Diplomatic Text
84
1789
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your kind Enqui
[r]y after me. I am at present I thank
[G]od tolerably well. I very Sincerely
[r]egret the Loʃs of the excellent
[F]riend we have lost: but I always
[r]eflect with Comfort & Gratification on
that Character which I trust has
[i]nsured a State of such Happineʃs
[t]o her Self. Many have been the
[H]ours which we have delightfully
[1][s]pent with her & dear Mrs Vesey.
[Fro]m this world they are for ever
[f]lown. May God restore them to us
[i]n a better, & grant we may again
[e]njoy the Society of our dear
Friends, where there will be no
Allay[2] from human Imperfection,
nor any Fear of parting.
Mrs Vesey is usually tolerably
composed: but seems to have a
general Confused Idea of her uncomforta
ble State. She does not know of her
Loʃs: but appears restleʃs to miʃs
Mrs H. & is often asking for her.
But nothing dwells long together
on her Mind. Her Servants attend
her with great Care & Tenderneʃs:
& it is a great Bleʃsing that
they are so affectionately attached
to her --- There is no Will
found of Mrs Handcock. Her Bro
ther is to administer. I think
She cannot have left much.
God be thanked I can
give you a good Account of
our gracious & beloved King
who is in Reality much better
than appears by the Accounts
which you see in the public
papers. He is gradually advancing
towards Recovery in the very
manner which Dr Willis could
wish, who has the highest Hopes
of his perfect Restoration. Party
has run very high: & the op
position has been conducted in
a most indecent &, considering
the Calamity of the K. a most
inhuman manner. Mr Pitt has
carried all his points by a
Majority I believe unexampled
in a falling Minister, & which
serves to show where & how
strongly he is poʃseʃsed of the
public Confidence. The Regency
is nearly settled: so he will now
soon be warned to quit his
post. Happy would it be for the
Nation if his Succeʃsors fill it
with equal wisdom & Integrity
but of this there does not seem
Reason to form any very encoura
-ging Hopes.
I had the pleasure
of breakfasting yesterday very
Comfortably Tete a Tete with
Miʃs A. Clarke. I hope when the
weather grows more favorable
for walking, we shall meet often
er than we have yet been able
to do.
I beg to be very kindly
remembered to Mr Dickenson &
Louisa, who I hope has not
forgot to repeat my name.
Adieu my dear Friend Your
obliged & affectionate
ECarter
Chapel Street
Feby 13. 1789[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Some of the initial letters covered by the support can be read from the image of p.2 in Mirador by enhancing and flipping the image.
2. One of the obsolete senses of allay, perhaps ‘[s]omething which is mixed with another thing of different character or quality; esp. an undesirable element which impairs something good’ or ‘impediment’ (OED s.v. n.1, I.4 and II.7. Accessed 15-02-2026).
3. The dateline appears to the left of the signature.
Normalised Text
Many Thanks to you my
dear Friend for your kind Enquiry
after me. I am at present I thank
God tolerably well. I very Sincerely
regret the Loss of the excellent
Friend we have lost: but I always
reflect with Comfort & Gratification on
that Character which I trust has
insured a State of such Happiness
to her Self. Many have been the
Hours which we have delightfully
spent with her & dear Mrs Vesey.
From this world they are for ever
flown. May God restore them to us
in a better, & grant we may again
enjoy the Society of our dear
Friends, where there will be no
Allay from human Imperfection,
nor any Fear of parting.
Mrs Vesey is usually tolerably
composed: but seems to have a
general Confused Idea of her uncomfortable
State. She does not know of her
Loss: but appears to miss
Mrs Handcock & is often asking for her.
But nothing dwells long together
on her Mind. Her Servants attend
her with great Care & Tenderness:
& it is a great Blessing that
they are so affectionately attached
to her There is no Will
found of Mrs Handcock. Her Brother
is to administer. I think
She cannot have left much.
God be thanked I can
give you a good Account of
our gracious & beloved King
who is in Reality much better
than appears by the Accounts
which you see in the public
papers. He is gradually advancing
towards Recovery in the very
manner which Dr Willis could
wish, who has the highest Hopes
of his perfect Restoration. Party
has run very high: & the opposition
has been conducted in
a most indecent &, considering
the Calamity of the K. a most
inhuman manner. Mr Pitt has
carried all his points by a
Majority I believe unexampled
in a falling Minister, & which
serves to show how
strongly he is possessed of the
public Confidence. The Regency
is nearly settled: so he will now
soon be warned to quit his
post. Happy would it be for the
Nation if his Successors fill it
with equal wisdom & Integrity
but of this there does not seem
Reason to form any very encouraging
Hopes.
I had the pleasure
of breakfasting yesterday very
Comfortably Tete a Tete with
Miss Anna Clarke. I hope when the
weather grows more favourable
for walking, we shall meet oftener
than we have yet been able
to do.
I beg to be very kindly
remembered to Mr Dickenson &
Louisa, who I hope has not
forgotten to repeat my name.
Adieu my dear Friend Your
obliged & affectionate
Elizabeth Carter
Chapel Street
February 13. 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 84
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 13 February 1789
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton. Carter reports on Mrs Vesey's state after the loss of Miss Handcock, and she has breakfasted with Miss A. Clark. In connection with the expected regency, she asserts that the King's condition is much better than appears from the newspapers, that Dr Willis is confident of a full recovery, and that Mr Pitt will be greatly missed if, as expected, he has to resign.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Chapel Street, 1789 February 13.
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
