Diplomatic Text
75
deal dec: 23. 1787
In the Hope of procuring a Convey
-ance to you my dear Friend, I am sat down
to thank you for your kind Letter, which convey-
gave me the welcome Intelligence of your being
restored to the Use of your Eyes. The Deprivation
of them must have been particularly --- mortify
ing to you, who so well know how to employ them.
As you say that you have found Relief from Spring
water, I wish you would try to procure some
from Holy well in Glocestershire. This Spring is
famous for Inflammations in the Eyes. The first
person who mentioned it to me was Lady Arbella
Denny,[1] who had such an opinion of it's virtues,
that she always carried some with her to Ireland.
Grievous indeed have been the
Afflictions of our dear & excellent Friends Ld &
Ly Cremorne. Mere unaʃsisted human nature must
have sunk beneath the Weight. But that
God whose faithful Servants they are, is all pow
-erfull & has supported them in a wonderfull
Manner. When one considers the Delicacy of
Ly Cremorne's Health, & the strong & tender Affecti
ons of her Heart, compared with the long
Fatigues of Body, & Anxieties of Mind, which
she endured in her Constant Attendance on her sweet
childern, it is astonishing that she has lived through
all she has suffered, & one must see & adore the Aʃsis
-tance of a Strength superiour to her own. The same
omnipotent & gracious power will I trust reward
her exemplary piety & Resignation by healing the
wounds of her Heart & restoring her to Tranquil
lity & a cheerfull Enjoyment of her remaining
Bleʃsings.
Nothing, I hope will prevent your kind &
agreeable Intention of visiting your Friends in
Town early enough for me to have the Benefit of
it. Miʃs A. Clarke writes me word they have at last
fixed on a House in New Norfolk Street. I regret
that she is not nearer to chapel Street. But this is
Nothing compared with the Concern I feel on a much
more important Subject, from a Hint you give me, of the
Brother in Law. I hope she has some skillful Friend
to aʃsist her in bringing the Affair to a Conclusion.
I heartily congratulate you on the Recovery
of your little Girl from the small pox, & in the Comfort you
must enjoy in the general Goodneʃs of her Health. May this
Bleʃsing be continued to you!
I am Glad that poor Mrs Newton had the Comfort
of meeting you at Buxton. By your Account, the Hopes
She had formed, when I left London, of an Alteration for
the better in her wretched Son, with Regard to her self,
have vanished into nothing. She sent him, notwithstand
-ing his Behaviour to her, 100£: & his Absence has bur
thened her with the Care, & Expence of his Boys: & his tak
ing no notice of either this or her Letters, shows a Strange
Hardneʃs of Heart: & I am afraid it will weigh her down
with Sorrow to the Grave.
Be so good when you
write to Lady De Vesci, to present my
affectionate Respects to her. She appears
to me a most sensible & amiable Character,
& I am glad She retains so obliging a
Remembrance of the Fri Society she found
in England.
very melancholy are the Accounts
which I receive of the Failure of dear
Mrs Vesey's Memory, yet as I find, that
when they are present, she still seems to enjoy
the Sight of her Friends, I hope to be of some little
Comfort to her & good Mrs Handcock, whose Situation is
very pitiable, & her unwearied Attention to her poor Friend
most admirable.
Mrs Beauvoir has been in this Country, &
wrote me a Letter desiring a Reconciliation. It was not
consistent with Christian principles to refuse this overture
so I received her Visit, & returned it before she left the
Country. As to Reconciliation, I never quarrelled with her:
I am glad for her own sake, she grew weary of quarrelling
with me.[2] I beg to be kindly remembered to Mr Dickenson
& am, with every good Wish to you both
my dear Friend your obliged &
affectionate ECarter
[3]
Salop[4] twenty ninth December 1787[5]
Mrs. Dickenson
Taxal
chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
Free WPulteney
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Lady Arabella Fitzmaurice Denny (1707-1792), founder of the Magdalen Asylum for Protestant Girls in Dublin (Wikipedia).
2. Personal contact between Carter and Beauvoir had ceased in 1782 after Beauvoir asserted control over the education of Carter's niece; see for example MS Eng 1778 15 p.1.
3. The address is in the hand of Sir William Pulteney, MP for Shrewsbury, provider of the frank.
4. ‘Salop’ is an old name for Shropshire, often used in addresses.
5. Stamp reading ‘SHREWSBURY’
Normalised Text
deal december 23. 1787
In the Hope of procuring a Conveyance
to you my dear Friend, I am sat down
to thank you for your kind Letter, which
gave me the welcome Intelligence of your being
restored to the Use of your Eyes. The Deprivation
of them must have been particularly mortifying
to you, who so well know how to employ them.
As you say that you have found Relief from Spring
water, I wish you would try to procure some
from Holy well in Glocestershire. This Spring is
famous for Inflammations in the Eyes. The first
person who mentioned it to me was Lady Arbella
Denny, who had such an opinion of it's virtues,
that she always carried some with her to Ireland.
Grievous indeed have been the
Afflictions of our dear & excellent Friends Lord &
Lady Cremorne. Mere unassisted human nature must
have sunk beneath the Weight. But that
God whose faithful Servants they are, is all powerful
& has supported them in a wonderful
Manner. When one considers the Delicacy of
Lady Cremorne's Health, & the strong & tender Affections
of her Heart, compared with the long
Fatigues of Body, & Anxieties of Mind, which
she endured in her Constant Attendance on her sweet
children, it is astonishing that she has lived through
all she has suffered, & one must see & adore the Assistance
of a Strength superior to her own. The same
omnipotent & gracious power will I trust reward
her exemplary piety & Resignation by healing the
wounds of her Heart & restoring her to Tranquillity
& a cheerful Enjoyment of her remaining
Blessings.
Nothing, I hope will prevent your kind &
agreeable Intention of visiting your Friends in
Town early enough for me to have the Benefit of
it. Miss Anna Clarke writes me word they have at last
fixed on a House in New Norfolk Street. I regret
that she is not nearer to chapel Street. But this is
Nothing compared with the Concern I feel on a much
more important Subject, from a Hint you give me, of the
Brother in Law. I hope she has some skilful Friend
to assist her in bringing the Affair to a Conclusion.
I heartily congratulate you on the Recovery
of your little Girl from the small pox, & in the Comfort you
must enjoy in the general Goodness of her Health. May this
Blessing be continued to you!
I am Glad that poor Mrs Newton had the Comfort
of meeting you at Buxton. By your Account, the Hopes
She had formed, when I left London, of an Alteration for
the better in her wretched Son, with Regard to her self,
have vanished into nothing. She sent him, notwithstanding
his Behaviour to her, 100£: & his Absence has burdened
her with the Care, & Expense of his Boys: & his taking
no notice of either this or her Letters, shows a Strange
Hardness of Heart: & I am afraid it will weigh her down
with Sorrow to the Grave.
Be so good when you
write to Lady De Vesci, to present my
affectionate Respects to her. She appears
to me a most sensible & amiable Character,
& I am glad She retains so obliging a
Remembrance of the Society she found
in England.
very melancholy are the Accounts
which I receive of the Failure of dear
Mrs Vesey's Memory, yet as I find, that
when they are present, she still seems to enjoy
the Sight of her Friends, I hope to be of some little
Comfort to her & good Mrs Handcock, whose Situation is
very pitiable, & her unwearied Attention to her poor Friend
most admirable.
Mrs Beauvoir has been in this Country, &
wrote me a Letter desiring a Reconciliation. It was not
consistent with Christian principles to refuse this overture
so I received her Visit, & returned it before she left the
Country. As to Reconciliation, I never quarrelled with her:
I am glad for her own sake, she grew weary of quarrelling
with me. I beg to be kindly remembered to Mr Dickenson
& am, with every good Wish to you both
my dear Friend your obliged &
affectionate Elizabeth Carter
Salop twenty ninth December 1787
Mrs. Dickenson
Taxal
chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
Free William Pulteney
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 75
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 29 December 1787
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter welcomes the news that Hamilton's eyes are better, thanks to bathing them in spring water, and advocates the use of water from Holywell in Gloucestershire. She finds it remarkable that Lord and Lady Cremorne have not sunk beneath the weight of the loss of their two children, especially given ‘the Delicacy of L[ad]y Cremorne's Health’; she attributes it to their Christian faith. The letter continues with news of Anna Maria Clarke having found another house, and also of some unspecified trouble with her brother-in-law. There is concerning news about Mrs Newton and about Mrs Vesey. Carter asks her own ‘affectionate Respects’ to be included by Hamilton when she writes to Lady de Vesci. Finally, she reports that Mary Beauvoir [née Sharpe] has decided to stop quarrelling with her, and that they have exchanged visits.
The letter was posted by William Pulteney from his constituency of Shrewsbury, four days after Christmas and nearly a week after its writing in Deal.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1787 December 23.
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: 15 October 2026
