Diplomatic Text
18
deal July 24. 1782
My miserable Head prevented me
my dear Friend, from thanking you for your
kind Letter Yesterday, & it remonstrates strong
ly against my writing to day, but as poʃsibly
it may be just as unreasonable to morrow, I
will humour it's ill Temper no longer.
A thousand Thanks for your very friendly
Attention in writing to Miʃs more. probably a
Letter which I have had from Eliz:[1] was in
Consequence of your's. She had been a month
at Bristol before I received this Letter, & it
was near 2 Since I heard from her before.
I hope in God, that by a Bleʃsing on the Education
which she will receive from this excellent Family
as I believe them to be, her moral & religious
principles will be firmly established. If she
is good & happy, I shall be thankful by whatever
means it is Effected: & I hope I shall submit
With that Resignation which is due, to the se
-vere Stroke I have so inhumanly been made
to Suffer in being deprived of her, by one
Who has taken this Method to repay my un
wearied Attention for so many Years to every
Circumstance in my power, that could contri
bute to her Happineʃs. One would have thought
after depriving me without the Shadow
of an Offence, of her own Affection, She might
have at least left me the Consolation I
Should have found in the Child. In Time
I hope my Feelings will grow leʃs severe:
but I cannot yet subdue them.
Lady Juliana penn is come
to Walmer Castle, & I hope will receive
great Benefit by the Sea Air. She has
Slept better the few Nights she has been
there, than for a long Time before. God grant
her a Complete Recovery. Her Character is
Excellent & amiable, of infinite Consequence
to her Family, & an Ornament & Example
to the World. What a Bleʃsing to Society are
these Sisters, ------------------------ & the Care
they bestow on the Education of their descend
ants, will, it is to be hoped, extend it to
future Generations.
In spite of my Head ach
Yesterday, I would not break an Engage
ment I had made to conduct Lady Mary
Coke & Mrs Feilding, & though I had
too much pain to enjoy it completely
my Self. It gave me great pleasure
to find they did. As we lie under the
Scandal of having no Trees on the Coast,
I contrived to diversify the fine prospects
of our open Fields, by leading them
de Tems en Tems, through wooded
Villages & Shady Lanes. We returned
surrounded by all the beautiful Scenery
of illuminated Clouds ------ tinged by the
softest & Gayest Colouring. Just as we
got Home it began to rain, & this sweet
Serene Evening was succeeded by a
most turbulent Night. It rained violently
& between 9 & 10 began a Thunder Storm
Which continued with little Intermiʃsion
till the morning. Several people in the
Town sat up: but my Head had sent me
to my pillow before it begun, & if it had
not, I think one is just as safe in Bed
as up. God be thanked I have heard of
no Mischief done by it to any person:
The Wheat it is to be feared must have
Suffered by the Rain.
Adieu my dear. When
you can write without Inconvenience, I
know you will let me hear from you. I
am not unreasonable enough to suppose
it poʃsible for you to be a regular Corres
pondent to satisfy my Self that when you
cannot write, you will however think with
Kindneʃs on your obliged & affectionate
E. Carter
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
deal July 24. 1782
My miserable Head prevented me
my dear Friend, from thanking you for your
kind Letter Yesterday, & it remonstrates strongly
against my writing to day, but as possibly
it may be just as unreasonable to morrow, I
will humour it's ill Temper no longer.
A thousand Thanks for your very friendly
Attention in writing to Miss more. probably a
Letter which I have had from Elizabeth was in
Consequence of your's. She had been a month
at Bristol before I received this Letter, & it
was near 2 Since I heard from her before.
I hope in God, that by a Blessing on the Education
which she will receive from this excellent Family
as I believe them to be, her moral & religious
principles will be firmly established. If she
is good & happy, I shall be thankful by whatever
means it is Effected: & I hope I shall submit
With that Resignation which is due, to the severe
Stroke I have so inhumanly been made
to Suffer in being deprived of her, by one
Who has taken this Method to repay my unwearied
Attention for so many Years to every
Circumstance in my power, that could contribute
to her Happiness. One would have thought
after depriving me without the Shadow
of an Offence, of her own Affection, She might
have at least left me the Consolation I
Should have found in the Child. In Time
I hope my Feelings will grow less severe:
but I cannot yet subdue them.
Lady Juliana penn is come
to Walmer Castle, & I hope will receive
great Benefit by the Sea Air. She has
Slept better the few Nights she has been
there, than for a long Time before. God grant
her a Complete Recovery. Her Character is
Excellent & amiable, of infinite Consequence
to her Family, & an Ornament & Example
to the World. What a Blessing to Society are
these Sisters, & the Care
they bestow on the Education of their descendants
, will, it is to be hoped, extend it to
future Generations.
In spite of my Head ache
Yesterday, I would not break an Engagement
I had made to conduct Lady Mary
Coke & Mrs Feilding, & though I had
too much pain to enjoy it completely
my Self. It gave me great pleasure
to find they did. As we lie under the
Scandal of having no Trees on the Coast,
I contrived to diversify the fine prospects
of our open Fields, by leading them
de Tems en Tems, through wooded
Villages & Shady Lanes. We returned
surrounded by all the beautiful Scenery
of illuminated Clouds tinged by the
softest & Gayest Colouring. Just as we
got Home it began to rain, & this sweet
Serene Evening was succeeded by a
most turbulent Night. It rained violently
& between 9 & 10 began a Thunder Storm
Which continued with little Intermission
till the morning. Several people in the
Town sat up: but my Head had sent me
to my pillow before it began, & if it had
not, I think one is just as safe in Bed
as up. God be thanked I have heard of
no Mischief done by it to any person:
The Wheat it is to be feared must have
Suffered by the Rain.
Adieu my dear. When
you can write without Inconvenience, I
know you will let me hear from you. I
am not unreasonable enough to suppose
it possible for you to be a regular Correspondent
to satisfy my Self that when you
cannot write, you will however think with
Kindness on your obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
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 18
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 24 July 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter thanks Hamilton for writing to Hannah More and speculates that this may have provoked the letter she received from ‘Eliz.’ in Bristol. She reflects on her hurt feelings. She praises Lady Juliana Penn, who is staying at Walmer Castle, and her sister, Lady Charlotte Finch. Despite her headache, Carter had taken Lady Mary Coke and Mrs Feilding on a tour of the area. After their return, there was an all-night thunderstorm, though with no apparent damage except to crops.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 July 24.
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: 29 July 2026
