Diplomatic Text
45[1]
Eastrey oct: 9. 1783
▼
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your two kind Letters. It grieved
me to find by the first that poor dear Lady
Wake's Solicitude for Sr William was again re
newed. I could not help regretting likewise in a
leʃsthe leʃser Evil of the Disappointment of a Scheme
so very pleasant to you both, as the Journey
into Yorkshire. you have met with several disap
pointments of the like kind this Summer, but
they are Compensated to you by a pleasure which
does not depend on the Fickleneʃs of a wavering
disposition, or the Uncertainty of human projects,
the Reflexion of having contributed to relieve
the Anxieties of your amiable Friend by the
Comfort of your Society. I rejoyce to find by
your last Account that Sr William is so much
mended. It does not seem very probable I
think that the Journey to Buxton will take
place so late in the year. But I hope he will
at least be prevailed on to go to Bath.
Many Thanks for your entertaining
Extract relating to Harold which was very enter
taining & with which I appeared very Considera
ble by communicating it to an ingenious Antiqua
rian in this place. But none of us can at all
make out the meaning of some part of the Latin
Epitaph. So I must defer the Solution of it till
I can consult some of my Antiquarians in London.
I came to this place on Monday, &
propose to return to Deal on Saturda to morrow.
I had been particularly unwell for about a
Fortnight before, but was better before I set
out. I have had some pleasant Excursions pro-
posed to me from in the Isle of Thanet by
the Vesey Family, & Lady Herries, but it
has not been in my power to profit by
them, though the Society was very tempting,
& I should besides have been pleased to
ramble over that part of the Country, with
which I am but little acquainted. I think
one might trace several interesting historical
vestiges in this first Establishment of our
Saxon Ancestors. If I live till next Summer
& am in a better Capacity, I have promised to
spend some days with a very old Friend, who
has at present a House in that neighbourhood.
I fear dear Ld & Lady dartrey's Spirits
must have suffered severely by the melancho
ly Situation of poor Mrs Dawson,[2] & the distreʃs
of her Family. For her self it is happy. to be
soon released from so painful a distemper:
& it must be a great Comfort to her that
she leaves her Children under the Care of
such an Uncle as Ld Dartrey.
I hope you will soon give me
an Account of your proceedings. If Sr. W. pursues
his Intention I hope you will accompany them.
London is at present I suppose rather solitary.
I am glad for your sake the weather is so cool.
-- did you see any Thing of another extraord
dinary phenomenon between 7 & 8 on Saturday
Evening last! I was walking Home, & on a
Sudden was surrounded by a fine vivid
bluish Light. I immediately looked up: but
the Street was so narrow I could see nothing
If It had been 2 minutes later I should have
reached my Home where the prospect is open,
& have enjoyed the whole proceʃs. My maids
came running to meet me full of this Appearance
The Light was so strong that it overpowered
their candle & occasioned their going out
to see what was the matter, when they
found the Sky coloured in the most beauti
ful manner: but they did not see any
Ball of fire: but heard something of a
hiʃsing noise.[3]
Adieu my dear. I am
most affectionately yours
E Carter
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Moved annotation with reference number from left margin, level with start of letter text.
2. Possibly Anne Dawson (née O'Brien), widow of Lord Dartrey's older brother Richard (d. 1782) and mother of 6 children, including Lucius and Thomas Vesey Dawson.
3. Possibly a consequence of a volcanic eruption in Iceland that lasted from June 1783 to February 1784 and produced serious climatic effects around the world; see the Wikipedia article.
4. This page is blank.
Normalised Text
Eastrey october 9. 1783
▼
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your two kind Letters. It grieved
me to find by the first that poor dear Lady
Wake's Solicitude for Sir William was again renewed
. I could not help regretting likewise
the lesser Evil of the Disappointment of a Scheme
so very pleasant to you both, as the Journey
into Yorkshire. you have met with several disappointments
of the like kind this Summer, but
they are Compensated to you by a pleasure which
does not depend on the Fickleness of a wavering
disposition, or the Uncertainty of human projects,
the Reflexion of having contributed to relieve
the Anxieties of your amiable Friend by the
Comfort of your Society. I rejoice to find by
your last Account that Sir William is so much
mended. It does not seem very probable I
think that the Journey to Buxton will take
place so late in the year. But I hope he will
at least be prevailed on to go to Bath.
Many Thanks for your entertaining
Extract relating to Harold which was very entertaining
& with which I appeared very Considerable
by communicating it to an ingenious Antiquarian
in this place. But none of us can at all
make out the meaning of some part of the Latin
Epitaph. So I must defer the Solution of it till
I can consult some of my Antiquarians in London.
I came to this place on Monday, &
propose to return to Deal to morrow.
I had been particularly unwell for about a
Fortnight before, but was better before I set
out. I have had some pleasant Excursions proposed
to me in the Isle of Thanet by
the Vesey Family, & Lady Herries, but it
has not been in my power to profit by
them, though the Society was very tempting,
& I should besides have been pleased to
ramble over that part of the Country, with
which I am but little acquainted. I think
one might trace several interesting historical
vestiges in this first Establishment of our
Saxon Ancestors. If I live till next Summer
& am in a better Capacity, I have promised to
spend some days with a very old Friend, who
has at present a House in that neighbourhood.
I fear dear Lord & Lady dartrey's Spirits
must have suffered severely by the melancholy
Situation of poor Mrs Dawson, & the distress
of her Family. For her self it is happy. to be
soon released from so painful a distemper:
& it must be a great Comfort to her that
she leaves her Children under the Care of
such an Uncle as Lord Dartrey.
I hope you will soon give me
an Account of your proceedings. If Sir William pursues
his Intention I hope you will accompany them.
London is at present I suppose rather solitary.
I am glad for your sake the weather is so cool.
-- did you see any Thing of another extraordinary
phenomenon between 7 & 8 on Saturday
Evening last! I was walking Home, & on a
Sudden was surrounded by a fine vivid
bluish Light. I immediately looked up: but
the Street was so narrow I could see nothing
If It had been 2 minutes later I should have
reached my Home where the prospect is open,
& have enjoyed the whole process. My maids
came running to meet me full of this Appearance
The Light was so strong that it overpowered
their candle & occasioned their going out
to see what was the matter, when they
found the Sky coloured in the most beautiful
manner: but they did not see any
Ball of fire: but heard something of a
hissing noise.
Adieu my dear. I am
most affectionately yours
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 45
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Eastry
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 9 October 1783
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, sympathising with her over such disappointments as the loss of her promised trip to Yorkshire. Carter thanks Hamilton for an entertaining extract about King Harold, which gained Carter credit with an antiquary friend. She was offered excursions to the Isle of Thanet but was unable to take up the offers. Carter discusses the imminent death of a Mrs Dawson [probably Anne Dawson (née O'Brien), widow of Lord Dartrey's older brother, Richard] and the good fortune of her children in having Lord Dartrey as their uncle. Finally she mentions another strange atmospheric event, a mysterious bright blue light she witnessed on the evening of 5 October.
Dated at Eastry.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton, 1783 October 9.
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: 2 October 2026
