Diplomatic Text
63
1785
many Thanks to you my dear Friend,
for the kind & welcome Account, which you give
me of your Situation. May it please God long
to continue to you that Happineʃs which you at
present enjoy. Among your higher Bleʃsings, I
am glad to find you have the Advantage of being
situated in a pleasant Country. This is a Circum
stance which however insensibly to many, operates
however very considerably, on the Spirits & gives
that innocent Gayety which enlivens all the
more Solid Comforts of Life.
/ I most perfectly agree with you that it was
by no means neceʃsary that —— should have con
formed to the Sentimental Delicacy of her Friend.
It was no more a Reason for neglecting her in her
Will, than it was for contributing to her Comforts
during her Life. -- I have often heard her expreʃs
her dislike of Mrs ——[1] & by all Accounts, with
too much Reason, but this though it might be a Cause for
not leaving any Sum, was none against an Annuity.
I was glad to hear of the Legacy you mention to Lady
—— to whom I should suppose it must be of great
Service.
Many Thanks for your kind Enquiry after
Mrs Douglas. I thank God she is so far mended as
to be able to walk croʃs the Room, but is still in
a helpleʃs & often painful State. If she should
Ever be ordered to Buxton, I will shall be greatly
obliged to you for any Attention you are so good
to Show her.
What astonishing Treatment has our dear
& excellent Miʃs More received in Return for all
her generous Exertions in Favour of that
wretched Milkwoman! The Heart of our Friend
can suffer only on Account of the miserable woman,
but not on her own: for good Actions never
change their Nature, nor lose their Reward, by
the Ingratitude of the Objects on whom they
are bestowed. But such unworthy Behaviour
does great Mischief in Society, & is a discourage
ment to the benevolence of those great numbers
whose Virtue is not so sublime as that of our
Friend.
I have the Happineʃs of acquainting you, that,
God be thanked, dear Lady Charlotte Finch is
Surprizingly recovered since she has been at
Bath. I had a Letter lately from Mrs Feilding who
went to see Ly Ch: there, & was going from thence
with Lord W. to Burley.
I hear our dear Friends in Clarges Street have been
at Chelsea, which I hope has perfected Mrs Handcock's
Recovery. I am glad to find by a Letter from
Miʃs A. Clarke that she has found a House which
seems entirely to suit them, in Piccadilly. Indeed
I shall be very glad to have her continue so
nearly within my Reach.
I am glad to hear that Lord Napier has been so
succeʃsful - . ------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
I beg my kind compliments to Mr Dickenson, which I
think is rather generous, considering he has run away
with you. The best Amends he can make to your Friends
for this Injury, is by rendering you too happy to regret[2]
your Absence from them.
I do not care to take such a Liberty, as having my
Letters inclosed to Mr Pulteney. But whenever you have Lei
sure or Inclination to write, pray do not think about the
Postage. I fear I shall not be able to procure a Frank for this
Letter, but will wait for some opportunity of conveying it at least
to London. Adieu my dear Friend. most affectionately yours
E. Carter
Deal Octbr 11. 1785[3]
▼
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Possibly -- if she is indeed neglected in the will -- the housekeeper at Bulstrode, Mrs Woodward, often mentioned in Hamilton's diaries, and described by her as a ‘good sort of Woman, but a terrible slip-slop’ (HAM/2/6 p.19).
2. Moved section of 4 lines from bottom of page, written upside down. The last line of the paragraph was already at the top of the page.
3. It is not clear whether the dateline gives the date of writing or date of posting.
Normalised Text
many Thanks to you my dear Friend,
for the kind & welcome Account, which you give
me of your Situation. May it please God long
to continue to you that Happiness which you at
present enjoy. Among your higher Blessings, I
am glad to find you have the Advantage of being
situated in a pleasant Country. This is a Circumstance
which however insensibly to many, operates
however very considerably, on the Spirits & gives
that innocent Gaiety which enlivens all the
more Solid Comforts of Life.
I most perfectly agree with you that it was
by no means necessary that the Duchess of Portland should have conformed
to the Sentimental Delicacy of her Friend.
It was no more a Reason for neglecting her in her
Will, than it was for contributing to her Comforts
during her Life. -- I have often heard her express
her dislike of Mrs —— & by all Accounts, with
too much Reason, but this though it might be a Cause for
not leaving any Sum, was none against an Annuity.
I was glad to hear of the Legacy you mention to Lady
—— to whom I should suppose it must be of great
Service.
Many Thanks for your kind Enquiry after
Mrs Douglas. I thank God she is so far mended as
to be able to walk cross the Room, but is still in
a helpless & often painful State. If she should
Ever be ordered to Buxton, I shall be greatly
obliged to you for any Attention you are so good
to Show her.
What astonishing Treatment has our dear
& excellent Miss More received in Return for all
her generous Exertions in Favour of that
wretched Milkwoman! The Heart of our Friend
can suffer only on Account of the miserable woman,
but not on her own: for good Actions never
change their Nature, nor lose their Reward, by
the Ingratitude of the Objects on whom they
are bestowed. But such unworthy Behaviour
does great Mischief in Society, & is a discouragement
to the benevolence of those great numbers
whose Virtue is not so sublime as that of our
Friend.
I have the Happiness of acquainting you, that,
God be thanked, dear Lady Charlotte Finch is
Surprisingly recovered since she has been at
Bath. I had a Letter lately from Mrs Feilding who
went to see Lady Charlotte there, & was going from thence
with Lord Winchilsea to Burley.
I hear our dear Friends in Clarges Street have been
at Chelsea, which I hope has perfected Mrs Handcock's
Recovery. I am glad to find by a Letter from
Miss Anna Clarke that she has found a House which
seems entirely to suit them, in Piccadilly. Indeed
I shall be very glad to have her continue so
nearly within my Reach.
I am glad to hear that Lord Napier has been so
successful.
I beg my kind compliments to Mr Dickenson, which I
think is rather generous, considering he has run away
with you. The best Amends he can make to your Friends
for this Injury, is by rendering you too happy to regret
your Absence from them.
I do not care to take such a Liberty, as having my
Letters enclosed to Mr Pulteney. But whenever you have Leisure
or Inclination to write, pray do not think about the
Postage. I fear I shall not be able to procure a Frank for this
Letter, but will wait for some opportunity of conveying it at least
to London. Adieu my dear Friend. most affectionately yours
Elizabeth Carter
Deal October 11. 1785
▼
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 63
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 11 October 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter again discusses the provisions of the Duchess of Portland's will in relation to Mrs Delany and others. She has received good news from Mrs Feilding of Lady Charlotte Finch's surprising recovery at Bath, and from Anna Maria Clarke about a house she has found in Piccadilly for Mrs Vesey and her companion, Miss Handcock.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1785 October 11.
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: 6 October 2026
