Diplomatic Text
28
Deal, 11th.. Novbr. 1782
Though I am but just recover
ing from a bad Fit of the Head ach, & have
been answering a Letter from Mrs Feilding, I
cannot forbear thanking you by the first
post, my dear Friend for your very kind
Attention, in the Account you were so good
to send me. I was so unlucky to read in
a News paper that Mr F. was mortally
wounded, & you will easily gueʃs what I
must have felt: but happily there were
some private Letters in this place, that
Contradicted this dreadful Account soon after
I had read it
The Account you give me
of your Self has sunk my Spirits. Pray my
dear, do not take any sudden Resolution. I
hope to be in Town the Beginning of
January, & we will talk it all over. In such
weak nerves & delicate Health as yours, there will
occasionally be such Sinkings, as may for the
setmoment set every object in the most uncomforta
ble View, which at another Time may carry a
very different Appearance. When you can
Write without pain or difficulty, I will
expect the Explanation, you promise me.
En attendant, be aʃsured of my sincerest
wishes for your Happineʃs, & for your
being directed to Whatever is best cal
culated to procure it.
I am tolerably well recovered
from the Fatigues of my late Expedition.
I have begun the pills which the Queen had
the Goodneʃs to send me, & will certainly
persevere in giving them a fair Tryal.
Adieu my dear Ever most
faithfully & affectionately yours
E Carter
Be so good as to let Mrs Feilding have the
inclosed. -- Remember you will have leʃs Fatigue
when you come to Town than at wr..
[1]
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Though I am but just recovering
from a bad Fit of the Head ache, & have
been answering a Letter from Mrs Feilding, I
cannot forbear thanking you by the first
post, my dear Friend for your very kind
Attention, in the Account you were so good
to send me. I was so unlucky to read in
a News paper that Mr Feilding was mortally
wounded, & you will easily guess what I
must have felt: but happily there were
some private Letters in this place, that
Contradicted this dreadful Account soon after
I had read it
The Account you give me
of your Self has sunk my Spirits. Pray my
dear, do not take any sudden Resolution. I
hope to be in Town the Beginning of
January, & we will talk it all over. In such
weak nerves & delicate Health as yours, there will
occasionally be such Sinkings, as may for the
moment set every object in the most uncomfortable
View, which at another Time may carry a
very different Appearance. When you can
Write without pain or difficulty, I will
expect the Explanation, you promise me.
En attendant, be assured of my sincerest
wishes for your Happiness, & for your
being directed to Whatever is best calculated
to procure it.
I am tolerably well recovered
from the Fatigues of my late Expedition.
I have begun the pills which the Queen had
the Goodness to send me, & will certainly
persevere in giving them a fair Trial.
Adieu my dear Ever most
faithfully & affectionately yours
Elizabeth Carter
Be so good as to let Mrs Feilding have the
enclosed. -- Remember you will have less Fatigue
when you come to Town than at 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 28
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 11 November 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, worrying over Hamilton's low spirits [Hamilton has perhaps hinted that she might resign her Court post], warning her against hasty decisions but offering support in whatever is most likely to ensure Hamilton's happiness.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 November 11.
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: 1 August 2026
