Diplomatic Text
82
deal Oct: 11. 1788
Many Thanks to you my dear
Friend for giving me so comfortable an
Account of you all. Do not expect however
that I should give intire Credit to what
you Say of Mr Dickenson. That he may
be very well I can readily & gladly believe:
I can likewise admit of his being leʃs thin:
but as to your saying that he grows fat, I
hold it to be a manifest Abuse of the Word.
I rejoyce with you in the good
Account of the Effect of Kidlestone on dear
Ld & Ly. Cremorne. I trust that she will by
Degrees regain that Strength which has been so
sadly shattered by her Tryals both of Body &
Mind. We cannot hope that a Recovery from
such Agitations as she has endured can be
suddenly acquired: but we have Reason to be
thankful for every little Improvement of Health &
Spirits to this dear & invaluable Friend.
Many thanks for your kind wishes. I am
at present, I bleʃs God, returned to the same
Degree of Health & Strength, as before my
Illneʃs: though the progreʃs was for several
Weeks so slow, that I could scarcely expect
such a Bleʃsing at my Time of Life.
It is no wonder that poor Mrs
Newton should receive so little Benefit
from Tunbridge. While her Spirits laboured
under such an oppreʃsion from the Behavi
-our of her wretched Son. To Embitter the
last Days of a parent, whose constant
Attention had been engaged to promote his
Interest, & that of his Children, is surely
Monstrous. Poor Woman, I fear she will
scarcely be able to struggle through this
hard Tryal, which will be rendered the
more Severe by the disappointment of her
Hopes: for I believe she had flattered her
self, before his Return to England, that
his Sentiments with Regard to her, had
become more Dutiful & affectionate.
Mrs. Henry was very ill when she left England for
some time after she got to Dublin: but her last Letters
bring much better Accounts: & I hope she is nearly, if
not quite recovered.
I imagine your Visit to Wherwell[1] is in
the Way to your Return to Taxal, & that we have no
Chance of having you with us in Town next Winter.
I think if we had, Miʃs A. Clarke from whom I lately
had a Letter, would not have regretted her
being obliged on her Sister's Account to
separate from you. I fear I have little
Reason to expect to see her, as the days[2]
are now so short, unleʃs she will trust
to a Moon. I have however named it
to her, & should be very glad to see her.
We have had for the last 10 Days
very turbulent equinoctial Weather. Per
haps by the time you receive this Letter you
may have forgot the Equinox, & be entered into
Winter: for I write to be ready, for any Convey
-ance that may offer: as I have no Opportunity
of getting a Frank. I beg to be kindly remem-
bered to Mr Dickenson. Do not let Louisa forget
me.
I have not seen the Pelew Islands:
but hear a good Account of the Book.[3] About the
late K. of P. I have little Curiosity, as I am far
from having any Respect for such a Character.
I am at present reading Mdlle Keralio's History of
Q. Elizabeth.[4] It appears to me a very masterly perform
-ance. She is extremely favourable to the unfortunate
Q. of Scotts. But she quotes many & strong authorities[5]
for her vindication.
Adieu my dear Friend. Whatever Road
you are taking may Health, good Spirits & all Happineʃs
attend you. your obliged & affectionate
ECarter
To
Mrs Dickenson's
At J. Jacksons Esqr
Old Burlington Street[6]
[7]
▼
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Hamilton and family stayed with the Iremongers in Wherwell from 6 to 21 October 1788 (see DDX 274/19 pp.114-116, the entries written indiscriminately by both Hamilton and Dickenson).
2. There is portion cut away where the seal or wafer was; no text is lost.
3. Keate, George (1729-1797), An account of the Pelew Islands, situated in the western part of the Pacific Ocean: composed from the journals and communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of his officers, who, in August 1783, were there shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a packet belonging to the Honourable East India Company. G. Nicol, London, 1788.
4. de Keralio, Louise Félicité Guinement (1757-1821), Histoire d'Elisabeth, reine d'Angleterre, tirée des écrits originaux anglois, d'actes, titres, lettres & autres pièces manuscrites qui n'ont pas encore paru, par Mademoiselle de Keralio. Paris, 1786-1788.
5. Moved this section from the foot of the page, written upside down.
6. The direction is written vertically.
7. Part of p.2 is visible through the cut-away portion.
Normalised Text
deal October 11. 1788
Many Thanks to you my dear
Friend for giving me so comfortable an
Account of you all. Do not expect however
that I should give entire Credit to what
you Say of Mr Dickenson. That he may
be very well I can readily & gladly believe:
I can likewise admit of his being less thin:
but as to your saying that he grows fat, I
hold it to be a manifest Abuse of the Word.
I rejoice with you in the good
Account of the Effect of Kidlestone on dear
Lord & Lady Cremorne. I trust that she will by
Degrees regain that Strength which has been so
sadly shattered by her Trials both of Body &
Mind. We cannot hope that a Recovery from
such Agitations as she has endured can be
suddenly acquired: but we have Reason to be
thankful for every little Improvement of Health &
Spirits to this dear & invaluable Friend.
Many thanks for your kind wishes. I am
at present, I bless God, returned to the same
Degree of Health & Strength, as before my
Illness: though the progress was for several
Weeks so slow, that I could scarcely expect
such a Blessing at my Time of Life.
It is no wonder that poor Mrs
Newton should receive so little Benefit
from Tunbridge. While her Spirits laboured
under such an oppression from the Behaviour
of her wretched Son. To Embitter the
last Days of a parent, whose constant
Attention had been engaged to promote his
Interest, & that of his Children, is surely
Monstrous. Poor Woman, I fear she will
scarcely be able to struggle through this
hard Trial, which will be rendered the
more Severe by the disappointment of her
Hopes: for I believe she had flattered her
self, before his Return to England, that
his Sentiments with Regard to her, had
become more Dutiful & affectionate.
Mrs. Henry was very ill when she left England for
some time after she got to Dublin: but her last Letters
bring much better Accounts: & I hope she is nearly, if
not quite recovered.
I imagine your Visit to Wherwell is in
the Way to your Return to Taxal, & that we have no
Chance of having you with us in Town next Winter.
I think if we had, Miss Anna Clarke from whom I lately
had a Letter, would not have regretted her
being obliged on her Sister's Account to
separate from you. I fear I have little
Reason to expect to see her, as the days
are now so short, unless she will trust
to a Moon. I have however named it
to her, & should be very glad to see her.
We have had for the last 10 Days
very turbulent equinoctial Weather. Perhaps
by the time you receive this Letter you
may have forgotten the Equinox, & be entered into
Winter: for I write to be ready, for any Conveyance
that may offer: as I have no Opportunity
of getting a Frank. I beg to be kindly remembered
to Mr Dickenson. Do not let Louisa forget
me.
I have not seen the Pelew Islands:
but hear a good Account of the Book. About the
late King of Prussia I have little Curiosity, as I am far
from having any Respect for such a Character.
I am at present reading Mademoiselle Keralio's History of
Queen Elizabeth. It appears to me a very masterly performance
. She is extremely favourable to the unfortunate
Queen of Scotts. But she quotes many & strong authorities
for her vindication.
Adieu my dear Friend. Whatever Road
you are taking may Health, good Spirits & all Happiness
attend you. your obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
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 82
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: not before 11 October 1788
notBefore 11 October 1788 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter challenges Hamilton's claim that her husband ‘grows fat’. She rejoices in encouraging news of Lady Cremorne at Kedleston and Mrs Henry in Dublin, but she is not surprised that ‘poor Mrs Newton' should have got so little benefit from Tunbridge. She is not curious about the late King of Prussia [Frederick the Great, died 1786], ‘as I am far from having any Respect for such a Character’.
Carter has not seen a recent book on the Pelew Islands. She is reading a [French] history of Queen Elizabeth I by Louise de Kéralio and is impressed by its vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1788 October 11.
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
