Diplomatic Text
38
1783
What strange Brouillerie[1] have
You made in your Head my dear Friend, in
Respect of my Kin! My Brother in Law
dr Douglas is a physician in Town, conse-
quently cannot be at all concerned in the Affair
you mention I believe it was my younger
Brother whom I named to you. He is a
Clergyman; & Rector of Little Wittenham four milesnear
from Wallingford in Berkshire. He has no Pupils:
but has Educated his own Son whom he
Proposes to send to Oxford next Summer.
He told me about 2 Years ago, that as he
Educated his own Children, it would be but
little additional Trouble to him to take a
Pupil or 2, which as he has a very large
Family might be of some Use to him in
------ increasing his Income. Whether
He is of the same opinion now I cannot tell
for as I never happened to hear of any who I thought
might suit him, I have never mentioned the
Subject to him since. His Addreʃs is -- the
Revd Mr Carter, Wallingford, Berks.
It is impoʃsible for me to judge how
far he might answer Mr Hamilton's
purpose as by what you say the young
Gentleman is particularly circumstanced.
My Brother I will venture to say is a
very worthy man, & his family is
kept in exceeding good order. I do not
think it would be right for either party
to enter into any negotiation unleʃs
Mr Hamilton was to go to --- Wittenham
& talk with my Brother himself & See
his House, manner of Living &c.
I was very sorry to see in the
Papers yesterday, the Death of Mr Clayton
I heard the Report you mention two or
3 Years ago, but did not believe it. I
grieve to find it is revived & that you think
there is any Reason to give it Credit. It
will be sad indeed if poor Lady Louisa
has this Addition to her Affliction.
I return you your Note for which I
am obliged to you. Miʃs Purdy will be pleased
to receive your Compliments. She told me
lately that she promised her self great
pleasure in renewing her Acquaintance with
you next Winter. I believe the more you
converse with her, the more agreeable you will
find her.
I rejoyce in the Hope you give
me that we shall keep the Vesey Family in
England. Indeed Mr Veseys Health is in
------ a State that --- seems very little suited to
undertake such an expedition by land &
Sea.
As I know you are a Collector of
Manuscripts I inclose one which I think
you will find very affecting. But I must
tell you a little History that belongs to it.
About 3 years ago a person who had the man
ners, & as far as could be discovered by the Re
mains, the dreʃs of a Gentleman, Came to an
Alehouse at Farningham in Kent, & asked for a
Lodging in a particular Room where he said
he had slept many Years ago. The people said
it was not fit for him, but he prefer'd it
to any other. He paid his Reckoning at Night
for What he had eat &c, & so he did the
Second Night. As he was not up the next
Morning when it was very late, the people of
the House went into his Room & found him
dead. On searching his pockets, nothing was
found in them but 2 pence, & this paper.
The Ale House keeper consigned him to the pa
-rish officers to bury, & as no Advertisement
nor Inquiry was made about him, it is utter
ly unknown who this poor Creature was
pray send it me back, as I have no Copy.[2] as
my Head achs too much to transcribe it.
I hope Sr W. Wake will not put
Off a Journey which is thought so neceʃsary to
his Health. Adieu. Yours most affectionately
ECarter
deal July 12. 1783
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A rare French word carrying the sense ‘disorder, confusion’.
2. Hamilton does seem to have copied out from Carter's manuscript the poem allegedly found with ‘this poor Creature’: see MS Eng 1778 37a.
Normalised Text
What strange Brouillerie have
You made in your Head my dear Friend, in
Respect of my Kin! My Brother in Law
dr Douglas is a physician in Town, consequently
cannot be at all concerned in the Affair
you mention I believe it was my younger
Brother whom I named to you. He is a
Clergyman; & Rector of Little Wittenham four miles
from Wallingford in Berkshire. He has no Pupils:
but has Educated his own Son whom he
Proposes to send to Oxford next Summer.
He told me about 2 Years ago, that as he
Educated his own Children, it would be but
little additional Trouble to him to take a
Pupil or 2, which as he has a very large
Family might be of some Use to him in
------ increasing his Income. Whether
He is of the same opinion now I cannot tell
for as I never happened to hear of any who I thought
might suit him, I have never mentioned the
Subject to him since. His Address is -- the
Reverend Mr Carter, Wallingford, Berkshire.
It is impossible for me to judge how
far he might answer Mr Hamilton's
purpose as by what you say the young
Gentleman is particularly circumstanced.
My Brother I will venture to say is a
very worthy man, & his family is
kept in exceeding good order. I do not
think it would be right for either party
to enter into any negotiation unless
Mr Hamilton was to go to Wittenham
& talk with my Brother himself & See
his House, manner of Living &c.
I was very sorry to see in the
Papers yesterday, the Death of Mr Clayton
I heard the Report you mention two or
3 Years ago, but did not believe it. I
grieve to find it is revived & that you think
there is any Reason to give it Credit. It
will be sad indeed if poor Lady Louisa
has this Addition to her Affliction.
I return you your Note for which I
am obliged to you. Miss Purdy will be pleased
to receive your Compliments. She told me
lately that she promised her self great
pleasure in renewing her Acquaintance with
you next Winter. I believe the more you
converse with her, the more agreeable you will
find her.
I rejoice in the Hope you give
me that we shall keep the Vesey Family in
England. Indeed Mr Veseys Health is in
------ a State that seems very little suited to
undertake such an expedition by land &
Sea.
As I know you are a Collector of
Manuscripts I enclose one which I think
you will find very affecting. But I must
tell you a little History that belongs to it.
About 3 years ago a person who had the manners
, & as far as could be discovered by the Remains
, the dress of a Gentleman, Came to an
Alehouse at Farningham in Kent, & asked for a
Lodging in a particular Room where he said
he had slept many Years ago. The people said
it was not fit for him, but he preferred it
to any other. He paid his Reckoning at Night
for What he had eaten &c, & so he did the
Second Night. As he was not up the next
Morning when it was very late, the people of
the House went into his Room & found him
dead. On searching his pockets, nothing was
found in them but 2 pence, & this paper.
The Ale House keeper consigned him to the parish
officers to bury, & as no Advertisement
nor Inquiry was made about him, it is utterly
unknown who this poor Creature was
pray send it me back, as I have no Copy. as
my Head aches too much to transcribe it.
I hope Sir William Wake will not put
Off a Journey which is thought so necessary to
his Health. Adieu. Yours most affectionately
Elizabeth Carter
deal July 12. 1783
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 38
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 12 July 1783
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, suggesting that her younger [half-]brother [the clergyman Henry Carter (1739-1813)], might be a suitable tutor for Mr (Frederick) Hamilton's son [Robert Hamilton (c.1770-1809)]. Also discussed are the death of Mr William Clayton, Miss Purdy's hopes for renewed acquaintance with Hamilton, and the Veseys' possible travels. The letter concludes with a curious anecdote attached to a manuscript that Carter lends Hamilton; Hamilton's copy of the manuscript poem is MS Eng 1778 37a.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1783 July 12.
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 September 2026
