Diplomatic Text
69
1787
My dear Friend
Though a feverish Attack
yesterday has left my Head in so much
Confusion, that I am very ill qualified for
writing, I cannot resist the Temptation
which is offered me by Miʃs A. Clarke, of
thanking you & Mr Dickenson for your Letter,
and conveying to you both my kind Wishes
of a happy new year. May it be rendered
the happier to you by the Increase of your
Family, & may that prove a Continued In-
crease of your domestic Comforts.
I rejoyce to hear from Mrs Montagu
that you are so well, & that Mr Dickenson's
looks are so much mended since he came to
Bath. I find she has recommended Mrs Bull's
Medecine to him, which I hope he will take
or at least carry some with him, when he
leaves Bath. Lady Charlotte Finch has had no
Return of her bilious Attacks since she took
it. but is in perfect Health.
I suppose Miʃs A. Clarke will tell you every thing
that is to be told of our Friends. I have the
Comfort to find that she agrees with me in
thinking dear Mrs Vesey rather better than
worse than she was last Year. probably too
she will tell you what poor Mrs Newton must
have suffered by her Granddaughter being stolen
away from Kew. I know nothing of this Affair
but from an Advertisement. As it has not been
repeated, I hope the Child has been heard of.[1]
Mrs N. is not come to Town, & the person who
keeps her House could give me no Information.
Lady Ch: Finch comes to Town for the Winter
on the 16th. Mrs Garrick & Miʃs More not till
the Beginning of February. Mr Walpole has
had a more moderate Fit of the Gout than
usual, & is out again. It was vexatious for
me to be obliged to go Home from Mrs Vesey's
to my Pillow yesterday Evening, just as he
came in. -- Lady Herries is in better Health
this Winter than the last. I heartily wish it
may Continue.
When you see Mrs Montagu, be
so good to tell her with my affectionate Compliments,
that as I hope so soon to Converse with
her de vive voix, I do not trouble her with a
Letter to Bath.
I called lately at Lord Cremorne's. The
Servants told me the dear Child bore her Journey
very well. dr Warren thinks her better: & though
her Case is very hazardous, he does not pronounce
it desperate. God grant he may be right.
Lady Wake I hear is to come
to Town in February. I am very sorry
to find there is so little prospect
of her receiving any Comfort or
Honour from the Conduct of the
young Baronet.
I rejoyce in your being
provided with so skillfull an
Aʃsistant in Mr Rundle. I shall be impatient
to hear that he has happily discharged his
office. I beg to be kindly remembered
to Mr Dickenson, & am
my dear Friend
Your obliged & affectionate
ECarter
Chapel Street
Jan 12. 1787
Mrs. Carter
Janry 1787
To
Mrs Dickenson[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
My dear Friend
Though a feverish Attack
yesterday has left my Head in so much
Confusion, that I am very ill qualified for
writing, I cannot resist the Temptation
which is offered me by Miss Anna Clarke, of
thanking you & Mr Dickenson for your Letter,
and conveying to you both my kind Wishes
of a happy new year. May it be rendered
the happier to you by the Increase of your
Family, & may that prove a Continued Increase
of your domestic Comforts.
I rejoice to hear from Mrs Montagu
that you are so well, & that Mr Dickenson's
looks are so much mended since he came to
Bath. I find she has recommended Mrs Bull's
Medicine to him, which I hope he will take
or at least carry some with him, when he
leaves Bath. Lady Charlotte Finch has had no
Return of her bilious Attacks since she took
it. but is in perfect Health.
I suppose Miss Anna Clarke will tell you every thing
that is to be told of our Friends. I have the
Comfort to find that she agrees with me in
thinking dear Mrs Vesey rather better than
worse than she was last Year. probably too
she will tell you what poor Mrs Newton must
have suffered by her Granddaughter being stolen
away from Kew. I know nothing of this Affair
but from an Advertisement. As it has not been
repeated, I hope the Child has been heard of.
Mrs Newton is not come to Town, & the person who
keeps her House could give me no Information.
Lady Charlotte Finch comes to Town for the Winter
on the 16th. Mrs Garrick & Miss More not till
the Beginning of February. Mr Walpole has
had a more moderate Fit of the Gout than
usual, & is out again. It was vexatious for
me to be obliged to go Home from Mrs Vesey's
to my Pillow yesterday Evening, just as he
came in. -- Lady Herries is in better Health
this Winter than the last. I heartily wish it
may Continue.
When you see Mrs Montagu, be
so good to tell her with my affectionate Compliments,
that as I hope so soon to Converse with
her de vive voix, I do not trouble her with a
Letter to Bath.
I called lately at Lord Cremorne's. The
Servants told me the dear Child bore her Journey
very well. dr Warren thinks her better: & though
her Case is very hazardous, he does not pronounce
it desperate. God grant he may be right.
Lady Wake I hear is to come
to Town in February. I am very sorry
to find there is so little prospect
of her receiving any Comfort or
Honour from the Conduct of the
young Baronet.
I rejoice in your being
provided with so skilful an
Assistant in Mr Rundle. I shall be impatient
to hear that he has happily discharged his
office. I beg to be kindly remembered
to Mr Dickenson, & am
my dear Friend
Your obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Chapel Street
January 12. 1787
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 69
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Bath (certainty: high)
Date sent: 12 January 1787
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter takes advantage of being invited to include a letter with Miss A. Clarke's. She wishes Hamilton and her husband a happy new year, and that it be made happier by the increase of their family. She is delighted that Hamilton and Dickenson are both well. The letter continues with news of expected arrivals in town, and of the health of Mrs Vesey, Mr Walpole and young Julia Dawson. In less happy news, Mrs Newton's granddaughter has been ‘stolen away from Kew’, and ‘the Conduct of the young Baronet [Wake]' is unlikely to bring his mother ‘any Comfort or Honour’.
Dated at Chapel Street, 12 January 1787.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapel Street, 1787 January 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: 7 October 2026
