Diplomatic Text
64
Before I set out on my Journey
my dear Friend I will thank you for your
kind Letter: though I do not propose to Conclude
till I get to Town in the Hope of procuring a
Frank, & of giving you some Account of our
Friends.
I felt much obliged to you for the Account
of the last Moments of poor Sr. W W.[1], which was
such as gave one the Comfort of knowing, that
he did not leave the World in a hardened
irreligious Disposition. you may remember, that
I mentioned to you with Pleasure, that when I saw
him for the last Time in the Summer, the Turn of
his Conversation was exceedingly altered for
the better, soberly Cheerful & free from all offence.[2]
In Answer you told me, you had lately made the
same Observation. May we not hope from this
Change, when he was in better Health, than for
a long while, that his Mind was in a more
Serious Frame, before he was awakened by an
Apprehension of the immediate Stroke of Death?
It is pleasant to dwell on such a Hope in the Case
of any Fellow Creature, & particularly of one with
whom we were so well acquainted, & who stood in
so near a Relation to our dear & Valuable Friend.
I rejoyce that young Sr William discovers such
affectionate dispositions of Heart, joined with
what only can render those dispositions Con-
stant & Effectual, an awful Sense of his import
-ant Duties.
It is indeed very kind in Mr D. &
his Father to be so desirous that you should
pay every Attention of Friendship to dear
Lady Wk It gives a most comfortable Testimony
to the Happineʃs of your Alliance to this Family.
I had not flatter my self that it could be likely you
Should come to Town this Winter. You act like your
Self in giving up that Scheme to prudential Rea
-sons. If it please God I live to another Year, I
will hope, the kind Intentions of Mr D. --- may
be put into Execution.
You have heard of the dangerous
Illneʃs of dear Lord Cremorne. I rejoyce with you
that it has pleased God in his Goodneʃs to restore
this Excellent Man to his Family, to his Friends,
& to the World. our most dear & amiable Lady
Cremorne has been wonderfully carried through
his strong Tryal. We must expect she will feel it's Conse
quences: but however God be thanked she is hither
to much better than from the delicacy of her Health,
& the tender Affections of her Heart, Could have been
hoped.
Happily the Strange History of the demand
of 200£ cannot be of any further ill Consequence to
You, than it's being a disagreeable Affair. As far
as I can discover, Berger & Cole, are not cheats,
but the Dupes of ------ Berniere who seems to have
Counterfeited your Hand, & aʃsumed your Name
as his Friend. I hope you will have no further
Perplexity about it.
I condole with you on the Loʃs of your
kind & respectable Friend Mr Glover. It would have
fallen more heavily on you, if you had been left
in any Doubt of his Christian Principles; as it was
very happy that you found Means to obtain full
Satisfaction on that most important point: & your
affectionate Thoughts can now follow him with
Comfort & Hope.
Chapel Street Dec 30.
Here I am my dear Friend, arrived very
Safely, I thank God, through the Snow. I came
on Tuesday, & dined with Mrs Montagu, & just
got a Glimpse in the Evening of Mrs Vesey &
Mrs Handcock. Yesterday I dined with them: & I had
the comfort of thinking Mrs Vesey not at all worse in
any Respect than last Year, which was the greater Joy
to me: as I had heard a sad Account of her. Mrs H. I
think is fallen away, but seems well & in Spirits.
Miʃs Clarkes dined there & in the Evening Ly Herri[es][3]
came for a little while. She was to set out this
Morning for Bath on the Account of Sr Robert
Who is not well. I hope the Waters may be of
Use to them both. I have long wished her to try
them for her Stomach. I know you will kindly wish
to know in what State I found Mrs Douglas: & will
rejoyce with me that I had, I thank God, the Happi
neʃs of seeing her walk into the Room, without a
a Stick so that She is greatly mended, though still
with great Remains of her Complaints. But so
much Improvement gives Encouragement to hope
for more.
Lord & Ly Cremorne have been at Chelsea
for some days: but are now in Town, & I am going
to dine with them. He has no Remains of his alarm
ing Illneʃs, God be thanked Except that he has not
Yet perfectly recovered his Strength. I had just a
Sight of Lady Cremorne Yesterday: & had the plea
Sure of finding her better than could have been
hoped after what she has gone through.
1786
Julia looks more healthy than I ever remember her.
I have not yet seen Mr Dawson who is at Chelsea:
but probably I shall see him in Stanhope Street to
Day, where I am going to Celebrate dear Lady Cremorne's
Birth Day, which, her going to the drawing Room,
prevented Yesterday.[4]
Since I begun my Letter which has waited
for a Frank which Miʃs A. C. is endeavouring
to procure, Mrs Vesey has been so ill as to
be confined to her Chamber. I was the leʃs
alarmed as her Complaints appeared merely
Nervous. Yesterday I dined with her in
the Drawing Room, & I thank God she
seemed quite as well as usual. Her Appetite
is certainly better than it was last Year:
which I hope is a very good Symptom.
Be so good to aʃsure dear Lady Wake
of my most affectionate good wishes: &c
remember me kindly to her young People.
I rejoyce that she has the comfort of your
Society. I called the other morning on Miʃs Clarke's.
Their new House is small: but a pretty quiet, cheerful
Abode.[5] Adieu my dear Friend. I am, your
most obliged & affectionate
ECarter
Chapel Street Jan 6. 1786
For
Mrs Dickenson
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The names of the three principal members of the Wake family, here and on the next page, appear to have been censored, and our mark-up is intended to suggest that the addressee rather than the author was responsible.
2. See MS Eng 1778 61 p.2.
3. The completion of the name, though hardly in doubt, is confirmed by looking at the left margin of p.3 in Mirador.
4. Lady Cremorne's birthday was 5 January, so this section of the letter must have been written on 6 January.
5. See MS Eng 1778 63 p.3.
Normalised Text
Before I set out on my Journey
my dear Friend I will thank you for your
kind Letter: though I do not propose to Conclude
till I get to Town in the Hope of procuring a
Frank, & of giving you some Account of our
Friends.
I felt much obliged to you for the Account
of the last Moments of poor Sir William Wake, which was
such as gave one the Comfort of knowing, that
he did not leave the World in a hardened
irreligious Disposition. you may remember, that
I mentioned to you with Pleasure, that when I saw
him for the last Time in the Summer, the Turn of
his Conversation was exceedingly altered for
the better, soberly Cheerful & free from all offence.
In Answer you told me, you had lately made the
same Observation. May we not hope from this
Change, when he was in better Health, than for
a long while, that his Mind was in a more
Serious Frame, before he was awakened by an
Apprehension of the immediate Stroke of Death?
It is pleasant to dwell on such a Hope in the Case
of any Fellow Creature, & particularly of one with
whom we were so well acquainted, & who stood in
so near a Relation to our dear & Valuable Friend.
I rejoice that young Sir William discovers such
affectionate dispositions of Heart, joined with
what only can render those dispositions Constant
& Effectual, an awful Sense of his important
Duties.
It is indeed very kind in Mr Dickenson &
his Father to be so desirous that you should
pay every Attention of Friendship to dear
Lady Wake It gives a most comfortable Testimony
to the Happiness of your Alliance to this Family.
I had not flatter my self that it could be likely you
Should come to Town this Winter. You act like your
Self in giving up that Scheme to prudential Reasons
. If it please God I live to another Year, I
will hope, the kind Intentions of Mr Dickenson may
be put into Execution.
You have heard of the dangerous
Illness of dear Lord Cremorne. I rejoice with you
that it has pleased God in his Goodness to restore
this Excellent Man to his Family, to his Friends,
& to the World. our most dear & amiable Lady
Cremorne has been wonderfully carried through
his strong Trial. We must expect she will feel it's Consequences
: but however God be thanked she is hitherto
much better than from the delicacy of her Health,
& the tender Affections of her Heart, Could have been
hoped.
Happily the Strange History of the demand
of 200£ cannot be of any further ill Consequence to
You, than it's being a disagreeable Affair. As far
as I can discover, Berger & Cole, are not cheats,
but the Dupes of Berniere who seems to have
Counterfeited your Hand, & assumed your Name
as his Friend. I hope you will have no further
Perplexity about it.
I condole with you on the Loss of your
kind & respectable Friend Mr Glover. It would have
fallen more heavily on you, if you had been left
in any Doubt of his Christian Principles; as it was
very happy that you found Means to obtain full
Satisfaction on that most important point: & your
affectionate Thoughts can now follow him with
Comfort & Hope.
Chapel Street December 30.
Here I am my dear Friend, arrived very
Safely, I thank God, through the Snow. I came
on Tuesday, & dined with Mrs Montagu, & just
got a Glimpse in the Evening of Mrs Vesey &
Mrs Handcock. Yesterday I dined with them: & I had
the comfort of thinking Mrs Vesey not at all worse in
any Respect than last Year, which was the greater Joy
to me: as I had heard a sad Account of her. Mrs Handcock I
think is fallen away, but seems well & in Spirits.
Miss Clarkes dined there & in the Evening Lady Herries
came for a little while. She was to set out this
Morning for Bath on the Account of Sir Robert
Who is not well. I hope the Waters may be of
Use to them both. I have long wished her to try
them for her Stomach. I know you will kindly wish
to know in what State I found Mrs Douglas: & will
rejoice with me that I had, I thank God, the Happiness
of seeing her walk into the Room, without a
Stick so that She is greatly mended, though still
with great Remains of her Complaints. But so
much Improvement gives Encouragement to hope
for more.
Lord & Lady Cremorne have been at Chelsea
for some days: but are now in Town, & I am going
to dine with them. He has no Remains of his alarming
Illness, God be thanked Except that he has not
Yet perfectly recovered his Strength. I had just a
Sight of Lady Cremorne Yesterday: & had the pleasure
of finding her better than could have been
hoped after what she has gone through.
Julia looks more healthy than I ever remember her.
I have not yet seen Mr Dawson who is at Chelsea:
but probably I shall see him in Stanhope Street to
Day, where I am going to Celebrate dear Lady Cremorne's
Birth Day, which, her going to the drawing Room,
prevented Yesterday.
Since I began my Letter which has waited
for a Frank which Miss Anna Clarke is endeavouring
to procure, Mrs Vesey has been so ill as to
be confined to her Chamber. I was the less
alarmed as her Complaints appeared merely
Nervous. Yesterday I dined with her in
the Drawing Room, & I thank God she
seemed quite as well as usual. Her Appetite
is certainly better than it was last Year:
which I hope is a very good Symptom.
Be so good to assure dear Lady Wake
of my most affectionate good wishes: &c
remember me kindly to her young People.
I rejoice that she has the comfort of your
Society. I called the other morning on Miss Clarke's.
Their new House is small: but a pretty quiet, cheerful
Abode. Adieu my dear Friend. I am, your
most obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Chapel Street January 6. 1786
For
Mrs Dickenson
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 64
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Courteenhall, near Northampton (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 6 January 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter begins her letter by sharing the hope that Sir William Wake, 8th Baronet, had died ‘in a more serious Frame’ of mind [than he had often displayed before the summer], and she rejoices that his son, now Sir William, 9th Baronet, is showing both ‘affectionate Dispositions of Heart’ and a respectful sense of duty. She thinks it very kind of Mr Dickenson and his father to encourage Hamilton to offer Lady Wake her support, and that this bodes well for ‘the Happiness of your Alliance to this Family’. She mentions Lord Cremorne's dangerous illness and recovery, and Lady Cremorne's surprisingly good state so far, and she expresses sympathy on the loss of Hamilton's friend Richard Glover. Carter refers to a demand for £200 from merchants or tradesmen duped by someone called Berniere, misrepresenting himself as a friend of Hamilton's.
Carter continues her letter after arriving in London, reporting on having seen Mrs Montagu, Mrs Vesey and Mrs Handcock, Lady Herries, who is leaving for Bath because her husband is unwell, the Clarke sisters, and Carter's own sister, Mrs Douglas, now rather better. Lord and Lady Cremorne and their children have been in Chelsea, and Carter is about to visit them in town.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton, 1786 January 6.
Length: 3 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
