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 1771
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 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: Northampton (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 do not even flatter
me, he'll soon get well'. Napier is anxious, tired and has not been
sleeping. She can barely hold her pen but notes that she will write again
soon to let Hamilton know how her husband does.
Dated at Abbey [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 237 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: 2 November 2021