Single Letter

GEO/ADD/3/83/11

Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales

Diplomatic Text


11

10 Sept. Though I have all my Sex's weakneʃs's -- & fears, & want
of fortitude -- my friendship would raise me above every selfish
motive sensation, though my Nerves thrill with horror at ye-
idea, yet, I aver, I would rather hang over your Corpse, &
pay, if it was allowed me to do so, the last sad offices
of tender friendship, than have you live, if your life was preserved
by any inglorious means, or if it was hereafter, to be stained
by any dis-honorable action -- do not imagine my friendship
that this is a romantic flight of the moment, it is not, it
is the language of my Soul -- yes I would rather, much rather have
you your fame resounded deservedly, & your Virtues closed
by a glorious exit, though at an early period -- than have
you safe at home -- hear that you was famous for intrigues,
that you was the best Dancer in the world -- that you
particularly understood & attended to all that the trifling
miserablemiserable, insignificant part of your Sex -- the Coxcomb --
thinks of importance &c &c -- No -- mere exterior accomp-
lishments
-- frivolous, insignificant pursuits, superficial
qualifications must not, & I trust will not mark the
character of my friend. -- The ardour you expreʃs is laudable,
& worthy of a Noble Mind & exalted Mind -- But Oh my
friend
let that ardour be tempered with discretion, May
your fortitude be firm, free from paʃsion -- May you
have courage without impetuosity or rage -- May you
gain conquest & yet be merciful, &, lastly, May Heaven
                                                         preserve &



spare you to bleʃs Parents, worthy of such a Son, &
a Nation, happy in such a Prince; -- These are the
the wishes fervent wishes -- these are the sentiments
-- these are the hopes of your attached & Sincerest
                             Friend

10th. Sepr. Though I have all my Sexes weakneʃs's,
& fears, & want of fortitude -- my friendship would
raise me[1]

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. These lines are written vertically at the left side of the page. They presumably represent an aborted opening sentence, after which the paper was turned sideways and reversed and the letter begun again.

Normalised Text



10 September Though I have all my Sex's weakness's -- & fears, & want
of fortitude -- my friendship would raise me above every selfish
sensation, though my Nerves thrill with horror at the
idea, yet, I aver, I would rather hang over your Corpse, &
pay, if it was allowed me to do so, the last sad offices
of tender friendship, than have you live, if your life was preserved
by any inglorious means, or if it was hereafter, to be stained
by any dishonourable action -- do not imagine my friend
that this is a romantic flight of the moment, it is not, it
is the language of my Soul -- yes I would rather, much rather have
your fame resounded deservedly, & your Virtues closed
by a glorious exit, though at an early period -- than have
you safe at home -- hear that you was famous for intrigues,
that you was the best Dancer in the world -- that you
particularly understood & attended to all that the trifling
miserable, insignificant part of your Sex -- the Coxcomb --
thinks of importance &c &c -- No -- mere exterior accomplishments
-- frivolous, insignificant pursuits, superficial
qualifications must not, & I trust will not mark the
character of my friend. -- The ardour you express is laudable,
& worthy of a Noble & exalted Mind -- But Oh my
friend let that ardour be tempered with discretion, May
your fortitude be firm, free from passion -- May you
have courage without impetuosity or rage -- May you
gain conquest & yet be merciful, &, lastly, May Heaven
                                                         preserve &



spare you to bless Parents, worthy of such a Son, &
a Nation, happy in such a Prince; -- These are the
fervent wishes -- these are the sentiments
-- these are the hopes of your attached & Sincerest
                             Friend

10th. September Though I have all my Sexes weakness's,
& fears, & want of fortitude -- my friendship would
raise me

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations,
spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. These lines are written vertically at the left side of the page. They presumably represent an aborted opening sentence, after which the paper was turned sideways and reversed and the letter begun again.

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 Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales

Shelfmark: GEO/ADD/3/83/11

Correspondence Details

Sender: Mary Hamilton

Place sent: unknown

Addressee: George, Prince of Wales (later George IV)

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 10 September 1779

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Hamilton to George, Prince of Wales, on it being preferable for him to die with virtue than live dishonourably.
    Hamilton states that she would 'rather hang over your Corpse & pay...the last sad offices of tender friendship, than have you live, if your life was preserved by any inglorious means'.
    [Draft.]
   

Length: 1 sheet, 313 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 July 2019)

Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors

Revision date: 10 December 2021

Document Image (pdf)