Diplomatic Text
Dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,
Accept ye sincere sentiments of gratitude
with which my heart is sincerely filled,
they are of ye warmest kind. Yes, my
real friend, my angelick Friend, my
heavenly Friend, I do most freely &
as Heaven is my Judge make you
yt.. Promise, that wherever I am, I
will to ye. best of my power inform you
of whatever happens to me in this World,
I will inform you of ye State of my
health, & will reveal to you every
secret sentiment & thought, & idea, from
that lurk in ye. receʃses of my Soul.
When you sympathise with me in my
griefs, th --- they will all be healed.
Heaven has not constituted a greater
bleʃsing for Man than that of a Friend.
into whose bosom one can vent every
misfortune yt.. either really befall
us, or wh.. our paʃsions ------ [1] for us.
You have really made me beyond measure
happy my dearest Sister, by making
me also ye. same promise I have made
you, I will to ye. best of my endeavours
sympathize with you, & try to shew
equal marks of tenderneʃs, & if
poʃsible to surpaʃs those which you
shew me. Believe me my dearest
Sister --- whatever my lot may turn out
to be, it will greatly encrease my
happineʃs to hear of yrs. Adieu, Adieu
Adieu, dearest, dearest, dearest Sister
Friend, I am & ever shall be to my
last gasp,
Yr. ever sincerely attached Brother
& Friend,
Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S. I am sorry indeed very sorry we shall not meet
at W—— ye whole pleasure of ye. party will be spoilt to me
by it -- By yYr. undreʃsing at St.. J. I think can be no proof of
our not meeting in ye. Afternoon, as you never wld.. have come
to Kew in Mantuaos.[2] I therefore hope we shall, however we shall
certainly on Wed-y following. Adieu Adieu. Adieu
toujours chére --
[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. It looks as if an original fancy may have been overwritten, but it is difficult to tell whether the later word is form or frame.
2. OED cites two related words for a loose gown worn by women, mantua n.2 (said to be fashionable until the early 18th century) and manteau n. (worn throughout the century). One variant spelling of the latter is manto, and a letter o apparently written above the word suggests uncertainty as to which form to use; cf. 'Cheneel (I do not know how to spell that word)' (GEO/ADD/3/82/59).
3. The last page is blank.
Normalised Text
Dearest, dearest, dearest Sister Friend,
Accept the sincere sentiments of gratitude
with which my heart is filled,
they are of the warmest kind. Yes, my
real friend, my angelic Friend, my
heavenly Friend, I do most freely &
as Heaven is my Judge make you
that Promise, that wherever I am, I
will to the best of my power inform you
of whatever happens to me in this World,
I will inform you of the State of my
health, & will reveal to you every
secret sentiment & thought, & idea,
that lurk in the recesses of my Soul.
When you sympathise with me in my
griefs, they will all be healed.
Heaven has not constituted a greater
blessing for Man than that of a Friend.
into whose bosom one can vent every
misfortune that either really befall
us, or which our passions ------ for us.
You have really made me beyond measure
happy my dearest Sister, by making
me also the same promise I have made
you, I will to the best of my endeavours
sympathize with you, & try to show
equal marks of tenderness, & if
possible to surpass those which you
show me. Believe me my dearest
Sister whatever my lot may turn out
to be, it will greatly increase my
happiness to hear of yours Adieu, Adieu
Adieu, dearest, dearest, dearest Sister
Friend, I am & ever shall be to my
last gasp,
Your ever sincerely attached Brother
& Friend,
Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S. I am sorry indeed very sorry we shall not meet
at Windsor the whole pleasure of the party will be spoilt to me
by it -- Your undressing at St.. James I think can be no proof of
our not meeting in the Afternoon, as you never would have come
to Kew in Mantuas. I therefore hope we shall, however we shall
certainly on Wednesday following. Adieu Adieu. Adieu
toujours chére --
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/3/82/41
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.19 September 1779
notBefore 18 September 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 19 September 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on promising to confide in each other.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 1 sheet, 319 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