Diplomatic Text
X
22
Deal. Augst 27. 1782
Indeed my dear Friend I feel for
What you must have Suffered during the
late very affecting Scene in which you have
been engaged. All who have ever heard of the
most amiable ------ domestic Character of the
King & Queen, must grieve for their Loʃs, & revere
the exemplary Manner in which they support it.
It has pleased God to deprive --- their Majesties
of one of their Comforts: but at the same Time
He has given them an opportunity of exercis
-ing their piety in one of the most difficult
Tryals of human Duty; a Tryal particularly
severe to the Good, as it is the Good, who feel
the most pleasure in the natural & best Affecti
ons of the Heart. It will, I am persuaded, When
the first poignancy of Grief is over, be a Consolati
on to your royal Mistreʃs to reflect, that she
has been the Instrument of producing an im
mortal Being, who after a Short Struggle with
the Evils of Life, has been removed from all it's
Temptations, at an Age which gives the fullest
Aʃsurance of his Happineʃs. May it please God
to preserve to their Majesties their remaining
numerous offspring, & may his Bleʃsing so attend
the pious Cares, & excellent Example of their
illustrious Parents, that They may feel the Same
comfortable Hope in the Virtues, of those who
Survive, as in the Innocence of him, whom
they have lost.
My dear Friends at Walmer
Castle are preparing to leave it to morrow.
I need not tell you how much I shall regret
their Departure: but indeed I am sensible
of the Happineʃs of having enjoyed their
Society so long. Adieu my dear Friend.
nothing but your Wish of hearing from me
Could have tempted me to write to day, as
I can scarcely see with the Head ach, Which
I believe is increased by this untoward weather.
ever affectionately your's
ECarter
many Thanks for the
poem, which is exceedingly
pretty[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Deal. August 27. 1782
Indeed my dear Friend I feel for
What you must have Suffered during the
late very affecting Scene in which you have
been engaged. All who have ever heard of the
most amiable domestic Character of the
King & Queen, must grieve for their Loss, & revere
the exemplary Manner in which they support it.
It has pleased God to deprive their Majesties
of one of their Comforts: but at the same Time
He has given them an opportunity of exercising
their piety in one of the most difficult
Trials of human Duty; a Trial particularly
severe to the Good, as it is the Good, who feel
the most pleasure in the natural & best Affections
of the Heart. It will, I am persuaded, When
the first poignancy of Grief is over, be a Consolation
to your royal Mistress to reflect, that she
has been the Instrument of producing an immortal
Being, who after a Short Struggle with
the Evils of Life, has been removed from all it's
Temptations, at an Age which gives the fullest
Assurance of his Happiness. May it please God
to preserve to their Majesties their remaining
numerous offspring, & may his Blessing so attend
the pious Cares, & excellent Example of their
illustrious Parents, that They may feel the Same
comfortable Hope in the Virtues, of those who
Survive, as in the Innocence of him, whom
they have lost.
My dear Friends at Walmer
Castle are preparing to leave it to morrow.
I need not tell you how much I shall regret
their Departure: but indeed I am sensible
of the Happiness of having enjoyed their
Society so long. Adieu my dear Friend.
nothing but your Wish of hearing from me
Could have tempted me to write to day, as
I can scarcely see with the Head ache, Which
I believe is increased by this untoward weather.
ever affectionately your's
Elizabeth Carter
many Thanks for the
poem, which is exceedingly
pretty
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 22
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 27 August 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, on the death of Prince Alfred and its effect on the King and Queen. Carter also notes her regret at the imminent departure of her friends who had been staying at Walmer Castle.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 August 27.
Length: 1 sheet, 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 September 2026
