Diplomatic Text
Abbey Febry 5th 1773
Indeed my Dear Madam I am Coverd with Confusion
by receiving a Second Letter beffore I had thankt you for the
first: but am Happy Mr Napier has explained to you the
real meaning of my Sillence[1] -- be asured there is nothing requisite
to remind me of those whose Ideas so often & so agreeably
present themselves as yours & Mrs Hamiltons do to my Mind
but realy in Mr Napier's absence I have scarce one Moment
at my own Command; when here, they are all devoted to him
& so upon the whole I am but a bad Correspondant
but such as I am I presume on yr Indulgence & hope
you'll be content with me & all my failings & Modestly
hope you'll indulge me with two Letters for one; a
Priveledge we Matrons claim from our Unmarried Friends.
I'm Happy Mrs Hamilton is Much recovred & hope you'll
persuade her to make out an Aʃsignation at Buxton wt
Mr Napier next May which I'm certain would do her
good: & make him Happy thank God Mr Napier & yr
young friends are all Well these of yr Acquaintance beg
me to asure you & Mrs Hamilton of their constant
& affectionate Remembrance of all yr goodneʃs to them
you need not tell her but realy I'm jelous the only comfort
I have is that my Husband admires you both so much
& fills his letters so much about both that I hope his
affections are Divided & so that I may come in for my
third share were it all Center'd in one Object: the
affair would realy be too Serious. I am glad you think
Mr John Hope an agreeable adition to yr Society & that
his Spiritts are so much improved: I Envy him for being
so agreeably Situated as to enjoy a Society for which
I so often wish in Vain. How does poor Miʃs Litchfield
do? I fear not likely to enjoy much Health or Happineʃs
in this World! if our next accounts of Ld Napier[2]
are not better than those received Last Post I fear
it will for some time make both his Son & me dilletory
Correspondants but if so impute it to that cause
& not to any failure in that affectionate Regard with
which I shall ever be My Dear Miss Hamiltons
Most Sinceare Friend &c &c
M A Napier
my most Affect respects ever
attend Mrs Hamilton
I'm quite Vext I can get
no Franks[3]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. See HAM/1/19/27.
2. William Napier's father, Francis Napier, 6th Lord, who died in early April 1773.
3. This postscript appears to the left of the closing salutation. Napier has drawn a double vertical curve to mark the separation.
Normalised Text
Abbey February 5th 1773
Indeed my Dear Madam I am Covered with Confusion
by receiving a Second Letter before I had thanked you for the
first: but am Happy Mr Napier has explained to you the
real meaning of my Silence -- be assured there is nothing requisite
to remind me of those whose Ideas so often & so agreeably
present themselves as yours & Mrs Hamiltons do to my Mind
but really in Mr Napier's absence I have scarce one Moment
at my own Command; when here, they are all devoted to him
& so upon the whole I am but a bad Correspondent
but such as I am I presume on your Indulgence & hope
you'll be content with me & all my failings & Modestly
hope you'll indulge me with two Letters for one; a
Privilege we Matrons claim from our Unmarried Friends.
I'm Happy Mrs Hamilton is Much recovered & hope you'll
persuade her to make out an Assignation at Buxton with
Mr Napier next May which I'm certain would do her
good: & make him Happy thank God Mr Napier & your
young friends are all Well these of your Acquaintance beg
me to assure you & Mrs Hamilton of their constant
& affectionate Remembrance of all your goodness to them
you need not tell her but really I'm jealous the only comfort
I have is that my Husband admires you both so much
& fills his letters so much about both that I hope his
affections are Divided & so that I may come in for my
third share were it all Centred in one Object: the
affair would really be too Serious. I am glad you think
Mr John Hope an agreeable addition to your Society & that
his Spirits are so much improved: I Envy him for being
so agreeably Situated as to enjoy a Society for which
I so often wish in Vain. How does poor Miss Litchfield
do? I fear not likely to enjoy much Health or Happiness
in this World! if our next accounts of Lord Napier
are not better than those received Last Post I fear
it will for some time make both his Son & me dilatory
Correspondents but if so impute it to that cause
& not to any failure in that affectionate Regard with
which I shall ever be My Dear Miss Hamiltons
Most Sincere Friend &c &c
Mary Anne Napier
my most Affectionate respects ever
attend Mrs Hamilton
I'm quite Vexed I can get
no Franks
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/1/19/32
Correspondence Details
Sender: Lady Mary Anne Napier (née Cathcart)
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Northampton (certainty: high)
Date sent: 5 February 1773
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Mary Anne Napier [later Lady Napier] to Mary Hamilton. She writes that while her husband is absent she scarcely has a moment to do as she pleases. She apologises for being so bad a correspondent but is thankful for Hamilton's letters to her and for her understanding. She is glad to hear that Hamilton's mother is recovered and she hopes that Hamilton will 'persuade her to make out an Assignation at Buxton w[it]h Mr Napier next May' as she is sure that it will do her good. Napier writes that she does not have to tell Hamilton how jealous she is of her and her mother as her husband admires them both and fills his letters with news of both that she hopes his 'affections are Divided & so that I may come in for my third share'. She is glad that Hamilton considers John Hope (see HAM/1/6/8) to be an agreeable addition to her society and that his spirits have improved. She envies him for the society he now keeps.
Dated at Abbey [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 421 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 21 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