HAM/1/18/82
Note from Louisa Murray (née Cathcart, later Greville) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
I have not had it in my power to send to you since
Friday having gone constantly to Ken wood every morning,
They are all as well as I can expect them to be, but it
is a dreadful loʃs they have sustained[1] & they feel it as such.
Ld Napier called here one day while I was there, I think
you told me yesterday was to be the day, but as I am
not quite sure about it I feel aukward in writing to
him & shall be much obliged to you if you will tell him I am
much mortified that I shall not have the honor of pre:
:senting Ly Napier at Court wch: I should have had much
satisfaction in doing, but we do not put on our Mourning
(wch: is the same as for a Mother) till next week so that I could
not poʃsibly go to Court till the week after wch: would be too
late, therefore all I can do is to offer my Chair wch: will be per:
:fectly at Ly Napiers service whenever she chooses to send
for it.[2] I shall wish & endeavor to contrive having the
pleasure of making her acquaintance as soon as it is pro:
:per for me to see any Company. As I should really be very
sorry not to see Ld Napier & My Lady before they go. Ld S: desired
me to tell Ld Napier how much he rejoiced at the news I sent
him, & how sincerely he wishes him every poʃsible happineʃs. I
leave this commiʃsion in yr hands. Am very sorry to be so long
without seeing you, but when I go to Ken wood have no carriage to send you.
I am very well, my Children also. Adieu Ever most affectly yours L: S:
miʃs
Hamilton[3]
Birch 3 Miles
from Manchester
14th- April 1784
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. This refers to the death of Elizabeth Murray, Lady Mansfield, wife of the 1st Earl of Mansfield (see HAM/1/18/81 and HAM/2/9 p.56). Lady Mansfield was buried in Westminster Abbey.
2. Francis Napier writes to Mary Hamilton, ‘As to Ly Stormonts Note, I can only say we regret she cannot attend the Presentation & shall not trouble her for her Chair’ (HAM/1/20/86).
3. The direction is written upside down.
Normalised Text
I have not had it in my power to send to you since
Friday having gone constantly to Ken wood every morning,
They are all as well as I can expect them to be, but it
is a dreadful loss they have sustained & they feel it as such.
Lord Napier called here one day while I was there, I think
you told me yesterday was to be the day, but as I am
not quite sure about it I feel awkward in writing to
him & shall be much obliged to you if you will tell him I am
much mortified that I shall not have the honour of presenting
Lady Napier at Court which I should have had much
satisfaction in doing, but we do not put on our Mourning
(which is the same as for a Mother) till next week so that I could
not possibly go to Court till the week after which would be too
late, therefore all I can do is to offer my Chair which will be perfectly
at Lady Napiers service whenever she chooses to send
for it. I shall wish & endeavour to contrive having the
pleasure of making her acquaintance as soon as it is proper
for me to see any Company. As I should really be very
sorry not to see Lord Napier & My Lady before they go. Lord Stormont desired
me to tell Lord Napier how much he rejoiced at the news I sent
him, & how sincerely he wishes him every possible happiness. I
leave this commission in your hands. Am very sorry to be so long
without seeing you, but when I go to Ken wood have no carriage to send you.
I am very well, my Children also. Adieu Ever most affectionately yours Louisa Stormont
miss
Hamilton
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Note from Louisa Murray (née Cathcart, later Greville) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/18/82
Correspondence Details
Sender: Louisa Murray (née Cathcart, later Greville)
Place sent: to be determined
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: to be determined
Date sent: 14 April 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Note from Louisa Murray, Lady Stormont, to Mary Hamilton, regretting her inability to present Lady Napier at Court following the death of Lady Mansfield.
Length: 1 sheet, 303 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: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1. Plain TXT transcription: Research Assistant funding in 2022 provided by the Student Internship Bureau of the University of York.
Transliterator: Billy Caswell, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (Partial transliteration submitted 20 October 2024)
Transliterator: (submitted 5 October 2022)
Transliterator: , editorial team (completed 1 August 2022)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 24 July 2026
