Diplomatic Text
14
deal May 25th. 1782
On Thursday Evening, my dear
Miʃs Hamilton, I arrived safely, I thank God,
to the End of my Journey, & after an Absence of
so many months, I rejoyced in a Return to my
little quiet Abode. I could not help calling
on dear Lady Charlotte Finch as soon as I got out
of the post chaise, & had the pleasure to see
her perfectly well. She thinks prince Alfred
already the better for the Sea Air.
I finished Adele & Theodore[1]
during my Journey. The Book has in many
Instances great merit, but indeed is very
exceptionable in some. The Encouragement
given to Lying is quite astonishing, in a writer
like Mde[2] Genlis, whose morality is for the most
▼ part so very pure. It would be tedious to say
a ------ every Thing[3] that might be said on
the pernicious Tendency of Mde. Genlis Ideas on
this Subject. To mention only the Case Injunction
of Mde Almane to her Niece, by which She
Seems so very true[4]
14a
charges her to deny a Fact, which she knew to be
true, of Mde Valeè. If it was to become a general
practice for people to tell direct untruths in
order to screen guilty characters, the Consequence
must be, that the secondary Help to Virtue
which arises from a Regard to Reputation
would be utterly lost, & right & wrong Con
duct would be treated with indiscriminate
Regard.
The Story of Cecile is well told; but I
think, of dangerous Tendency to young people:
as it is calculated to raise those artificial
paʃsions, which I believe do great mischief
when the natural ones would have remained
very quiet: & this is a general objection to
most Stories of the novel kind -- The Story
of the Souterrain is finely related, & conveys
a very instructive Leʃson. -- The french manners
must be Shockingly Corrupt, if two young men
Educated like Theodore & Valmont, could dream
of falling in Love with married women.
-- What do you think of the parade in re-
lieving objects of distreʃs? It seems to me
that the simple modest, evangelical virtue of
Charity appears, in this Book, toodrest too much
in the Air of a Figurante[5] -- I have tired
you & my self with all this Criticism, but remember
that it is your own Fault by setting me upon
the Task.
If the Queen has never read Miʃs Aikin's[6]
works, I am persuaded they will give her Majesty
pleasure. The poetry is admirable, & the prose
Eʃsays have at least equal merit. There is a
french Book which I likewise wish you would
mention to her Majesty. Lettres recreatives
Et Morales writ by the Marquis Caracceole.
I know not well what Character to give you of
this work, which I believe is not of a high Stile
of Genius. It always puts me in Mind of the
soft, faint Colouring of a Lunar Rainbow. It
pleases me while I am reading it, but I seldom
retain a single Sentence after I have shut
the Book. Yet I find it has the general Effect
of giving a Calm & Composure to my Mind, which
is extremely pleasing.
And now my dear Friend
let me return you my affectionate Thanks for
the many delightful Hours which I have spent
with you the last Winter, & allow me to hope for
a Return of them, if it please God, we live & prosper
to the next. En attendant I know you will
sometimes bestow a kind Remembrance on
your obliged & very affectionate
ECarter
I expect dear Lady C. F. to drink Tea with
me this Afternoon. I wish you Could be of the
party.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Madame de Genlis, Adèle et Théodore, ou, Lettres sur l'éducation (1782), started to appear in serial form in English translation in June 1782, and in book form in 1783. (Hannah More writes a long critique of the original in MS Eng 1778 116 pp.5ff.).
2. The meaning of Carter's written form ‘Mde.’ is uncertain: is it an unusual abbreviation for ‘Madame’, or does it represent ‘Madame de’, either of which would fit Genlis? We have tentatively chosen the former, as the fictional personage just below, which contains the same abbreviation, could not be ‘Madame de Almane’ without apostrophe.
3. It looks as if Carter began to overwrite her first choice of wording with ‘Everything’, then abandoned the attempt and wrote it afresh.
4. Marginal note written vertically, linked to position in text by paired crosses.
5. ‘Originally Theatre. A character with a small or non-speaking role; an extra. Later also in extended use: a minor character in a book, film, etc.’ (OED s.v. figurant n., 2. Accessed 04-07-2026).
6. The writer that Carter refers to as ‘Miss Aikin’ had actually been married, as Mrs Barbauld, since 1774, but her famous Poems (1773) carried her maiden name (on the dedication, dated 1772), and ‘A. L. Aikin’ was on the title page of the jointly-authored Miscellaneous pieces in prose (1774).
Normalised Text
deal May 25. 1782
On Thursday Evening, my dear
Miss Hamilton, I arrived safely, I thank God,
to the End of my Journey, & after an Absence of
so many months, I rejoiced in a Return to my
little quiet Abode. I could not help calling
on dear Lady Charlotte Finch as soon as I got out
of the post chaise, & had the pleasure to see
her perfectly well. She thinks prince Alfred
already the better for the Sea Air.
I finished Adele & Theodore
during my Journey. The Book has in many
Instances great merit, but indeed is very
exceptionable in some. The Encouragement
given to Lying is quite astonishing, in a writer
like Madame Genlis, whose morality is for the most
▼ part so very pure. It would be tedious to say
every Thing that might be said on
the pernicious Tendency of Madame Genlis Ideas on
this Subject. To mention only the Injunction
of Madame Almane to her Niece, by which She
charges her to deny a Fact, which she knew to be
true, of Madame Valeè. If it was to become a general
practice for people to tell direct untruths in
order to screen guilty characters, the Consequence
must be, that the secondary Help to Virtue
which arises from a Regard to Reputation
would be utterly lost, & right & wrong Conduct
would be treated with indiscriminate
Regard.
The Story of Cecile is well told; but I
think, of dangerous Tendency to young people:
as it is calculated to raise those artificial
passions, which I believe do great mischief
when the natural ones would have remained
very quiet: & this is a general objection to
most Stories of the novel kind -- The Story
of the Souterrain is finely related, & conveys
a very instructive Lesson. -- The french manners
must be Shockingly Corrupt, if two young men
Educated like Theodore & Valmont, could dream
of falling in Love with married women.
-- What do you think of the parade in relieving
objects of distress? It seems to me
that the simple modest, evangelical virtue of
Charity appears, in this Book, dressed too much
in the Air of a Figurante -- I have tired
you & my self with all this Criticism, but remember
that it is your own Fault by setting me upon
the Task.
If the Queen has never read Miss Aikin's
works, I am persuaded they will give her Majesty
pleasure. The poetry is admirable, & the prose
Essays have at least equal merit. There is a
french Book which I likewise wish you would
mention to her Majesty. Lettres recreatives
Et Morales written by the Marquis Caracceole.
I know not well what Character to give you of
this work, which I believe is not of a high Style
of Genius. It always puts me in Mind of the
soft, faint Colouring of a Lunar Rainbow. It
pleases me while I am reading it, but I seldom
retain a single Sentence after I have shut
the Book. Yet I find it has the general Effect
of giving a Calm Composure to my Mind, which
is extremely pleasing.
And now my dear Friend
let me return you my affectionate Thanks for
the many delightful Hours which I have spent
with you the last Winter, & allow me to hope for
a Return of them, if it please God, we live & prosper
to the next. En attendant I know you will
sometimes bestow a kind Remembrance on
your obliged & very affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
I expect dear Lady Charlotte Finch to drink Tea with
me this Afternoon. I wish you Could be of the
party.
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 14
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 May 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter is happy to be back home in Deal at last and gives brief news of Lady Charlotte Finch and Prince Alfred. She gives an extended critique of Madame de Genlis's Adèle et Théodore. She recommends some alternative reading for the Queen. She looks forward to seeing Hamilton the following winter.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 May 25.
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: 13 October 2026
