Diplomatic Text
57
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your kind Letter, & comfort
-able Information of the State of Lady
Wake's Family. When you write, I beg you
will be so good to aʃsure her of my affecti
onate Congratulations.
I rejoyce with you on the
Amendment of Mr Dickenson's Health. He
will find a physician, when he comes to
Town, who I hope will complete his Recovery.[1].
What a strange Meʃsage, that
which you mention from Ld P. to his Lady,
not so strange however as one he sent her
when he had gone off with Miʃs ——,[2] in which
he desired her to join the Party, & to bring
her Guitar with her. Surely the Wretch
must be mad.
/ I hope good dear Mrs delany
has
has perfectly recovered her Indisposition. I
beg to be affectionately remembered to her.
The Dʃs of Portland I fear must have suf
fered from the Rheumatism, in this most
trying Weather. I scarcely remember such
a day of Wind & Rain, as yesterday. My
poor little Tenement was overflowed -- I
beg my respectfull Compliments to her Grace.
Did you know Ly. Drogheda?
I have lately heard the melancholy Account
of her Death. She was one of the most re-
spectable, & amiable Characters I ever knew
& her whole Thoughts seemed entirely oc
cupied by her Duties. She did not find
the Reward of her Virtues in this world:
but she was happily guided by those
principles which ensured it, in a better.
She has left several daughters to lament
the Loʃs of the Instructions & Examples
of so excellent a mother.
Miʃs More has told me
that the History of the poor Harmonist
whose Heaven born Talents are deprest by
a Life of the lowest drudgery. I entirely agree
with you, that something should be done
for her, as I wrote my Thoughts on that
Subject to Miʃs More I think it could not
be impracticable to raise such a Subscript
-ion as might Ease her from the most
Slavish part of her Employment: & by
leaving her only the Superintendency
might allow her greater Leisure
for the Cultivation of a mind,
which so well deserves to be
cultivated. You see I do not wish
her out of her present Busineʃs, but only
so far to leʃsen the fatiguing part of
it, as to render it leʃs anxious & painful.
The Pennington Family has been
with me near a Fortnight, & I hope will
Stay till the End of the Month, a month
that recalls many a mournful Idea to my
Mind. Adieu my dear Friend. Ever most
affectionately your's
ECarter
Deal nov: 13. 1784[3]
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The reference to London confirms that this is Hamilton's fiancé and not his father; cf. MS Eng 1778 56 p.2 note.
2. Miss Catherine (Kitty) Hunter, with whom Lord Pembroke had eloped in 1762.
3. The dateline appears to the left of the signature.
4. This page is blank.
Normalised Text
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your kind Letter, & comfortable
Information of the State of Lady
Wake's Family. When you write, I beg you
will be so good to assure her of my affectionate
Congratulations.
I rejoice with you on the
Amendment of Mr Dickenson's Health. He
will find a physician, when he comes to
Town, who I hope will complete his Recovery..
What a strange Message, that
which you mention from Lord Pembroke to his Lady,
not so strange however as one he sent her
when he had gone off with Miss Hunter, in which
he desired her to join the Party, & to bring
her Guitar with her. Surely the Wretch
must be mad.
I hope good dear Mrs delany
has perfectly recovered her Indisposition. I
beg to be affectionately remembered to her.
The Duchess of Portland I fear must have suffered
from the Rheumatism, in this most
trying Weather. I scarcely remember such
a day of Wind & Rain, as yesterday. My
poor little Tenement was overflowed -- I
beg my respectful Compliments to her Grace.
Did you know Lady Drogheda?
I have lately heard the melancholy Account
of her Death. She was one of the most respectable
, & amiable Characters I ever knew
& her whole Thoughts seemed entirely occupied
by her Duties. She did not find
the Reward of her Virtues in this world:
but she was happily guided by those
principles which ensured it, in a better.
She has left several daughters to lament
the Loss of the Instructions & Examples
of so excellent a mother.
Miss More has told me
the History of the poor Harmonist
whose Heaven born Talents are depressed by
a Life of the lowest drudgery. I entirely agree
with you, that something should be done
for her, as I wrote my Thoughts on that
Subject to Miss More I think it could not
be impracticable to raise such a Subscription
as might Ease her from the most
Slavish part of her Employment: & by
leaving her only the Superintendency
might allow her greater Leisure
for the Cultivation of a mind,
which so well deserves to be
cultivated. You see I do not wish
her out of her present Business, but only
so far to lessen the fatiguing part of
it, as to render it less anxious & painful.
The Pennington Family has been
with me near a Fortnight, & I hope will
Stay till the End of the Month, a month
that recalls many a mournful Idea to my
Mind. Adieu my dear Friend. Ever most
affectionately your's
Elizabeth Carter
Deal november 13. 1784
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 57
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Bulstrode, near Gerrards Cross (certainty: high)
Date sent: 13 November 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter responds to good news concerning Lady Wake's family and John Dickenson's health, and to the strange messages of Lord Pembroke to his wife. She discusses the death of Lady Drogheda. Hannah More has told her of ‘the poor Harmonist’ [Ann Yearsley, often known as ‘the Bristol Milkwoman’], and Carter suggests a subscription that would provide enough to lessen the drudgery without taking her ‘out of her present Business’. Carter also mentions her visitors, the Penningtons, and the flooding of her ‘tenement’ by a rainstorm.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1784 November 13.
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: David Denison (submitted 16 September 2026)
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: 4 October 2026
