Diplomatic Text
80
1788
Many Thanks to you, my dear Friend
for so kindly thinking on me in your Visit
to Ly. Cremorne. I rejoyce that you found her
better than you expected. I hope indeed that her
General state of Health & Spirits is upon the
whole mended. After such Tryals as theyshe has
Suffered both in Body & Mind, we have a
great Reason to be thankful, that her life has
been supported under them. God in his Goodneʃs
I trust will still continue her an invaluable
Bleʃsing to dear Ld Cremorne, & her Friends,
& an Example of Piety, Resignation, & every
Virtue, decorated by every amiable Quality, to
the World. -- Indeed it was vexatious that
you were disappointed in your Hope of a
Tête a Tête: but this must often be the Case
with Regard to the few Characters, who are
admired, esteemed, & beloved by the whole
World, which must neceʃsarily often steal them
from their most intimate Friends.
I am much obliged to you for transcribing
the History of the Chateau de la Garde. 500 letters
of Mde de Sevignè is a delightful Trouvaille.
There does not seem to be any Thing, so
far as appears, to discredit this Account. I have
often wished that all the antique Houses
belonging to our old Nobility, were to un
dergo a thorough Search: & I think it is
very probable, that many original Letters
& Papers might be found, that would
throw --- great Light on the History of the
Times in which the Authors lived. -- As
to the Pictures which you name, Mr de
Vence has them all, as I am informed, parti
cularly 2 of Mde. de Sevignè: but perhaps
he may wish to have those Likewise that
are in the Chateau de la Garde: but this
seems to be the only improbable part of the
Story, that they should have been left
there. -- yet it ought not to be Suspected
without some Reason that Mr & Mde Les Presi
dents would invent such a Falsehood. Per
haps they may be Copies of those in the poʃseʃsi
-on of Mr de Vence.
I am glad to hear so good an Account
of Mr Dickenson, & my little Friend Louisa. pray
remember me kindly to them, & Miʃs A. Clarke.
As to my self I am I thank God,
pretty much in my usual state,
with my own natural Head Ach &c.
I have not quite regained the
same degree of Strength which I
had before my Illneʃs: but I am
Contented & thankful to be as
I am.
You do not mention how
long you are to continue at
Richmond. I hope as long as ever
the Weather continues good, as I think your
Situation there must be, in all Respects very
pleasant. I would join with you in calling
Miʃs C. perverse for not being of your party: but
poor Soul, I think all her little unreasonable-
neʃses the Effect of Distemper. Adieu my dear
Friend. Your obliged & affectionate
ECarter
Deal Augst 16. 1788.
Mrs. Carter August
16th. 1788
To
Mrs Dickenson's
at J. Jacksons Esqr
old Burlington Street[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Many Thanks to you, my dear Friend
for so kindly thinking on me in your Visit
to Lady Cremorne. I rejoice that you found her
better than you expected. I hope indeed that her
General state of Health & Spirits is upon the
whole mended. After such Trials as she has
Suffered both in Body & Mind, we have a
great Reason to be thankful, that her life has
been supported under them. God in his Goodness
I trust will still continue her an invaluable
Blessing to dear Lord Cremorne, & her Friends,
& an Example of Piety, Resignation, & every
Virtue, decorated by every amiable Quality, to
the World. -- Indeed it was vexatious that
you were disappointed in your Hope of a
Tête a Tête: but this must often be the Case
with Regard to the few Characters, who are
admired, esteemed, & beloved by the whole
World, which must necessarily often steal them
from their most intimate Friends.
I am much obliged to you for transcribing
the History of the Chateau de la Garde. 500 letters
of Madame de Sevignè is a delightful Trouvaille.
There does not seem to be any Thing, so
far as appears, to discredit this Account. I have
often wished that all the antique Houses
belonging to our old Nobility, were to undergo
a thorough Search: & I think it is
very probable, that many original Letters
& Papers might be found, that would
throw great Light on the History of the
Times in which the Authors lived. -- As
to the Pictures which you name, Mr de
Vence has them all, as I am informed, particularly
2 of Madame de Sevignè: but perhaps
he may wish to have those Likewise that
are in the Chateau de la Garde: but this
seems to be the only improbable part of the
Story, that they should have been left
there. -- yet it ought not to be Suspected
without some Reason that Mr & Madame Les Presidents
would invent such a Falsehood. Perhaps
they may be Copies of those in the Possession
of Mr de Vence.
I am glad to hear so good an Account
of Mr Dickenson, & my little Friend Louisa. pray
remember me kindly to them, & Miss Anna Clarke.
As to my self I am I thank God,
pretty much in my usual state,
with my own natural Head Ache &c.
I have not quite regained the
same degree of Strength which I
had before my Illness: but I am
Contented & thankful to be as
I am.
You do not mention how
long you are to continue at
Richmond. I hope as long as ever
the Weather continues good, as I think your
Situation there must be, in all Respects very
pleasant. I would join with you in calling
Miss Clarke perverse for not being of your party: but
poor Soul, I think all her little unreasonablenesses
the Effect of Distemper. Adieu my dear
Friend. Your obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Deal Augst 16. 1788.
To
Mrs Dickenson's
at John Jacksons Esqr
old Burlington 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 Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 80
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Richmond (certainty: low)
Date sent: 16 August 1788
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter hopes that Lady Cremorne will continue ‘as an Example of Piety, Resignation, & every Virtue’. She thanks Hamilton for transcribing the History of the Chateau de la Garde and thinks 500 letters of Madame de Sevignée a delightful find. She wonders how long Hamilton and her family will remain at Richmond and encourages them to stay as long as the weather holds.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1788 August 16.
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
