Diplomatic Text
74
1787
Though I am in the midst of all
that Bustle which usually attends a Removal
I will not my dear Friend, neglect the oppor
tunity of a Frank, to thank you for your
Letter, & congratulate you on the Recovery
of your respectable Father in Law.[1] I rejoyce
with you too on Mr Dickenson's better Health,
& the prosperous growth of your little Girl.
long may all these Comforts be continued to
you.
Many Thanks for the kind Concern, that you
expreʃs about my Health. It has indeed been more
than usually uncomfortable ever since I have
been in Town. I hope the first Change of Air
may give me at least a temporary Relief. I
propose to set out on Thursday & to have the
pleasure of taking Mrs Douglas with me.
All the Accounts I have heard from Bristol
are worse & worse. -- may God support our dear
Friends under an Event, which there is every
Reason to suppose, must certainly happen. Indeed
there is no Doubt but so much Piety & Resignation
will be rewarded by the strongest consolations.
I grieve to find that poor
Lady Wake's Eyes continue so weak. I hope
however the Disorder may in some measure,
be ------ accounted for from an epidemical
Complaint, by which many people have been
attacked for some time past. I am glad she
has not the vexation of seeing her Son
persist in a Choice, that is disagreable to
her.[2] I thought Miʃs Wake, when she was
in Town, by no means in a Comfortable
State of Health. I am sorry to find by your
Account that it does not seem to be mended
since she left it.
I fancy you must have
mistaken Lady de Vesci, for I was ac-
quainted with her when she was last
in Town, & admired her very much. I even
knew her though but very slightly, many
years ago. I have often the Pleasure of seeing
her.[3]
My Opinion of the Conduct of the ——
is just what it was, & just what it will
be till that Conduct is changed. He has
been very dangerously ill: but is said to be
getting better. He must have a most adaman
-tine Constitution to stand such Attacks.
Mrs Montagu left Town a few days
ago. Her Eyes were better, but not well.
Mrs Vesey & Mrs Handcock are both as
well at least I hope as last year.
Mr Walpole has just recovered a
long fit of the Gout. His good Humour
is always the same: & his looks
are much mended within these few
days.
Mrs Newton's Health I think[4]
is a good deal mended since She
took Mrs Bull's medecine. By the
last Accounts, which She heard of
her unhappy Son, his Dispositions seemed to
be growing better: so I hope she may at last
have the Comfort of seeing him perfectly
sensible of his past Misconduct.
I beg to be kindly remembered to
Mr Dickenson. I hope Miʃs A. Clarke will have
the Happineʃs of seeing you this year. Indeed she
deserves all the Good that can be Wished her. I am
My dear Friend
your most obliged &
affectionate
ECarter
Chapel Street May 30. 1787
[5]
To
Mrs Dickenson[6]
Mrs. Carter
May 1787[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. John Dickenson Senior had been recovering from a fall.
2. On William Wake's ‘matrimonial Fancy’, see MS Eng 1778 72 pp.2-3.
3. It is not known in what way Carter thinks Hamilton is in error about Lady de Vesci. Hamilton and John Dickenson had exchanged visits with Lady de Vesci, her husband and daughter in various combinations during their prolonged stay in Bath; see DDX 274/19 pp.28-32 for February and March 1787. An Irish source talks of Lady de Vesci leaving Bath on 6 May 1787 to spend a month in London, where Lady Herries may have seen her (see HAM/1/17/97 p.3 col.1), before returning to Ireland.
4. A seal or wafer has been torn away, but no text is lost.
5. A few words from p.2 are visible where a seal or wafer has been torn away.
6. The direction is written vertically.
7. The annotation is written vertically.
Normalised Text
Though I am in the midst of all
that Bustle which usually attends a Removal
I will not my dear Friend, neglect the opportunity
of a Frank, to thank you for your
Letter, & congratulate you on the Recovery
of your respectable Father in Law. I rejoice
with you too on Mr Dickenson's better Health,
& the prosperous growth of your little Girl.
long may all these Comforts be continued to
you.
Many Thanks for the kind Concern, that you
express about my Health. It has indeed been more
than usually uncomfortable ever since I have
been in Town. I hope the first Change of Air
may give me at least a temporary Relief. I
propose to set out on Thursday & to have the
pleasure of taking Mrs Douglas with me.
All the Accounts I have heard from Bristol
are worse & worse. -- may God support our dear
Friends under an Event, which there is every
Reason to suppose, must certainly happen. Indeed
there is no Doubt but so much Piety & Resignation
will be rewarded by the strongest consolations.
I grieve to find that poor
Lady Wake's Eyes continue so weak. I hope
however the Disorder may in some measure,
be accounted for from an epidemical
Complaint, by which many people have been
attacked for some time past. I am glad she
has not the vexation of seeing her Son
persist in a Choice, that is disagreable to
her. I thought Miss Wake, when she was
in Town, by no means in a Comfortable
State of Health. I am sorry to find by your
Account that it does not seem to be mended
since she left it.
I fancy you must have
mistaken Lady de Vesci, for I was ac-
quainted with her when she was last
in Town, & admired her very much. I even
knew her though but very slightly, many
years ago. I have often the Pleasure of seeing
her.
My Opinion of the Conduct of the Prince
is just what it was, & just what it will
be till that Conduct is changed. He has
been very dangerously ill: but is said to be
getting better. He must have a most adamantine
Constitution to stand such Attacks.
Mrs Montagu left Town a few days
ago. Her Eyes were better, but not well.
Mrs Vesey & Mrs Handcock are both as
well at least I hope as last year.
Mr Walpole has just recovered a
long fit of the Gout. His good Humour
is always the same: & his looks
are much mended within these few
days.
Mrs Newton's Health I think
is a good deal mended since She
took Mrs Bull's medicine. By the
last Accounts, which She heard of
her unhappy Son, his Dispositions seemed to
be growing better: so I hope she may at last
have the Comfort of seeing him perfectly
sensible of his past Misconduct.
I beg to be kindly remembered to
Mr Dickenson. I hope Miss Anna Clarke will have
the Happiness of seeing you this year. Indeed she
deserves all the Good that can be Wished her. I am
My dear Friend
your most obliged &
affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Chapel Street May 30. 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 74
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: low)
Date sent: 30 May 1787
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, taking advantage of a frank to write despite her preparations for leaving London. She congratulates Hamilton on the recovery [from a fall] of John Dickenson Snr. She anticipates bad news from Bristol, regrets to hear from Hamilton that Lady Wake's eye problem is worse than she had thought, thinks Hamilton ‘must have mistaken Lady de Vesci’, and without naming the Prince of Wales, condemns his conduct. She gives Hamilton generally good accounts of their friends in London, and hopes ‘Miss A. Clarke will have the Happiness of seeing you this year’.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapel Street, 1787 May 30.
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: 11 October 2026
