Diplomatic Text
[1] [2]
49
1784
Here I am my dear Friend
safely arrived I thank God, & glad to have
escaped from that disagreeable & uncomforta
ble Hurry which attends the few last days
which one spends in Town. I long to
know how you go on: & how your Confe-
rence ended. I hope your kind & generous
Undertaking of a very painful Task, may
have been an Instrument in the Hand of
Providence of saving from Ruin one, whose
very Innocence probably prevented her
seeing the precipice to the Edge of which
She was insensibly drawing.[3]
I hope you have no more
Trouble from your Inamorato, & that your
Friends do not teize you by urging so
unreasonable a proposal. you acted like
your self in putting an immediate Check to
so disproportionate an Alliance. Indeed it would
have been a strange Inconsistency that after
finding your Health & Spirits unequal
to the Fatigues of a Situation, where your
Chains were at least elegantly formed of
bright Silver, you should think of suffering
your self to be manacled by Fetters of
old rusty Iron.[4]
Be so good to make my
Compliments to Miʃs Clarkes, & tell Miʃs A.
Clarke that my Cups China arrived very
Safely, & that I look upon it with affecti
onate Gratitude as a Testimony of her
Kindneʃs.[5]
I had a very good kind of a
dull Journey, for every Journey is good
When one gets Safely to the End of it, as
I thank God I did. The weather was
very cold, the Sky very gloomy, & I very
Sleepy the whole Way, & extremely tired
when I got Home. My Head has ached
almost continually ever since, but I hope
will get better, when I am a little out of
the Bustle of settling my self in the world.
pray let me hear from you soon. my
Love to dear Mrs Vesey & Mrs Handcock.
Adieu my dear. yours most affectionately
ECarter
Deal June 6th- 1784
[6]
To
Miʃs Hamilton
Clarges Street[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This letter reached Hamilton via Dorothy Blosset, to whom it was enclosed in a frank; see HAM/2/10 p.129.
2. Trace of a seal in blue wax in left margin.
3. Probably a reference to Hamilton's young friend Anne Thursby. ‘I wrote a long serious letter to Miſs Thursby of Abington -- I take upon me to advise her as I feel much interested abt. her for her late Mothers sake’ (HAM/2/8 p.109, 16 March 1784); cf. also HAM/2/9 p.26, HAM/2/10 p.122. Hamilton seems to have confided more about Thursby to Carter than to her diary, but some years later, on 6 October 1787, Charlotte Gunning makes things more explicit: ‘I wish I could tell you anything pleasant of your Friend Miſs Thursby, not that I know or believe anything eſsentially blam[able] in her Conduct -- I am sure she is a very good Girl, as she is a very sensible one, but she is in a very bad style & way & will certainly get into a scrape -- i. e. make a very foolish & bad match’ (HAM/1/15/1/24 p.3).
4. A reference to the proposal of marriage from Mr Bourdieu, which Hamilton discussed with Carter on 2 June (HAM/2/10 p.112 and p.114).
5. ‘A Maria [...] look'd over some fine old China she had & selected two large Chocolate Cups & Saucers for a present for Mrs. Carter -- having heard her say she was fond of old China’ (HAM/2/10 pp.108-9, 31 May 1784).
6. Small hole on right where seal torn.
7. The direction is written vertically.
Normalised Text
Here I am my dear Friend
safely arrived I thank God, & glad to have
escaped from that disagreeable & uncomfortable
Hurry which attends the few last days
which one spends in Town. I long to
know how you go on: & how your Conference
ended. I hope your kind & generous
Undertaking of a very painful Task, may
have been an Instrument in the Hand of
Providence of saving from Ruin one, whose
very Innocence probably prevented her
seeing the precipice to the Edge of which
She was insensibly drawing.
I hope you have no more
Trouble from your Inamorato, & that your
Friends do not tease you by urging so
unreasonable a proposal. you acted like
your self in putting an immediate Check to
so disproportionate an Alliance. Indeed it would
have been a strange Inconsistency that after
finding your Health & Spirits unequal
to the Fatigues of a Situation, where your
Chains were at least elegantly formed of
bright Silver, you should think of suffering
your self to be manacled by Fetters of
old rusty Iron.
Be so good to make my
Compliments to Miss Clarkes, & tell Miss Anna
Clarke that my China arrived very
Safely, & that I look upon it with affectionate
Gratitude as a Testimony of her
Kindness.
I had a very good kind of a
dull Journey, for every Journey is good
When one gets Safely to the End of it, as
I thank God I did. The weather was
very cold, the Sky very gloomy, & I very
Sleepy the whole Way, & extremely tired
when I got Home. My Head has ached
almost continually ever since, but I hope
will get better, when I am a little out of
the Bustle of settling my self in the world.
pray let me hear from you soon. my
Love to dear Mrs Vesey & Mrs Handcock.
Adieu my dear. yours most affectionately
Elizabeth Carter
Deal June 6th- 1784
To
Miss Hamilton
Clarges Street
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 49
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 6 June 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter has got home to Deal, safe but tired. The gift of china from Anna Maria Clarke has arrived safely as well. Carter commends both good advice Hamilton has given to a girl in danger of being ruined [probably Miss Thursby] and Hamilton's rejection of a proposal of marriage [from Mr Bourdieu].
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1784 June 6.
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
