Diplomatic Text
77
1788
I know my dear Mrs Handcock,
that you & dear Mrs Vesey, will be
kindly glad to receive a better Account
of me, than I was able to give you, the
last Time I wrote. Within this last
Week, I have, I thank God, surpriz-
ing[1] recovered my Strength, & am
returned nearly to my usual State.
As one proof of my Amendment, my
old constitutional Head Ach is come
back again, & I welcome it as
kindly as Mr Walpole does the Gout.
Indeed it is a much leʃs Evil than
the outrageous pain, that drove it
away, & usurped it's place. -- I have
perfectly recovered my Appetite & my
Taste: so that if I was within Reach
of your Tea Table, which is the most
delightful of all Tea Tables, I should
give it all due Honour, as much as
ever.
I had a letter not long since
from poor Mrs Henry, in which she
gives a sad Account of her Health.
Her Cough, & the Oppreʃsion on
her Breath were so bad, that she
was not able to lie down in her
Bed.
It would make me very hap
-py if I could hear that you and
Mrs Vesey had taken Courage to
go & spend a few Weeks at Richmond
where you would be within Reach
of so many of your Friends. Indeed
it quite grieves me to think of
your remaining in the Suffocation
and Solitude of a London Summer.
My best Love & kindest
Wishes always attend you and dear
Mrs Vesey. Adieu my good friend.
Ever most affectionately yours
ECarter
Deal July 1. 1788
[2]
I cannot tell how soon this Letter
may reach you, as it is sent by a
Private Hand.
Answerd for
Mrs. Hancock --
20
14 7- 9
5- 4-11
1-10- 6
21 3- 2
20- 8- 2
15
21 3 2
15- 0- 0
6- 3 2
21 3 2
To
Mrs Handcock
At Mrs Vesey's
Clarges Street[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Cf. ‘surprizingly’ in MS Eng 1778 76 p.1, which uses the expected adverb form.
2. Remains of a seal in red wax.
3. The direction is written vertically, partially covering some of the pencil figures.
Normalised Text
I know my dear Mrs Handcock,
that you & dear Mrs Vesey, will be
kindly glad to receive a better Account
of me, than I was able to give you, the
last Time I wrote. Within this last
Week, I have, I thank God, surprisingly
recovered my Strength, & am
returned nearly to my usual State.
As one proof of my Amendment, my
old constitutional Head Ache is come
back again, & I welcome it as
kindly as Mr Walpole does the Gout.
Indeed it is a much less Evil than
the outrageous pain, that drove it
away, & usurped it's place. -- I have
perfectly recovered my Appetite & my
Taste: so that if I was within Reach
of your Tea Table, which is the most
delightful of all Tea Tables, I should
give it all due Honour, as much as
ever.
I had a letter not long since
from poor Mrs Henry, in which she
gives a sad Account of her Health.
Her Cough, & the Oppression on
her Breath were so bad, that she
was not able to lie down in her
Bed.
It would make me very happy
if I could hear that you and
Mrs Vesey had taken Courage to
go & spend a few Weeks at Richmond
where you would be within Reach
of so many of your Friends. Indeed
it quite grieves me to think of
your remaining in the Suffocation
and Solitude of a London Summer.
My best Love & kindest
Wishes always attend you and dear
Mrs Vesey. Adieu my good friend.
Ever most affectionately yours
Elizabeth Carter
Deal July 1. 1788
I cannot tell how soon this Letter
may reach you, as it is sent by a
Private Hand.
To
Mrs Handcock
At Mrs Vesey's
Clarges Street
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 Martha Handcock
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 77
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Martha Handcock
Place received: London
Date sent: 1 July 1788
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Martha Handcock. Carter's letter repeats some of the material on her own health in her letter to Mary Hamilton dated the day before [MS Eng 1778 76]. She encourages Mrs Handcock and Mrs Vesey to leave ‘the Suffocation’ of London for Richmond, ‘where you would be within Reach of so many of your Friends’. She reports on a recent letter from Mrs Henry, whose health is very poor.
A postscript notes that the letter is being sent by a private hand [possibly by Mary Hamilton, who answers it on behalf of Mrs Handcock and retains the letter].
The address on the envelope is written over two financial calculations.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mrs Handcock; Deal, 1788 July 1.
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: 13 October 2026
