1/22/43).
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapple Street, 1782 April 22.
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
