Diplomatic Text
X
25
Misplaced[1]
deal oct 30. 1782
Your kind Letter, my dear Friend
did not arrive till after my Departure for the
Continent,[2] which happened rather sooner than I
Expected: & I found it on my Table to day at
my Return.
As I think you have been at paris
I do not attempt giving you any Description of
what little I could see in the Course of a week:
& indeed my poor wretched Head was so ill
for most part of the Time, that I had little
Spirit for doing any Thing beyond what was
merely neceʃsary. We had some Busineʃs for equi[p]
ing Miʃs Pulteney for her Admiʃsion as a pensi
oner in the Abbaye royale at panthemon,[3] wherein
the young Ladies who are to receive their Edu
cation wear a Uniform appointed by the late
Dauphin.[4] The Colour is a bright Crimson, for
the undreʃs Stuff, for the dreʃs Silk. It is close
bodied, & has a Train. The dauphin was so
favorable to this establishment, that he had
intended to apply to the late K. of France for
an Order, which the Pensioners Should be inti
tled to wear for their Whole Life: but his
death deprived them of this honorable mark of distinction.
The Abbeʃs of Panthemon is a Lady of high Quality,
of the House of Soulise, & has much more of the easy
manners of the world, than I should have expected
to find within Side of a Grate. The Appartment in
which she receives her Visitors, instead of being
hung with St Christophers, St Catherines &c is decorated
with modern portraits & prints. Among others is a
picture of Mrs Matthews, the Irish Beauty whom you
must probably have met in London. Among the prints
was a Figure weeping over the Tomb of our Queen
Mary the 2d. one would rather have expected in that
place, a Lamentation over the first.
Another Article of Busineʃs was our
Executing some Commiʃsions which Miʃs p. had undertaken
in the ornamental way for some of her Friends in England,
& in which She always insisted on having my opinion,
though I honestly told her I understood just as well
how to buy Harneʃs for a Horse, as Colifichets[5] for a
fine Lady. Most of the Caps which I saw appeared to
me exceedingly ugly, & so fantastical as not to be redu
cible to any description. How they might appear on
the Heads of the fashionable parisian Ladies I cannot
tell, as I saw no persons of distinction but the Lady
Abbeʃs, whose sober Habit admitted no other Ornament
but a gold Croʃs. The premiere Maitreʃse of the
Claʃses I found by her countenance & her name, which
is Mde. Taubenheim, to be a German. I took the Liberty
of asking if she was not of a German Family. She said,
She was by Birth a Saxon: but had been so long removed
from her own Country she had forgot the Language, & was
devenue toute a fait françoise. -- Tant pis pour Mde. Tauben
-heim.
From the general view I was enabled
to take in driving a good deal about paris, it seemed
to me all that is great, & all that is little. The Building[s]
are magnificent: the Streets contemptibly, & dangerous
ly narrow. of this we had a lamentable proof, as Mr P
& I were going to take Leave of Miʃs P. the day we left
paris: by the meeting a waggon & a Carriage between
two Streets, our Coach was overturned, & it was very
providential we escaped unhurt, particularly as the
side pannels were Glaʃs. A mob instantly aʃsembled
about us, & with most obstreperous Compaʃsion deplored
our Situation, did all they could to aʃsist us, & indeed
behaved with so much Humanity, that it was quite
delightful. As soon as I was tugged out, a good woma[n]
seized me by the Arm & hurried me into a little dirty
House, Where the good people drew out a Bottle of wine
& would I believe have glady poured it all down my
Throat, but that I petitioned to have it exchanged
for a Glaʃs of water. Mr P. was absolutely unhurt. My
Neck & Shoulder were strained a little by the Violence of
the Shock: but this is scarcely worth mentioning in
such an Accident. What a mercy not to be dangerously
cut or blinded by the broken Glaʃs!
I bought not a single Book, nor indeed Paid out the Value of
half a Guinea for the decoration of my person. most of
the Articles I saw were much dearer than in London.
We left Paris on Fryday last, & got to Calais
on Monday. We sailed from thence between 3 & 4 the next
Morning. The wind was tolerably fair at our first set
-ting out, but very soon Shifted, & we had a most
Stormy & fatiguing paʃsage of 18 Hours, such as I think
I never past before in my Whole Life. For I was
during the whole Time in a Suceʃsion of fainting
Fits from the Sea Sickneʃs, as it was merely violent
Reaching[6] with very little of that Effect which gives
Relief to others. And only think of being suffocated
in Such a State in one of those close Cabins. Happily
my maid was tolerably free from Sickneʃs, & her Care
& Tenderneʃs gave me all the Comfort I was capable
of receiving. We landed at Dover about 10 at Night: &
the people of the Inn exprest the utmost Astonishment,
[t]hat it was poʃsible for any pacquet to arrive in such
weather.
I shall certainly begin the medicine with which
the Goodneʃs of the Queen has honoured me,[7] as soon as
I am sufficiently recovered from the Effects of my harraʃs-
ing Voyage of which I still feel the ------ Remains.
Adieu my dear. I know you will be glad to hear of
the Safe Return of your obliged & affectionate Friend
E. Carter
Be so good to make my very
respectful & affectionate compliments to dear Ly. Charlotte Finch &
Mrs Feilding: I wrote a Letter from paris to Ly. Charlotte which
I hope she has received.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. MS Eng 1778 25 is chronologically later than MS Eng 1778 26.
2. Elsewhere, Carter explains her reluctant willingness to make this trip despite her poor health as being owed to ‘a poor child deprived of a mother, who was my kind and generous friend’; see letter CCXXXIX to Elizabeth Montagu, in Montagu Pennington, ed. (1817: III.180-181). Frances Pulteney had died on 1 June that year.
3. ‘In the late 18th century, [the Abbaye de Penthemont] was one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Paris for daughters of the elite’ (Wikipedia).
4. Louis, Dauphin of France (1729-1765).
5. French colifichet ‘trinket, bauble, knick-knack’.
6. On reaching ‘retching’, cf. HAM/1/20/210 p.1 and HAM/2/10 p.114.
7. Cf. MS Eng 1778 20 p.5.
Normalised Text
deal october 30. 1782
Your kind Letter, my dear Friend
did not arrive till after my Departure for the
Continent, which happened rather sooner than I
Expected: & I found it on my Table to day at
my Return.
As I think you have been at paris
I do not attempt giving you any Description of
what little I could see in the Course of a week:
& indeed my poor wretched Head was so ill
for most part of the Time, that I had little
Spirit for doing any Thing beyond what was
merely necessary. We had some Business for equipping
Miss Pulteney for her Admission as a pensioner
in the Abbaye royale at panthemon, wherein
the young Ladies who are to receive their Education
wear a Uniform appointed by the late
Dauphin. The Colour is a bright Crimson, for
the undress Stuff, for the dress Silk. It is close
bodied, & has a Train. The dauphin was so
favourable to this establishment, that he had
intended to apply to the late King of France for
an Order, which the Pensioners Should be entitled
to wear for their Whole Life: but his
death deprived them of this honourable mark of distinction.
The Abbess of Panthemon is a Lady of high Quality,
of the House of Soulise, & has much more of the easy
manners of the world, than I should have expected
to find within Side of a Grate. The Apartment in
which she receives her Visitors, instead of being
hung with St Christophers, St Catherines &c is decorated
with modern portraits & prints. Among others is a
picture of Mrs Matthews, the Irish Beauty whom you
must probably have met in London. Among the prints
was a Figure weeping over the Tomb of our Queen
Mary the 2d. one would rather have expected in that
place, a Lamentation over the first.
Another Article of Business was our
Executing some Commissions which Miss pulteney had undertaken
in the ornamental way for some of her Friends in England,
& in which She always insisted on having my opinion,
though I honestly told her I understood just as well
how to buy Harness for a Horse, as Colifichets for a
fine Lady. Most of the Caps which I saw appeared to
me exceedingly ugly, & so fantastical as not to be reducible
to any description. How they might appear on
the Heads of the fashionable parisian Ladies I cannot
tell, as I saw no persons of distinction but the Lady
Abbess, whose sober Habit admitted no other Ornament
but a gold Cross. The premiere Maitresse of the
Classes I found by her countenance & her name, which
is Madame Taubenheim, to be a German. I took the Liberty
of asking if she was not of a German Family. She said,
She was by Birth a Saxon: but had been so long removed
from her own Country she had forgotten the Language, & was
devenue toute a fait françoise. -- Tant pis pour Madame Taubenheim
.
From the general view I was enabled
to take in driving a good deal about paris, it seemed
to me all that is great, & all that is little. The Buildings
are magnificent: the Streets contemptibly, & dangerously
narrow. of this we had a lamentable proof, as Mr Pulteney
& I were going to take Leave of Miss Pulteney the day we left
paris: by the meeting a waggon & a Carriage between
two Streets, our Coach was overturned, & it was very
providential we escaped unhurt, particularly as the
side panels were Glass. A mob instantly assembled
about us, & with most obstreperous Compassion deplored
our Situation, did all they could to assist us, & indeed
behaved with so much Humanity, that it was quite
delightful. As soon as I was tugged out, a good woman
seized me by the Arm & hurried me into a little dirty
House, Where the people drew out a Bottle of wine
& would I believe have glady poured it all down my
Throat, but that I petitioned to have it exchanged
for a Glass of water. Mr Pulteney was absolutely unhurt. My
Neck & Shoulder were strained a little by the Violence of
the Shock: but this is scarcely worth mentioning in
such an Accident. What a mercy not to be dangerously
cut or blinded by the broken Glass!
I bought not a single Book, nor indeed Paid out the Value of
half a Guinea for the decoration of my person. most of
the Articles I saw were much dearer than in London.
We left Paris on Friday last, & got to Calais
on Monday. We sailed from thence between 3 & 4 the next
Morning. The wind was tolerably fair at our first setting
out, but very soon Shifted, & we had a most
Stormy & fatiguing passage of 18 Hours, such as I think
I never passed before in my Whole Life. For I was
during the whole Time in a Sucession of fainting
Fits from the Sea Sickness, as it was merely violent
Reaching with very little of that Effect which gives
Relief to others. And only think of being suffocated
in Such a State in one of those close Cabins. Happily
my maid was tolerably free from Sickness, & her Care
& Tenderness gave me all the Comfort I was capable
of receiving. We landed at Dover about 10 at Night: &
the people of the Inn expressed the utmost Astonishment,
that it was possible for any packet to arrive in such
weather.
I shall certainly begin the medicine with which
the Goodness of the Queen has honoured me, as soon as
I am sufficiently recovered from the Effects of my harrassing
Voyage of which I still feel the Remains.
Adieu my dear. I know you will be glad to hear of
the Safe Return of your obliged & affectionate Friend
Elizabeth Carter
Be so good to make my very
respectful & affectionate compliments to dear Lady Charlotte Finch &
Mrs Feilding: I wrote a Letter from paris to Lady Charlotte which
I hope she received.
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 25
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 30 October 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, describing a brief trip to Paris to support the recently widowed Mr Pulteney [1729-1805, an extremely wealthy man, born William Johnstone, later 1st Baronet Pulteney], who was installing his daughter at the Abbaye de Penthemont, a sort of finishing school for elite young ladies. Carter describes the uniform worn by the ‘pensioners’ [students] of the establishment, the rather worldly Abbess in charge of it, and the head teacher. Of the latter, who claims to have forgotten her native German and become wholly French, Carter comments archly: ‘Tant pis pour Madame Taubenheim’. While out shopping for Miss Pulteney's friends, Carter's opinion was sought on every purchase, ‘though I honestly told her I understood just as well how to buy Harness for a Horse, as colifichets [knick-knacks] for a fine Lady’. Of Paris Carter only contrasts the ‘magnificent’ buildings with the ‘dangerously narrow’ streets, the cue for a description of surviving the overturning of a glass-panelled coach, luckily without serious injury. The voyage home in a storm was a prolonged ordeal of sea-sickness.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 October 30.
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: 25 July 2026
