Diplomatic Text
60
1785
Indeed my dear Friend, I was not so
unreasonable to impute your Silence to any ne-
glect or unkindneʃs, but to it's true cause, that
you would naturally be very much engaged.
/ It was but a few Hours before I received
your Letter that I read in the papers the melan
choly Account from Bullstrode,[1] at which my Spirits
sunk in a manner not to be described, & my Thoughts
[w]ere immediately fixed on dear good Mrs Delany.
[I] longed for some Intelligence about her, & knew
not, as I could not tell where you were, of whom to
Enquire: so that your Letter was a most seasona
ble[2] Relief by bringing me as good an Account
of her as I could Expect to hear, that this heavy
Affliction had not injured her Health. Be so
good to aʃsure her of my most sincere partici
pation of her Misfortune, & my most cordial
wishes & prayers, that it may please God to
afford her every Consolation under it. of this
indeed her piety gives me the fullest Hopes, for
the divine Aʃsistance is never witheld from
over
those who rely upon it, for their support. -- I had
never heard that the good Dʃs had been ill. One
had always been disposed to pity her, from the
Apprehension that Mrs Delany would go first. provi
dence has ordered it otherwise: & she will have
some Comfort in reflecting, that her Friend has
escaped that Grief of Separation, which she her
self feels. -- I condole with you likewise on
this Event, to whom the Friendship of the
Dʃs was so Valuable an Acquisition.
You need not I think have made
any great Scruple of calling —— a wretch,[3] for
Surely there is no Reason why a person
being gone out of the world, should exempt
him from that Censure, which ought to be
past on a Conduct indisputably wrong. It is
not for us to presume to anticipate the Sen
tence of our Supreme Judge, who alone knows
Every Circumstance of the Case: but Actions,
which, so far as we have the power of discern
ment, appear in the common Estimation of all
Mankind, to be bad, ought to be treated by
us as such with Abhorrence. I scarce ever
met with any Thing more universally reprobated
than that detestable Will.[4] You rejoyce me by the
Intelligence that our poor dear injured Friend
appears to be mended in her Health & Spirits.
The only way to set her mind at Ease, is not
by thinking upon the Subject, but by endeavouring
as far as poʃsible to forget both that, & the unjust &
ungrateful Author of her Sufferings.
I beg to be kindly remember'd to
Mr Dickenson, & Miʃs A Clarke. I
would not omit writing to Day
though I can scarcely hold a pen. My
Constitution is such a play-Thing
of the Elements, that I believe I am much
the Worse to Day for a Thunder Shower.
Adieu my dear Friend. I am, with every
kind wish, your obliged &
affectionate
ECarter
Deal July 22. 1785
[5]
To
Mrs Dickenson
Clarges Street
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The Dowager Duchess of Portland had died on 17 July 1785.
2. The sense here is ‘opportune’ (OED s.v. seasonable adj., 1.a. Accessed 18-09-2026).
3. As early as May 1784, Hamilton observed ‘ye. antipathy Mrs. Carter & Mr Vesey seemed to have to-wards each other’ (see the journal entry in DDX 274/18 p.113).
4. Agmondesham Vesey had died on 3 June 1785. ‘His widow and her companion, Miss Handcock, were further distressed to find that neither was mentioned in his will. [...] An added insult was the report that Vesey had left £1000 to his mistress’ (ODNB entry for Elizabeth Vesey). Indignation is also expressed by Hester Chapone (see LWL Mss Vol. 75(85) p.3), while Hannah More reports Horace Walpole's views on ‘the treatment our dear Mrs. Vesey had met with from her abominable husband’ (see MS Eng 1778 168 pp.2-3). Lady Herries looks for a house for the impoverished widow (see HAM/1/17/48 p.2).
5. The start of two lines of text from p.2 is visible through the hole created by tearing of the wafer.
Normalised Text
Indeed my dear Friend, I was not so
unreasonable to impute your Silence to any neglect
or unkindness, but to it's true cause, that
you would naturally be very much engaged.
It was but a few Hours before I received
your Letter that I read in the papers the melancholy
Account from Bullstrode, at which my Spirits
sank in a manner not to be described, & my Thoughts
were immediately fixed on dear good Mrs Delany.
I longed for some Intelligence about her, & knew
not, as I could not tell where you were, of whom to
Enquire: so that your Letter was a most seasonable
Relief by bringing me as good an Account
of her as I could Expect to hear, that this heavy
Affliction had not injured her Health. Be so
good to assure her of my most sincere participation
of her Misfortune, & my most cordial
wishes & prayers, that it may please God to
afford her every Consolation under it. of this
indeed her piety gives me the fullest Hopes, for
the divine Assistance is never withheld from
those who rely upon it, for their support. -- I had
never heard that the good Duchess had been ill. One
had always been disposed to pity her, from the
Apprehension that Mrs Delany would go first. providence
has ordered it otherwise: & she will have
some Comfort in reflecting, that her Friend has
escaped that Grief of Separation, which she her
self feels. -- I condole with you likewise on
this Event, to whom the Friendship of the
Duchess was so Valuable an Acquisition.
You need not I think have made
any great Scruple of calling Mr Vesey a wretch, for
Surely there is no Reason why a person
being gone out of the world, should exempt
him from that Censure, which ought to be
passed on a Conduct indisputably wrong. It is
not for us to presume to anticipate the Sentence
of our Supreme Judge, who alone knows
Every Circumstance of the Case: but Actions,
which, so far as we have the power of discernment
, appear in the common Estimation of all
Mankind, to be bad, ought to be treated by
us as such with Abhorrence. I scarce ever
met with any Thing more universally reprobated
than that detestable Will. You rejoice me by the
Intelligence that our poor dear injured Friend
appears to be mended in her Health & Spirits.
The only way to set her mind at Ease, is not
by thinking upon the Subject, but by endeavouring
as far as possible to forget both that, & the unjust &
ungrateful Author of her Sufferings.
I beg to be kindly remembered to
Mr Dickenson, & Miss Anna Clarke. I
would not omit writing to Day
though I can scarcely hold a pen. My
Constitution is such a play-Thing
of the Elements, that I believe I am much
the Worse to Day for a Thunder Shower.
Adieu my dear Friend. I am, with every
kind wish, your obliged &
affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Deal July 22. 1785
To
Mrs Dickenson
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 60
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 22 July 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. The letter concerns the recent death of the Duchess of Portland and the effect on her friend, Mrs Delany. Carter also confirms Hamilton's view that Agmondesham Vesey, who had died some two months earlier, was ‘a wretch’.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1785 July 22.
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: 7 October 2026
