Diplomatic Text
53
Deal, Augst 9. 1784
Indeed my dear Friend, I begun
to think it very long since I had heard
from you: but as I had the satisfaction
of finding from other Accounts, that you were
well, I waited quietly till it was conveni
ent to you to tell me so your self, without
once suspecting, that you had forgot me: Indeed
such Suspicions are equally unjust & unkind
without such a Conviction like what I am
very far from expecting ------ ever to experi
ence from you.
Many Thanks for your very
kind Information with Regard to the import
-ant Affair in which you are at present
Engaged. Your Determination of being guided
in your future plans, by what you find
most agreeable to those on whom your Happineʃs
must chiefly depend, is worthy of the good
Sense which you have discovered[1] through
the Whole of this Affair. A Father who acts
in so generous a manner as you describe,
is certainly entitled to the utmost Attention.
I cannot help wishing that it may be
agreeable to him that you should be fixed
within a Convenient Reach of those who
love you, & whom you love. But this world
does not admit of unallayed Felicity, &
if you are happy in the most eʃsential
points, your real Friends will rejoyce
for you, & be content with their own
Disappointment.
/ I rejoyce that our valuable
Friend Mrs Delany has recovered her In
disposition, & beg my very affectionate
Respects to her. Advanced as her Age is,
yet by the Bleʃsing of God on the great
Regularity of her Life, I hope she may
still continue to give a proof to the
World that it is poʃsible (with such prin
ciples as she poʃseʃses) to render old Age
not only respectable, but amiable & agreeable.
/ Be so good to present my Congratulations to
her on the approaching Connexion which is
so agreeable to the her Friends.[2] I hope the
Dʃs Dorw. of portland will return from Margate
in full Health & Spirits, & have a complete
Enjoyment of this Addition to the Happineʃs of
her Family.
I have begun the Veillees du Chateau,[3]
& so far as I have proceeded am charmed with
the work, in which I have not yet found any
of the Exceptions, which might reasonably be
made to some of ------ the former publications
of Mde. Genlis,[4] & which hurt one the more,
as her moral is in most points so very
Excellent.
I share in the pleasure, which you
must feel on finding your Choice universally
approved by your Relations & Friends. It is[5]
upon all Occasions, & particularly on one of such
high Importance, to be poʃseʃsed of such a
Testimony to the propriety of one's Conduct.
Poor Lady Wake has Scarcely ever
Time to recover from one Fatigue of Nursing
before she is engaged in another. Be so good
when you write, to present my Love & best
Wishes to her. I am sorry for her Disappoint
ment in the Governeʃs. A proper person in this
Capacity might have helped to relieve the
Burthen of her domestic Cares. Poor Soul I
hope she has not too much set her Heart on
going into Yorkshire. But one would suppose
that long Experience must have prevented her
placing any Reliance upon Schemes which Sr
Wm's uncertainty has so often frustrated.
Our Weather here is sadly unfa
vourable to relaxed Nerves, & aching Heads. I
Comfort my self with the Hope of a dry, bright
Autumn. By what Name the present Season is to
be called is hard to gueʃs. However, God be thanked
there is great Appearance of a plentiful Harvest.
Adieu my dear Friend. ever most
affectionately your's. E.Carter.
I will deliver your Meʃsage to Mrs Iremonger when I
write. -- I trouble you with a Letter for Lady Herries.
Sr Robert Herries lives almost opposite to St James's
Place, so your Servant may leave it on your walk to Mrs delany
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. A late use of discover in the sense ‘display, exhibit’ (OED s.v. v., I.5.a. Accessed 23-08-2026).
2. Possibly the forthcoming marriage of Sophia Thynne to George Ashburnham, Viscount St Asaph, even though the connection pertains more directly to the Dowager Duchess (grandmother of the bride) than to Mrs Delany.
3. Félicité de Genlis, Les Veillées du château, ou, Cours de morale à l'usage des enfants (Paris, 1784).
4. On possible interpretations of the abbreviation Mde., see MS Eng 1778 14 p.1.
5. An adjective such as valuable, important, gratifying, etc. seems to be missing here.
Normalised Text
Deal, August 9. 1784
Indeed my dear Friend, I began
to think it very long since I had heard
from you: but as I had the satisfaction
of finding from other Accounts, that you were
well, I waited quietly till it was convenient
to you to tell me so your self, without
once suspecting, that you had forgotten me: Indeed
such Suspicions are equally unjust & unkind
without a Conviction like what I am
very far from expecting ever to experience
from you.
Many Thanks for your very
kind Information with Regard to the important
Affair in which you are at present
Engaged. Your Determination of being guided
in your future plans, by what you find
most agreeable to those on whom your Happiness
must chiefly depend, is worthy of the good
Sense which you have discovered through
the Whole of this Affair. A Father who acts
in so generous a manner as you describe,
is certainly entitled to the utmost Attention.
I cannot help wishing that it may be
agreeable to him that you should be fixed
within a Convenient Reach of those who
love you, & whom you love. But this world
does not admit of unallayed Felicity, &
if you are happy in the most essential
points, your real Friends will rejoice
for you, & be content with their own
Disappointment.
I rejoice that our valuable
Friend Mrs Delany has recovered her Indisposition
, & beg my very affectionate
Respects to her. Advanced as her Age is,
yet by the Blessing of God on the great
Regularity of her Life, I hope she may
still continue to give a proof to the
World that it is possible (with such principles
as she possesses) to render old Age
not only respectable, but amiable & agreeable.
Be so good to present my Congratulations to
her on the approaching Connexion which is
so agreeable to her Friends. I hope the
Duchess Dowager of portland will return from Margate
in full Health & Spirits, & have a complete
Enjoyment of this Addition to the Happiness of
her Family.
I have begun the Veillees du Chateau,
& so far as I have proceeded am charmed with
the work, in which I have not yet found any
of the Exceptions, which might reasonably be
made to some of the former publications
of Madame Genlis, & which hurt one the more,
as her moral is in most points so very
Excellent.
I share in the pleasure, which you
must feel on finding your Choice universally
approved by your Relations & Friends. It is
upon all Occasions, & particularly on one of such
high Importance, to be possessed of such a
Testimony to the propriety of one's Conduct.
Poor Lady Wake has Scarcely ever
Time to recover from one Fatigue of Nursing
before she is engaged in another. Be so good
when you write, to present my Love & best
Wishes to her. I am sorry for her Disappointment
in the Governess. A proper person in this
Capacity might have helped to relieve the
Burthen of her domestic Cares. Poor Soul I
hope she has not too much set her Heart on
going into Yorkshire. But one would suppose
that long Experience must have prevented her
placing any Reliance upon Schemes which Sir
William's uncertainty has so often frustrated.
Our Weather here is sadly unfavourable
to relaxed Nerves, & aching Heads. I
Comfort my self with the Hope of a dry, bright
Autumn. By what Name the present Season is to
be called is hard to guess. However, God be thanked
there is great Appearance of a plentiful Harvest.
Adieu my dear Friend. ever most
affectionately your's. Elizabeth Carter.
I will deliver your Message to Mrs Iremonger when I
write. -- I trouble you with a Letter for Lady Herries.
Sir Robert Herries lives almost opposite to St James's
Place, so your Servant may leave it on your walk to Mrs delany
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 53
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 9 August 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter was content to wait to hear from Hamilton, not worrying that she might have been forgotten. She agrees that the wishes of Hamilton's future father-in-law rather than of her friends should guide the choice of abode. She ‘share[s] in the pleasure, which you must feel on finding your Choice [of husband] universally approved by your Relations & Friends’. On other topics, she rejoices in the news of Mary Delany's recovery and wishes the same for the Dowager Duchess of Portland, currently in Margate. She is reading Madame de Genlis's Les Veillées du château and approves of it so far. She laments the troubles of Lady Wake, nursing yet another child, being disappointed in a governess, missing a trip to Yorkshire through her husband's capriciousness. Finally, she will trouble Hamilton with a letter to Lady Herries for her servant to deliver on their way to Mrs Delany.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1784 August 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: 3 October 2026
