Single Letter

HAM/1/19/62

Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


40th-                                                   Visit[1]
                             Edinburgh April 2d 1774
      Saucy as I have alway known My dear Ward
I now think she has even outdone her own
saucineʃs what to insist that I shall not
ask any thing about Mrs- R—— & to deʃire me
to mistrust every thing good under the Cloak
of an Old Maiden I cannot ʃay they ever
had much of my good opinion but the
fondneʃs that one had always shewen my
Dear Ward
had reconciled me at least
to her, but I think you ought to have
let me into the whole affair before you
had ʃent so very absolute an order to me
never to trust them, So pray my dear Girl
open all the affair in your next & hide no=
thing
of this transaction neceʃsary to let
me judge between the Old & the Young Maiden
for ʃurely the thing is terrible ʃince you
take it up so very high and ʃince news is
not to be had from Northampton let me
have your little Heart unburdened entirely



that my mind may be at ease as I am quite
sure she has ʃaid or done ʃomething off or to
you that is not true & as I shall hear of
it perhaps another way, should rather have
it from yourself then any other way, so
pray indulge that peevish humour you
say you are in & let us have the whole
affair en veritie without hiding any one
thing especially as you'll have a very partial
judge so write as ʃoon as I have, not having
had yours half an hour in the house.
      I own I am ʃurprised that Mr Brown
has not wrote after all he ʃaid to me
I have not ʃeen him ʃince but shall
write him a note either to night or
tomorrow tho I imagine he is in the
country being holyday time
      Could I ever imagine that Miʃs Hamilton
(would think my telling her my own happineʃs)
should be calling me teizingly provoking
had I thought so I would not have wrote



one word of a Volume instead of the thouʃands
I mention, had you been seventy Envy that
oldmaidish attendant might have taken
hold of you but for you a Young amiable
Girl
not out of your teens to be so very
waspish as to be peevish at one of your
best friends happineʃs is quite a riddel
to me and I believe will take all your
Rhetoric to reconcile, and to make your
Envy a little eaʃier allow me to tell you
that having no room big enough that
I can spare from this very small house
I have taken rooms next door and have
put them all up in Boxes & trunks so
that I am reduced to a very few Hundreds
instead of thouʃands which makes me
full as peevish as your peevish Ladyship
can be for the blood of you so will
not write one word more to night.
Yes but I will write on in purpose to
shew you I will not do one thing to oblige



you as I know you would rather that I
had finished. So your Young Lady is not
to your gout,[2] but she is bearable is she?
than bear with her as long as poʃsible
that you may not make Mama[3] uneaʃy
if she percieves you dont like her and
make your absence as short as poʃsible
and then get quit of ither & take care never
to invite her a second time as that
would be unpardonable both to plague the
Girl & yourself for believe me if she
is not to your gout she will very soon
see that if she has ʃense & you will
then be as little to hers so then the
seldomer you are together the better
for both. The Picture was certainly not
clear. I think Miʃs Thursby puts off her
marriage too long, as does Mr Hope his
going from Northampton where he is quite
idle & might be better employed else where
as I would think, but as I am quite ignorant
of his affairs I beg pardon for speaking abt them to



you, so now I think I have [anʃ]wered yo------------
shall only add that Lady Napier & all my ------
joins me in best wishes to Mrs Hamilton ------
you & believe me to be My dearest Ma[ry]
yours most affcly-           N——

I send you the four ages from Ovid &
can aʃsure you they were never printed
if you like them perhaps I may send
some other things of the ʃame author --


I was obliged to open this letter again hav[ing]
forgot to inclose it before I sealed it



Send yr opinion of the inclosed frankly
& if you please correct & amend them





[4]
[5]
      Miʃs Hamilton
                             Northampton

free
      P: Warrender
[6]
                             [7]

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


Notes


 1. Presumably this refers to a visit by a young woman to the Hamiltons.
 2. The originally French word goût ‘taste’ had long been naturalised in English, especially Scots English (OED s.v. goût n. 3. Accessed 23-07-2021), though it has in more recent centuries regained a foreign flavour as part of the idiom chacun à son goût ‘each to his own taste’.
 3. Probably Hamilton's mother rather than Mrs Rogers.
 4. The address on this page is in the hand of the provider of the frank, Sir Patrick Warrender, MP for Haddington Burghs from 1768 until 1774.
 5. Stamp in faded red ink reading ‘FREE’.
 6. Remains of Scottish Bishop mark in red ink reading ‘AP -’ (2 or 3 April) and Bishop mark in black ink reading ‘8 AP’ (8 April).
 7. Seal in red wax.

Normalised Text


               
                             Edinburgh April 2d 1774
      Saucy as I have always known My dear Ward
I now think she has even outdone her own
sauciness what to insist that I shall not
ask any thing about Mrs- Rogers & to desire me
to mistrust every thing good under the Cloak
of an Old Maiden I cannot say they ever
had much of my good opinion but the
fondness that one had always shown my
Dear Ward had reconciled me at least
to her, but I think you ought to have
let me into the whole affair before you
had sent so very absolute an order to me
never to trust them, So pray my dear Girl
open all the affair in your next & hide nothing
of this transaction necessary to let
me judge between the Old & the Young Maiden
for surely the thing is terrible since you
take it up so very high and since news is
not to be had from Northampton let me
have your little Heart unburdened entirely



that my mind may be at ease as I am quite
sure she has said or done something of or to
you that is not true & as I shall hear of
it perhaps another way, should rather have
it from yourself than any other way, so
pray indulge that peevish humour you
say you are in & let us have the whole
affair en veritie without hiding any one
thing especially as you'll have a very partial
judge so write as soon as I have, not having
had yours half an hour in the house.
      I own I am surprised that Mr Brown
has not written after all he said to me
I have not seen him since but shall
write him a note either to night or
tomorrow though I imagine he is in the
country being holiday time
      Could I ever imagine that Miss Hamilton
(would think my telling her my own happiness)
should call me teasingly provoking
had I thought so I would not have written



one word of a Volume instead of the thousands
I mention, had you been seventy Envy that
oldmaidish attendant might have taken
hold of you but for you a Young amiable
Girl not out of your teens to be so very
waspish as to be peevish at one of your
best friends happiness is quite a riddle
to me and I believe will take all your
Rhetoric to reconcile, and to make your
Envy a little easier allow me to tell you
that having no room big enough that
I can spare from this very small house
I have taken rooms next door and have
put them all up in Boxes & trunks so
that I am reduced to a very few Hundreds
instead of thousands which makes me
full as peevish as your peevish Ladyship
can be for the blood of you so will
not write one word more to night.
Yes but I will write on in purpose to
show you I will not do one thing to oblige



you as I know you would rather that I
had finished. So your Young Lady is not
to your gout, but she is bearable is she?
then bear with her as long as possible
that you may not make Mama uneasy
if she perceives you don't like her and
make your absence as short as possible
and then get quit of her & take care never
to invite her a second time as that
would be unpardonable both to plague the
Girl & yourself for believe me if she
is not to your gout she will very soon
see that if she has sense & you will
then be as little to hers so then the
seldomer you are together the better
for both. The Picture was certainly not
clear. I think Miss Thursby puts off her
marriage too long, as does Mr Hope his
going from Northampton where he is quite
idle & might be better employed else where
as I would think, but as I am quite ignorant
of his affairs I beg pardon for speaking about them to



you, so now I think I have answered yo------------
shall only add that Lady Napier & all my ------
joins me in best wishes to Mrs Hamilton ------
you & believe me to be My dearest Mary
yours most affectionately           Napier

I send you the four ages from Ovid &
can assure you they were never printed
if you like them perhaps I may send
some other things of the same author --


I was obliged to open this letter again having
forgotten to enclose it before I sealed it



Send your opinion of the enclosed frankly
& if you please correct & amend them







      Miss Hamilton
                             Northampton

free
      Patrick Warrender

                            

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



 1. Presumably this refers to a visit by a young woman to the Hamiltons.
 2. The originally French word goût ‘taste’ had long been naturalised in English, especially Scots English (OED s.v. goût n. 3. Accessed 23-07-2021), though it has in more recent centuries regained a foreign flavour as part of the idiom chacun à son goût ‘each to his own taste’.
 3. Probably Hamilton's mother rather than Mrs Rogers.
 4. The address on this page is in the hand of the provider of the frank, Sir Patrick Warrender, MP for Haddington Burghs from 1768 until 1774.
 5. Stamp in faded red ink reading ‘FREE’.
 6. Remains of Scottish Bishop mark in red ink reading ‘AP -’ (2 or 3 April) and Bishop mark in black ink reading ‘8 AP’ (8 April).
 7. Seal in red wax.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/62

Correspondence Details

Sender: William Napier, 7th Lord

Place sent: Edinburgh

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 2 April 1774

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He begins his letter by calling Hamilton ‘saucy’. The letter concerns general advice, Mr Brown (Hamilton’s businessman in Scotland) and books.
    Dated at Edinburgh.
   

Length: 2 sheets, 801 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: Research Assistant funding in 2018/19 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Chenming Gao, undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Daniel Speight, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted June 2019)

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

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