Diplomatic Text
My dearest dearest dearest Friend,
Not knowing whether I am to have the happi=
=neʃs of meeting you this Evening, or not, at Windsor, I
aʃsume my Pen thus early in ye. morning (for it is now
--- just 5 o clock in ye morning) to aʃsure you how inexpreʃsible
my joy will be, if you inform me that I am to have that
pleasure; But if I am not to be so fortunate, I do
in ye. fairest manner declare to you, I shall not have
that ease, life, & content, which yr. presence always inspires
me with, during our ʃhort stay at Windsor. Whereever I am, you
need not fear, my ever forgetting you even for a moment, for
yr. dear image has so deeply imprinted itʃelf in my heart
that it will never be effaced out of it. I wish you to listen
to a word or two more only, before I conclude my Letter,
I wish you would take this toothpickcase, mind what
I say now, I do not say accept, asin an exchange for the
present you was so good as to send me a week or fortnight
ago, and which to my ʃhame be it said, I never have
as yet even thanked you for it, an& for *the World says wherever
any edged instrument is contained in a present made by
one friend to another, their friendʃhip does not subsist
long.[2] For as it is the object of my wishes that our
friendʃhip which now ʃtands upon the firmest grounds
should have an everlasting duration, I am desirous
that even such a trivial thing as *superstition ʃhould
not interfere with. I hope this trifling toothpickcase will not alarm yr.
delicacy, for as I am writing to my dearest Friend I
write solely & truly what are the sentiments of my heart.
Adieu my dearest, dearest, dearest Friend, & believe
that I shall ever be
yr. sincerely laffectionate & loving
Friend.
P.S. I have bid R --- E
carry you this and call soon after
for a little ʃhort answer which I entreat
you to favor me with. Adieu.[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The image displayed here differs from the one available from the Royal Archives, which has the order of pages reversed.
2. The Prince uses asterisks to indicate that this saying is the ‘superstition’ mentioned half a dozen lines below.
3. This postscript appears to the left of the last three lines of the closing salutation.
Normalised Text
My dearest dearest dearest Friend,
Not knowing whether I am to have the happiness
of meeting you this Evening, or not, at Windsor, I
assume my Pen thus early in the morning (for it is now
--- just 5 o'clock in the morning) to assure you how inexpressible
my joy will be, if you inform me that I am to have that
pleasure; But if I am not to be so fortunate, I do
in the fairest manner declare to you, I shall not have
that ease, life, & content, which your presence always inspires
me with, during our short stay at Windsor. Wherever I am, you
need not fear, my ever forgetting you even for a moment, for
your dear image has so deeply imprinted itself in my heart
that it will never be effaced out of it. I wish you to listen
to a word or two more only, before I conclude my Letter,
I wish you would take this toothpick case, mind what
I say now, I do not say accept, in an exchange for the
present you was so good as to send me a week or fortnight
ago, and which to my shame be it said, I never have
as yet even thanked you for , & *the World says wherever
any edged instrument is contained in a present made by
one friend to another, their friendship does not subsist
long. For as it is the object of my wishes that our
friendship which now stands upon the firmest grounds
should have an everlasting duration, I am desirous
that even such a trivial thing as *superstition should
not interfere with. I hope this trifling toothpick case will not alarm your
delicacy, for as I am writing to my dearest Friend I
write solely & truly what are the sentiments of my heart.
Adieu my dearest, dearest, dearest Friend, & believe
that I shall ever be
your sincerely affectionate & loving
Friend.
P.S. I have bid R E
carry you this and call soon after
for a little short answer which I entreat
you to favour me with. Adieu.
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Windsor Castle, The Royal Archives
Archive: GEO/ADD/3 Additional papers of George IV, as Prince, Regent, and King
Item title: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/82/10
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: Windsor
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.3 July 1779
notBefore 2 July 1779 (precision: high)
notAfter 3 July 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on whether he will see her that evening at Windsor, and on exchanging gifts.
The Prince gives Hamilton a toothpick case, and refers to her presents to him.
He states that he hasn't thanked her for them because 'the World says whenever any edged instrument is contained in a present made by one friend to another, their friendship does not subsist long'. In postscript the Prince writes that he has 'bid R[?] carry you this...'.
Written Saturday, at 5 o'clock in the morning.
Length: 1 sheet, 351 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated 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: Transcription and Research Assistant funding in 2018/19 provided by the Student Experience Internship programme of the University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Emma Donington Kiey, undergraduate student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Emma Donington Kiey (submitted June 2019)
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021