Diplomatic Text
64
Chapel Street
Feb 3. 1786
Many Thanks to you my dear Friend
for your kind Letter & for the Solicitude you
Expreʃs about my Health. My Head is upon the
whole better, than before I came to Town. But I have
a kind of Uncomfortableneʃs, that I know not well
how to describe: yet I say so little about it, that
I rather wonder how any Body should have men
tioned my being unwell to you. -- But enough on
this Subject. As to long Walks, I have taken only
one that can be properly called so, since I came
to Town, & with that I was very little tired. Walk
-ing I believe to be quite Eʃsential towards keep
-ing up my Strength & Activity, & I should be
much worse without Air & Exercise.
I rejoyce that dear Lady Wake is in
tolerable Health. I condole with you for parting
with sweet Richard who always seemed to have
a very engaging affectionate little Heart. -- I must
not enlarge on another Subject: I grieve for your
Account of it. May your Conjecture prove true
that the good Seed which was early sown, may
not be choked by the noxious weeds, which are
now so unhappily springing up.
I hear nothing of our Friends at Hampton, who
I fear will not come soon as you mention. You did
not name the little narrative to me, & I was at a Loʃs
to know what you meant. But yesterday explained
it. I dined with Mrs Buller, & Miʃs E. Hervey, at
Mrs Ords, who had the pamphlet & read it to us.
There is no doubt a poʃsibility that the Subject of
it may be the unfortunate Louisa: but there is little
Reason to suppose her to be the Emperor's Daughter,
who could never have been at any difficulty to pro
vide properly for her, it she was. The Story is
very strange, & full of Improbabilities; & the
young Woman was guilty of so many Falsehoods,
by her own Confeʃsion, that her whole Account must
be very suspicious. Yet I suppose the Examinati
ons before Count Cobenzal must be genuine, &
it is strange how she should be such an Object
of Enquiry. I will ask Mr Walpole's opinion
when I see him. He is to the great Joy of his
Friends tolerably well: though he was confined
for some time after I came to Town. Our dear
Friends in Clarges Street are much as usual.
Mrs V. still subject to Returns of miserable
low Spirits.
I am excluded from Mrs Iremonger at present, by the Inocu
lation of her little Girl.[1] -- I have twice seen
Mrs Delany, whom I found as well as could be ex-
pected on her beginning the Winter in Town
without the Friend & Companion to whom she had
for greatest part of her Life been accustomed to
see so constantly. Miʃs Burney is often with her.
She looks in better Health, than I ever saw her, at
which you will rejoice.[2]
I mentioned your Enquiries after Ly
Ch. F. yesterday to Mrs Fielding, & shall have an
opportunity of naming them to her self today, as I
am to have the pleasure of dining with her Ladyship.[3]
I thank God she seems quite recovered, & looks very
well. Ld & Ly Cremorne & the Children are in very
comfortable Health. except the little nervous Ills to
which dear Ld C. is subject.
This Letter will arrive just in time to
Convey my most affectionate Wishes to you on
your Birth Day. God grant you many happy
Returns of it! pray with my kind Compliments
congratulate Mr Dickenson for me on this occasion.
Miʃs A. Clarke is so good, to give me a place in
her Frank.[4] I do not see her so often as I could
wish, but hope soon to be a better neighbour. My
Love & best wishes to dear Lady Wake. I rejoyce that
you can be with her. Adieu my dear Friend. Ever
most Affectionately Yours ECarter
To
Mrs. Dickenson[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Possibly a step-granddaughter of Mrs Penelope Iremonger.
2. Remains of a seal in red wax.
3. The content suggests that Carter broke off here before seeing Lady Charlotte, then resumed after their meeting, but the manuscript doesn't support this.
4. The frank was acquired by Clarke from Lady Herries, who presumably got it from her husband, MP for Dumfries 1780-84. The archive contains Lady Herries's own enclosure in the frank, dated 4 February (see HAM/1/17/67), but nothing of this date from Anna Maria Clarke herself has so far been found. It is unclear whether Mary Glover's incomplete letter of 4 February 1786 was also enclosed in the frank or was sent separately (see HAM/1/13/31).
5. The direction is written vertically.
Normalised Text
Chapel Street
February 3. 1786
Many Thanks to you my dear Friend
for your kind Letter & for the Solicitude you
Express about my Health. My Head is upon the
whole better, than before I came to Town. But I have
a kind of Uncomfortableness, that I know not well
how to describe: yet I say so little about it, that
I rather wonder how any Body should have mentioned
my being unwell to you. -- But enough on
this Subject. As to long Walks, I have taken only
one that can be properly called so, since I came
to Town, & with that I was very little tired. Walking
I believe to be quite Essential towards keeping
up my Strength & Activity, & I should be
much worse without Air & Exercise.
I rejoice that dear Lady Wake is in
tolerable Health. I condole with you for parting
with sweet Richard who always seemed to have
a very engaging affectionate little Heart. -- I must
not enlarge on another Subject: I grieve for your
Account of it. May your Conjecture prove true
that the good Seed which was early sown, may
not be choked by the noxious weeds, which are
now so unhappily springing up.
I hear nothing of our Friends at Hampton, who
I fear will not come soon as you mention. You did
not name the little narrative to me, & I was at a Loss
to know what you meant. But yesterday explained
it. I dined with Mrs Buller, & Miss E. Hervey, at
Mrs Ords, who had the pamphlet & read it to us.
There is no doubt a possibility that the Subject of
it may be the unfortunate Louisa: but there is little
Reason to suppose her to be the Emperor's Daughter,
who could never have been at any difficulty to provide
properly for her, it she was. The Story is
very strange, & full of Improbabilities; & the
young Woman was guilty of so many Falsehoods,
by her own Confession, that her whole Account must
be very suspicious. Yet I suppose the Examinations
before Count Cobenzal must be genuine, &
it is strange how she should be such an Object
of Enquiry. I will ask Mr Walpole's opinion
when I see him. He is to the great Joy of his
Friends tolerably well: though he was confined
for some time after I came to Town. Our dear
Friends in Clarges Street are much as usual.
Mrs Vesey still subject to Returns of miserable
low Spirits.
I am excluded from Mrs Iremonger at present, by the Inoculation
of her little Girl. -- I have twice seen
Mrs Delany, whom I found as well as could be ex-
pected on her beginning the Winter in Town
without the Friend & Companion to whom she had
for greatest part of her Life been accustomed to
see so constantly. Miss Burney is often with her.
She looks in better Health, than I ever saw her, at
which you will rejoice.
I mentioned your Enquiries after Lady
Charlotte Finch yesterday to Mrs Fielding, & shall have an
opportunity of naming them to her self today, as I
am to have the pleasure of dining with her Ladyship.
I thank God she seems quite recovered, & looks very
well. Lord & Lady Cremorne & the Children are in very
comfortable Health. except the little nervous Ills to
which dear Lord Cremorne is subject.
This Letter will arrive just in time to
Convey my most affectionate Wishes to you on
your Birth Day. God grant you many happy
Returns of it! pray with my kind Compliments
congratulate Mr Dickenson for me on this occasion.
Miss Anna Clarke is so good, to give me a place in
her Frank. I do not see her so often as I could
wish, but hope soon to be a better neighbour. My
Love & best wishes to dear Lady Wake. I rejoice that
you can be with her. Adieu my dear Friend. Ever
most Affectionately Yours Elizabeth Carter
To
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 66
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Courteenhall, near Northampton (certainty: high)
Date sent: 4 February 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter thanks Hamilton for asking about her health, which she says is generally better apart from a hard-to-describe uncomfortableness; she wonders who might have told Hamilton that she was unwell. She has taken one long walk since arriving in Town. She writes of Lady Wake [who Hamilton is staying with at Courteenhall], and of a pamphlet which probably concerns Louisa, the ‘Maid of the Haystack’, claiming that Louisa is the daughter of the late [Holy Roman] Emperor, which Carter finds improbable. She gives news of other mutual friends, including Lady Charlotte Finch and Horace Walpole. She concludes with birthday wishes for Hamilton.
Carter reports that she has been allowed to include the letter in a frank procured by Anna Maria Clarke [for 4 February 1786, from Lady Herries (see HAM/1/17/67)].
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chaple [sic] Street, 1786 February 3.
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: 26 September 2026
