Diplomatic Text
[1]
52
Eastrey July 3d. 1784
My being absent when your
Letter arrived, prevented me, my dear Friend
from thanking you for it immediately. Indeed
I feel my self extremely obliged to you, for your
Early communication of an Event, which my
tender Concern for your Happineʃs renders so
interesting to me. As I am persuaded it was
Your prudence alone, which prevented your
Entering before into this Engagement, which al-
ways appeared to me the only one that had
the Choice of your Heart, I make no Doubt
but that every reasonable Obstacle is removed.
An Affection regulated as your's has been, by
the Rules of good Sense & propriety, affords a
much fairer prospect of Happineʃs, than a
wild romantic Indulgence of that mad paʃsion,
which so often flies blindfold over every Objection
& hurries it's poor rash Votaries almost always
into wretched difficulties, & too often into
Ruin. I am delighted with the Account,
which you give of Mr Dickenson's principles
& Character, & depend on your promise of
introducing me to his Acquaintance.
I have seen Mrs J. Hunters
Indian Song[2] & heard it sung by her & her
Sister Miʃs Hume.[3] They are both Friends of
Mrs Douglas,[4] & I wonder she has never
mentioned to me those that beautiful Elegy
which struck me so much, that I could not
help treasuring it up in my memory. How
Comes it to paʃs that you never showed it
to me?
I have been ever since Tuesday at
this place, happy in the Society of my Sister
& her Family: but with little Enjoyment of
the Country, as the Weather has been some
part of the Time rainy, & every part of
it very cold & unsummerlike. I propose
returning to deal to night. There has been
more Sunshine this morning than I have
seen for many Days, so I hope there is a
Chance of one's not being frozen in the
Dog Days.
I rejoyce that Miʃs A. Clarke
is so well recovered & beg to be kindly
remembered to her when you write. Though
her generous Friendship will very affectionate
ly Share in your Happineʃs, I cannot help
pitying what she must unavoidably feel
in being Separated from you.
I am obliged to You for naming
our Friends. Mrs Vesey is a sad idle Corres-
pondent, & Seldom gives me any Account of
her self.
Adieu my dear. God bleʃs & direct
you in your present: & every other important
Undertaking! I am your most obliged &
affectionate
ECarter.
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Extracts from this letter are printed in Anson & Anson (1925: 206-7).
2. Also known as The Death Song or Indian Death Song.
3. Probably Mary Home (1748- ), if still unmarried, otherwise Elizabeth Home (1754- ); more research needed. See Caroline Grigson (2009), The life and poems of Anne Hunter: Haydn's tuneful voice (Liverpool U.P.), p.17.
4. The first wife of Carter's brother-in-law and doctor, Andrew Douglas.
5. This page is blank.
Normalised Text
Eastrey July 3d. 1784
My being absent when your
Letter arrived, prevented me, my dear Friend
from thanking you for it immediately. Indeed
I feel my self extremely obliged to you, for your
Early communication of an Event, which my
tender Concern for your Happiness renders so
interesting to me. As I am persuaded it was
Your prudence alone, which prevented your
Entering before into this Engagement, which always
appeared to me the only one that had
the Choice of your Heart, I make no Doubt
but that every reasonable Obstacle is removed.
An Affection regulated as your's has been, by
the Rules of good Sense & propriety, affords a
much fairer prospect of Happiness, than a
wild romantic Indulgence of that mad passion,
which so often flies blindfold over every Objection
& hurries it's poor rash Votaries almost always
into wretched difficulties, & too often into
Ruin. I am delighted with the Account,
which you give of Mr Dickenson's principles
& Character, & depend on your promise of
introducing me to his Acquaintance.
I have seen Mrs John Hunters
Indian Song & heard it sung by her & her
Sister Miss Hume. They are both Friends of
Mrs Douglas, & I wonder she has never
mentioned to me that beautiful Elegy
which struck me so much, that I could not
help treasuring it up in my memory. How
Comes it to pass that you never showed it
to me?
I have been ever since Tuesday at
this place, happy in the Society of my Sister
& her Family: but with little Enjoyment of
the Country, as the Weather has been some
part of the Time rainy, & every part of
it very cold & unsummerlike. I propose
returning to deal to night. There has been
more Sunshine this morning than I have
seen for many Days, so I hope there is a
Chance of one's not being frozen in the
Dog Days.
I rejoice that Miss Anna Clarke
is so well recovered & beg to be kindly
remembered to her when you write. Though
her generous Friendship will very affectionately
Share in your Happiness, I cannot help
pitying what she must unavoidably feel
in being Separated from you.
I am obliged to You for naming
our Friends. Mrs Vesey is a sad idle Correspondent
, & Seldom gives me any Account of
her self.
Adieu my dear. God bless & direct
you in your present: & every other important
Undertaking! I am your most obliged &
affectionate
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 52
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 3 July 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter is grateful for the early communication of Hamilton's engagement to John Dickenson and celebrates their prospects of happiness, praising prudence over flighty infatuation. In the remainder of the letter, Carter writes on Anne Hunter's Indian [Death] Song, reports staying with the Penningtons, where the weather has been cold and wet, and castigates Mrs Vesey as ‘a sad idle Correspondent’.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton, 1784 July 3.
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: 30 September 2026
