Diplomatic Text
▼
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend,
I hope I need not expreʃs to you ye. pain I
felt upon parting with you, I think it was too strongly
painted in my eyes, for you to mistake my feelings. A
certain gloom upon yt.. account attended me thro'out ye
day. We had charming Sport y——y, (& had I been in
tiptop Spirits, as I am when I know I shall see you
in ye. Afternoon, & recount to my friend ye. pleasures
of ye. day) I ʃhd.. have found it delightful. The
circumstances of a Chace are too trivial for me to
mention them to you, however there was one attending
ye. Chace of y——y which I am sure will give you infinite
pleasure. We first hunted one Stag, which carried us
to Swindley I think they thus call Ld. Bateman's
Lodge, where we breakfasted, the Stag having escaped
by leapping over a Pailing of 9 feet high as well
as a broad Ditch. They then took out a second Stag
Stag from ye. common Herd which they expected
wld.. give us an hour's Chace or there about, but
instead of which he ran 3 hours, & then dropped
thro' wearineʃs, but his life was saved & is now
turned into ye. Paddock among ye. other Stags
which are preparing to be chaced, by being fed as
Horses are upon Oats, I shd. not have mentioned
even this circumstance of our Sport, had I not
thought it wld.. have given you infinite pleasure
to know, yt.. ye poor Animal who had given
us great delight & excellent sport had his life
saved. The moment he dropped I heard it debated
whether he was to live or to have his throat cut, yt.
instant I vociferated safve him, save him, save him,
upon hearing my voice, everyone reechoed ye. same
I will confeʃs yt.. ye. tender heart of my
lovely Miranda, pleaded strongly in his favor
& obtained his life. I believe I have established
my Character among ye. Gentlemen of ye. Hunt
as a bold & good Horseman, by leaping over a very
uggly Hedge & Ditch upon a descent, I have not
according to yr. desire boasted of this to a single
living Soul, I hope I shall follow yr. advice not only
in this but in every thing else. Ye. continuance of
yr. friendship throout ye. whole of my life is
ye. greatest bleʃsing I ever can hope for. As
for mine, my dearest friend I hope it is as
unalterable towards you, as ye. perpetual decrees
of Fate. Adieu Adieu, Adieu, dearest, dearest,
dearest Sister Friend, & rest aʃsured, yt.. my
affection for you shall never cease but with my
life, I am
Yr. ever sincerely affectionate Brother
Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.[2]
I understand we go either on Saturday or Monday to W—— to hunt on
Tuesday. There are several little incidents which happened
during ye. chace wh - . I will tell you ye first time we meet but wh. are not of consequence
enough to trouble you with now. Adieu toujours chére.
P.S. Pray excuse ye. different sort of ʃtyle & ye inaccuracies
you will find in this Letter, as I have written it in great
haste & hurry. Adieu.[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. On the order of letters from mid-October 1779, see GEO/ADD/3/83/16 p.1 n.1.
2. The label P.S. appears to the left of the signature.
3. Moved second postscript here from original location at the top of p.1.
Normalised Text
▼
My dearest, dearest, dearest Sister, Friend,
I hope I need not express to you the pain I
felt upon parting with you, I think it was too strongly
painted in my eyes, for you to mistake my feelings. A
certain gloom upon that account attended me throughout the
day. We had charming Sport yesterday, (& had I been in
tiptop Spirits, as I am when I know I shall see you
in the Afternoon, & recount to my friend the pleasures
of the day) I should have found it delightful. The
circumstances of a Chase are too trivial for me to
mention them to you, however there was one attending
the Chase of yesterday which I am sure will give you infinite
pleasure. We first hunted one Stag, which carried us
to Swindley I think they thus call Lord Bateman's
Lodge, where we breakfasted, the Stag having escaped
by leaping over a Paling of 9 feet high as well
as a broad Ditch. They then took out a second
Stag from the common Herd which they expected
would give us an hour's Chase or there about, but
instead of which he ran 3 hours, & then dropped
through weariness, but his life was saved & is now
turned into the Paddock among the other Stags
which are preparing to be chased, by being fed as
Horses are upon Oats, I should not have mentioned
even this circumstance of our Sport, had I not
thought it would have given you infinite pleasure
to know, that the poor Animal who had given
us great delight & excellent sport had his life
saved. The moment he dropped I heard it debated
whether he was to live or to have his throat cut, that
instant I vociferated save him, save him, save him,
upon hearing my voice, everyone reechoed the same
I will confess that the tender heart of my
lovely Miranda, pleaded strongly in his favour
& obtained his life. I believe I have established
my Character among the Gentlemen of the Hunt
as a bold & good Horseman, by leaping over a very
ugly Hedge & Ditch upon a descent, I have not
according to your desire boasted of this to a single
living Soul, I hope I shall follow your advice not only
in this but in every thing else. The continuance of
your friendship throughout the whole of my life is
the greatest blessing I ever can hope for. As
for mine, my dearest friend I hope it is as
unalterable towards you, as the perpetual decrees
of Fate. Adieu Adieu, Adieu, dearest, dearest,
dearest Sister Friend, & rest assured, that my
affection for you shall never cease but with my
life, I am
Your ever sincerely affectionate Brother
Palemon
toujours de même.
P.S.
I understand we go either on Saturday or Monday to Windsor to hunt on
Tuesday. There are several little incidents which happened
during the chase which I will tell you the first time we meet but which are not of consequence
enough to trouble you with now. Adieu toujours chére.
P.S. Pray excuse the different sort of style & the inaccuracies
you will find in this Letter, as I have written it in great
haste & hurry. 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/3/82/44
Correspondence Details
Sender: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)
Place sent: unknown
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: c.7 October 1779
notBefore 6 October 1779 (precision: medium)
notAfter 7 October 1779 (precision: high)
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from George, Prince of Wales, to Mary Hamilton, on the hunt the previous day where he helped save the life of a stag; and on his abilities as a horseman.
The Prince refers to his 'Miranda' and states that it was her influence that caused him to save the stag.
Signed 'Palemon'.
Length: 1 sheet, 542 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