Diplomatic Text
83
1789
It is not so much the Hurry of
Engagements that has prevented me from sooner
thanking you my dear Friend for your kind
Letter, but the want of a Frank, and the Bad
neʃs of the Streets which would suffer me
to exert my self to procure one: for you
know I must do every Thing by my own
Hands & Feet.
Let me begin with mention
-ing a Subject at present next my Heart,
the Loʃs of dear good Mrs Handcock. I sent
to her Wednesday in last week to pro
pose dining with her. The Servants
ret returned for Answer, that she had
been seized the night before, with
such a violent pain in her Back, that
she had been obliged to call in a physician.
I went to her, & found the Pain had
extended it self all over her. It carried
the Appearance of a rheumatic Fever: Dr
Higgins did not apprehend any immedi-
ate danger: but yet gave but little Hopes of
any complete Recovery. For a day or 2 the
Symptoms seemed rather better; but this Encou
ragement was of short duration. I was with
Ly Cremorne in her Chamber for some Time
on Monday, when she was visibly sinking:
& yesterday morning between 12 & one, it
pleased God to remove this good Woman
to the Reward of her blameleʃs Life in a
better World. Ly Cremorne, who is a minist-
ring Angel to all in distreʃs, was almost
constantly with her during her Illneʃs.
Dear Mrs Vesey knows nothing of her Death
but has some general vague Idea of her
being not well. Most happily during the
whole Time of Mrs Handcocks Illneʃs, Mrs Vesey
was remarkably quiet, & had no Fits
of Violence & has been very composed ever
since. Mrs H. told the Servants that she
had no wish to live, but on the Account
of Mrs Vesey: that however she had great
Satisfaction in leaving her to their Care.
Indeed this is a great Comfort to all Mrs
Vesey's Friends: for such a Set of servants
I scarcely ever knew. It is delightful to see
with what Fidelity, Tenderneʃs, & delicate
Respect they treat their poor Mistreʃs.
One is always apt to feel that
those whom one esteems & loves, at
whatever Age, die too soon. Mrs H. was in
her 80th. Year: but her Faculties were
all entire: & I had been very happy in
thinking her Heath better this Winter,
than I had known it for some Years. To
her self the Change I humbly trust is a
bleʃsed one. But besides the Grief that
that must be felt on the Account of
poor dear Mrs Vesey. I cannot help re-
gretting the loʃs the Loʃs of a most
valuable & kind Friend with whom I have
been connected for near 30 Years. I have
dwelt long on this affecting subject but
it is near my Heart: & besides I though[t]
you would wish to know the particulars of
of it.
I heartily congratulate you on being
so comfortably returned Home, & enjoying
the Bleʃsing of seeing all you Love in Health
good Spirits & Concord. I hope when you &
Mr Dickenson have given such a Portion
of your Society as they may very reasona
bly claim, you will think of visiting your
more distant Friends.
Dear Ld & Ly Cremorne I thank
God in much better Health than last Year.
Mr Walpole has been confined with a
sad Cough: but it is now tolerably well re
-moved: & I had this pleasure of seeing
him well last night at Mrs Ord's. All your
other Friends here are well. I beg to be kindly remem
bered to Mr Dickenson. & pray give a
Kiʃs for me to Louisa. Adieu my dear
Friend. Your obliged & affectionate
ECarter
Chapel Street
Feb: 4. 1789[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
It is not so much the Hurry of
Engagements that has prevented me from sooner
thanking you my dear Friend for your kind
Letter, but the want of a Frank, and the Badness
of the Streets which would suffer me
to exert my self to procure one: for you
know I must do every Thing by my own
Hands & Feet.
Let me begin with mentioning
a Subject at present next my Heart,
the Loss of dear good Mrs Handcock. I sent
to her Wednesday in last week to propose
dining with her. The Servants
returned for Answer, that she had
been seized the night before, with
such a violent pain in her Back, that
she had been obliged to call in a physician.
I went to her, & found the Pain had
extended it self all over her. It carried
the Appearance of a rheumatic Fever: Dr
Higgins did not apprehend any immediate
danger: but yet gave but little Hopes of
any complete Recovery. For a day or 2 the
Symptoms seemed rather better; but this Encouragement
was of short duration. I was with
Ly Cremorne in her Chamber for some Time
on Monday, when she was visibly sinking:
& yesterday morning between 12 & one, it
pleased God to remove this good Woman
to the Reward of her blameless Life in a
better World. Ly Cremorne, who is a ministering
Angel to all in distress, was almost
constantly with her during her Illness.
Dear Mrs Vesey knows nothing of her Death
but has some general vague Idea of her
being not well. Most happily during the
whole Time of Mrs Handcocks Illness, Mrs Vesey
was remarkably quiet, & had no Fits
of Violence & has been very composed ever
since. Mrs Handcock told the Servants that she
had no wish to live, but on the Account
of Mrs Vesey: that however she had great
Satisfaction in leaving her to their Care.
Indeed this is a great Comfort to all Mrs
Vesey's Friends: for such a Set of servants
I scarcely ever knew. It is delightful to see
with what Fidelity, Tenderness, & delicate
Respect they treat their poor Mistress.
One is always apt to feel that
those whom one esteems & loves, at
whatever Age, die too soon. Mrs Handcock was in
her 80th. Year: but her Faculties were
all entire: & I had been very happy in
thinking her Health better this Winter,
than I had known it for some Years. To
her self the Change I humbly trust is a
blessed one. But besides the Grief that
must be felt on the Account of
poor dear Mrs Vesey. I cannot help re-
gretting the loss of a most
valuable & kind Friend with whom I have
been connected for near 30 Years. I have
dwelt long on this affecting subject but
it is near my Heart: & besides I thought
you would wish to know the particulars of
it.
I heartily congratulate you on being
so comfortably returned Home, & enjoying
the Blessing of seeing all you Love in Health
good Spirits & Concord. I hope when you &
Mr Dickenson have given such a Portion
of your Society as they may very reasonably
claim, you will think of visiting your
more distant Friends.
Dear Lord & Ly Cremorne I thank
God in much better Health than last Year.
Mr Walpole has been confined with a
sad Cough: but it is now tolerably well removed: & I had this pleasure of seeing
him well last night at Mrs Ord's. All your
other Friends here are well. I beg to be kindly remembered
to Mr Dickenson. & pray give a
Kiss for me to Louisa. Adieu my dear
Friend. Your obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Chapel Street
February 4. 1789
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 83
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 4 February 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton, mainly devoted to the death of Mrs Handcock.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapel Street, 1789 February 4.
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: David Denison (submitted 15 October 2026)
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
