Diplomatic Text
68
1786
My dear Friend,
It would indeed have been
an agreeable Surprize if you could have effect
ed the Scheme of visiting Your friends in Town:
but your Reasons for delaying your self &
them that pleasure, are unanswerable. your
prudent Care it is to be hoped will succeed, &
be reward by an Event that will increase
your domestic Happineʃs.[1]
You were very kind in mentioning
the safe Arrival of our Friends in Ireland: but
I had an Account of it from Lady Cremorne,
some time before your Letter arrived. They will
be greatly grieved on receiving the news of
the death of Mr Burrows, which must be felt
by all who knew his Excellencies. His Behaviour
during his last Illneʃs was conformable to
the Christian principles, which had regulated
his Life, & left a most edifying Example to
his afflicted Family. It pleased God to conti
nue his Senses, & the vigour of his Mind,
to the very last.
/ I heard very good Accounts
over
of good Mrs Delany's Health ------------ just before I left
Town, so I hope the Situation of her miserable
Niece has been leʃs prejudicial to her than was
apprehended it would prove.[2]
I find Miʃs Burney has some place
at Court, but do not know her Titre d'office.
The newspapers say, Dreʃser, in the Room of
Mrs Haggerdorn (or whatever her Name is). I
hope this is not true, as the Task would, I
should fear, be too fatiguing for Miʃs Burney's
delicate Health. Most sincerely should I rejoyce
in any Advantage that could happen to this
very extraordinary, & amiable young woman,
but I cannot help wishing it had been in a
Way when there was leʃs Hazard, that an
Improvement of Fortune, must be purchased at
the Expence of a Diminution of Happineʃs.
You will too well agree with me in this
Apprehension.
I suppose you have by this
Time left Courteen Hall, & I pity poor
Lady Wake, who will so sensibly feel
the loʃs of your Society. You are such a Rambler
that I know not where to Catch you, so I
shall direct my Letter to Northamptonshire, &
as I hope to get it franked, it may be sent
after you.
I have not heard lately from our
Friends in Clarges Street: I hope they are
by this time set out for Tunbridge, which
I think is the place the most likely to do
them good.
Ld. & Lady Stormont & their
Family are at Walmer Castle, & I hear are
well pleased with their Situation, which
is indeed very beautiful. I have the pleasure
to have Lady Holderneʃse asin my near neigh-
bour at Deal Castle. I have had the Honour
of being acquainted with Lady Holderneʃse
many years: & every year she rises higher
in my Esteem.
I believe it was I who told
Lady Cremorne that story of Mde- du Fhè &
the P. -- private letters as well as the papers
mention his design of reducing his Estab
lishment & paying his Debts. This will be
such an instance of Sense & of Virtue, that I
wish it may be true, & that many of our
great people, who are in the same circumstances
as his R. H. may follow so laudable an Example.
I came to this place on
Tuesday, & propose to return on --- Sa
turday. My Sister Douglas is here. so that
I have many of my own Family together,
which is always the Joy of my Heart. Mrs. D.
& one of my Nieces will I hope be my
Guests at Deal in about 10 Days.
I beg to be kindly
remembered to Mr Dickenson, & am, with
Every good wish
my dear Friend
affectionately Yours
ECarter
Eastrey July 17. 1786
Mrs. Carter
July 1786[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. We can infer that Hamilton has informed Carter of her pregnancy.
2. On this apprehension, see MS Eng 1778 67 p.4.
3. This annotation is written upsside down at the foot of the page.
Normalised Text
My dear Friend,
It would indeed have been
an agreeable Surprise if you could have effected
the Scheme of visiting Your friends in Town:
but your Reasons for delaying your self &
them that pleasure, are unanswerable. your
prudent Care it is to be hoped will succeed, &
be rewarded by an Event that will increase
your domestic Happiness.
You were very kind in mentioning
the safe Arrival of our Friends in Ireland: but
I had an Account of it from Lady Cremorne,
some time before your Letter arrived. They will
be greatly grieved on receiving the news of
the death of Mr Burrows, which must be felt
by all who knew his Excellencies. His Behaviour
during his last Illness was conformable to
the Christian principles, which had regulated
his Life, & left a most edifying Example to
his afflicted Family. It pleased God to continue
his Senses, & the vigour of his Mind,
to the very last.
I heard very good Accounts
of good Mrs Delany's Health just before I left
Town, so I hope the Situation of her miserable
Niece has been less prejudicial to her than was
apprehended it would prove.
I find Miss Burney has some place
at Court, but do not know her Titre d'office.
The newspapers say, Dresser, in the Room of
Mrs Haggerdorn (or whatever her Name is). I
hope this is not true, as the Task would, I
should fear, be too fatiguing for Miss Burney's
delicate Health. Most sincerely should I rejoice
in any Advantage that could happen to this
very extraordinary, & amiable young woman,
but I cannot help wishing it had been in a
Way when there was less Hazard, that an
Improvement of Fortune, must be purchased at
the Expense of a Diminution of Happiness.
You will too well agree with me in this
Apprehension.
I suppose you have by this
Time left Courteen Hall, & I pity poor
Lady Wake, who will so sensibly feel
the loss of your Society. You are such a Rambler
that I know not where to Catch you, so I
shall direct my Letter to Northamptonshire, &
as I hope to get it franked, it may be sent
after you.
I have not heard lately from our
Friends in Clarges Street: I hope they are
by this time set out for Tunbridge, which
I think is the place the most likely to do
them good.
Lord & Lady Stormont & their
Family are at Walmer Castle, & I hear are
well pleased with their Situation, which
is indeed very beautiful. I have the pleasure
to have Lady Holdernesse in my near neighbour
at Deal Castle. I have had the Honour
of being acquainted with Lady Holdernesse
many years: & every year she rises higher
in my Esteem.
I believe it was I who told
Lady Cremorne that story of Madame du Fitzherbert &
the Prince -- private letters as well as the papers
mention his design of reducing his Establishment
& paying his Debts. This will be
such an instance of Sense & of Virtue, that I
wish it may be true, & that many of our
great people, who are in the same circumstances
as his Royal Highness may follow so laudable an Example.
I came to this place on
Tuesday, & propose to return on Saturday
. My Sister Douglas is here. so that
I have many of my own Family together,
which is always the Joy of my Heart. Mrs. Douglas
& one of my Nieces will I hope be my
Guests at Deal in about 10 Days.
I beg to be kindly
remembered to Mr Dickenson, & am, with
Every good wish
my dear Friend
affectionately Yours
Elizabeth Carter
Eastrey July 17. 1786
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 68
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Eastry
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 17 July 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter hints that Hamilton's pregnancy is a good reason for not surprising her friends in London by a visit. She suggests that friends now in Ireland will be grieved to learn of the death of Mr Burrows [Rev. John Burrows (1733-1786)]; he had had a good Christian death. Mrs Delany's health seems to be better than was feared in the light of Mary Ann Port's illness. Carter has heard preliminary reports of Frances Burney's appointment at Court and worries that the health of ‘this very extraordinary, & amiable young woman’ is not up to it. She reports that the Stormonts are ‘well pleased with their Situation’ at Walmer Castle. She claims to have been the one to tell Lady Cremorne of the Prince [of Wales]'s and Mrs Fitzherbert's reported plan to reduce his establishment and pay his debts, which she hopes is true. Carter says that ‘every year’ her own neighbour at Deal Castle, Lady Holderness, ‘rises higher in [her] Esteem’.
Carter's sister and many of her family are with her at Eastrey, ‘which is always the Joy of my Heart’. Carter assumes Hamilton will by now have left Courteenhall, but a franked letter sent there will be redirected.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Eastrey, 1786 July 17.
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: 5 October 2026
