Diplomatic Text
Dec 28. 1771
I fear greatly my Dear Miʃs Hamilton may
think me unkind not to have answerd her Last
Letter but alas my Dear Madam my Apology is
too good & were I leʃs Anxious to asure Mrs
Hamilton & you of my Regard I would not even
yet be able to write to you when yours came
Mr Napier was very Ill -- there folowd the
fatal Acts from Ruʃsia than Mr Napier grew
Worse & at this[1] Moment I write from his bed
side -- he is attended by two Physicians who
dont even flatter me, he'll soon get well
it all proceeds from an unformd Gout --
I am so exhausted wt fatigue & want of Sleep
as well as Anxiety of Mind I can hardly
hold my Pen -- be asured we both feell for yr
Mamma & you deeply -- do write soon how all
goes on -- I suspect you must prepare for the
Worst on Mr F: H——ns part but I hope he
cannot hurt however much he may perplex
you -- I heartily wish -- all were well setled
& you at home again -- I have had no Letter
from Ruʃsia since the one that brought the
fatal News of Lady Cathcarts death[2] -- Anxiously
do I long to hear again -- our best Wishes &
compts attend you & Mrs Hamilton -- Adieu my
Dear Madam believe me Ever Sincearly Yours
&c &c &c
M A Napier
Abbey Decr 28th 1771
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Two dots after ‘this’ are unlikely to be part of Mrs Napier's text, as they do not share the slope of her hand, and a colon would make no sense here.
2. Jane Cathcart (née Hamilton), Napier's sister-in-law and Hamilton's paternal aunt, died in Russia in November 1771 (see HAM/1/4/7/29). Her husband, Charles Cathcart, served as ambassador to the Russian court in St Petersburg from 1768 to 1772.
Normalised Text
I fear greatly my Dear Miss Hamilton may
think me unkind not to have answered her Last
Letter but alas my Dear Madam my Apology is
too good & were I less Anxious to assure Mrs
Hamilton & you of my Regard I would not even
yet be able to write to you when yours came
Mr Napier was very Ill -- there followed the
fatal Accounts from Russia then Mr Napier grew
Worse & at this Moment I write from his bed
side -- he is attended by two Physicians who
don't even flatter me, he'll soon get well
it all proceeds from an unformed Gout --
I am so exhausted with fatigue & want of Sleep
as well as Anxiety of Mind I can hardly
hold my Pen -- be assured we both feel for your
Mamma & you deeply -- do write soon how all
goes on -- I suspect you must prepare for the
Worst on Mr Frederick Hamiltons part but I hope he
cannot hurt however much he may perplex
you -- I heartily wish -- all were well settled
& you at home again -- I have had no Letter
from Russia since the one that brought the
fatal News of Lady Cathcarts death -- Anxiously
do I long to hear again -- our best Wishes &
compliments attend you & Mrs Hamilton -- Adieu my
Dear Madam believe me Ever Sincerely Yours
&c &c &c
Mary Anne Napier
Abbey December 28th
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: Letter from Mary Anne Napier (née Cathcart) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/13
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Mary Anne Napier (née Cathcart)
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London (certainty: low)
Date sent: 28 December 1771
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Anne Napier [later Lady Napier] to Mary Hamilton, relating
to the health of her husband. She writes the letter from her husband's
bedside. He is being attended to by two physicians ‘who don[']t even flatter
me, he'll soon get well’. Napier is so anxious and exhausted from lack of
sleep that she can barely hold her pen.
Dated at Abbey [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 236 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.
Transliterator: Cassandra Ulph, editorial team (completed 20 August 2020)
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: 12 May 2026
