Diplomatic Text
43d- Edinburgh Decr 11th- 1774 X
Yours My dearest Ward I recieved two days ago
& had imagined that you had quite given me
up as I have not heard of you ʃince I left
Shaw Park, nor have I been in a condition to
write myself having ever ʃince I came home
been confined to my Bed, & room but always
to the house, and am at present very ill
with a complication of distempers, nor have
I had in my own opinion the least favorable
Symtom till last night, all this wt ye most
violent lowneʃs of Spirits imaginable has
really reduced me to a very poor animal
& not at all the Person I was when I saw you
last however I hope to get over this bout
& that my health will mend by the spring --
& that I may once more enjoy that health
I formerly had wh- out which nothing can
be be pleasing & of which I have ʃeen
little or notnone these Six or Seven years past.
I believe the two marriages you have heard
off will take place ʃoon but its Miss Cathcart
to the Duke of Atholl[1] & Miss Mary to my
first Couʃin Mr Graham of Balgowan
but unleʃs they write you before their marriage
I beg you'll say nothing about as the Dutcheʃs
Dowager deʃires it may not be spoke off
till over what her whim for that is
I know not but its eaʃily indulging
her in that triffle -- I hope Sir Wm Wake
will gain his Seat as he is so very keen of
it and as my friends are all out of Parliament
at present I really cannot command a single
frank. Mr Dundas is out, as for Jack Hope
there never was nor never will be the least
chance of his sitting now, I did not see him
when in Scotland. I hope Mrs Hamilton is now quite
well. My Son has got in to the Army in the 31st
Regt of Foot but will be a few years in
Scotland carrying on his education as the
Regt is to be quartered here for ʃome Years
which was one great inducement to [his]
going into that Regiment Adieu My dearest
Mary I am able for no more this being
my second letter in many months, re
member me & mine to Mrs Hamilton
& they deʃire their best wishes to you
& Believe me to be My dearest Girl
most affctly Yours
Napier
This Letter written upon ye. Death Bed of my Dearest
Friend -- he died I answer'd it by return of post
& in answer'd recd. ye. heart-breaking intelligence
from his Son Ld. Napier that I had for ever
lost my beloved my valuable Friend -- he
lived but about 5 months after Lady Napiers
Death -- May the God of infinite Mercy
receive their Souls & may we meet
in Heaven -- never to part again.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Edinburgh December 11th- 1774
Yours My dearest Ward I received two days ago
& had imagined that you had quite given me
up as I have not heard of you since I left
Shaw Park, nor have I been in a condition to
write myself having ever since I came home
been confined to my Bed, & room but always
to the house, and am at present very ill
with a complication of distempers, nor have
I had in my own opinion the least favourable
Symptom till last night, all this with the most
violent lowness of Spirits imaginable has
really reduced me to a very poor animal
& not at all the Person I was when I saw you
last however I hope to get over this bout
& that my health will mend by the spring --
& that I may once more enjoy that health
I formerly had with out which nothing can
be pleasing & of which I have seen
little or none these Six or Seven years past.
I believe the two marriages you have heard
of will take place soon but it's Miss Cathcart
to the Duke of Atholl & Miss Mary to my
first Cousin Mr Graham of Balgowan
but unless they write you before their marriage
I beg you'll say nothing about as the Duchess
Dowager desires it may not be spoken of
till over what her whim for that is
I know not but it's easily indulging
her in that trifle -- I hope Sir William Wake
will gain his Seat as he is so very keen of
it and as my friends are all out of Parliament
at present I really cannot command a single
frank. Mr Dundas is out, as for Jack Hope
there never was nor never will be the least
chance of his sitting now, I did not see him
when in Scotland. I hope Mrs Hamilton is now quite
well. My Son has got in to the Army in the 31st
Regiment of Foot but will be a few years in
Scotland carrying on his education as the
Regiment is to be quartered here for some Years
which was one great inducement to his
going into that Regiment Adieu My dearest
Mary I am able for no more this being
my second letter in many months, remember
me & mine to Mrs Hamilton
& they desire their best wishes to you
& Believe me to be My dearest Girl
most affectionately Yours
Napier
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 William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/66
Correspondence Details
Sender: William Napier, 7th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Northampton (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 11 December 1774
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes that he is ill and confined to his bedroom. This and his low spirits have reduced him 'to a very poor animal'. Napier also writes of two marriages that are to take place: Hamilton's cousin, Miss Cathcart, is to marry the Duke of Atholl, and 'Miss Mary' to marry Napier's cousin, Mr Graham of Balgowan. He asks Hamilton to indulge the Dowager Duchess by not speaking of the weddings until they are over. Napier writes that his son, Francis, has entered the army in the 31st Regiment of Foot Soldiers, but will spend the next few years in Scotland finishing off his education, as the Regiment is to be quartered in Scotland for a number of years, which he notes was a great inducement for him to join that regiment. Napier ends by noting that this is only the second letter that he has written in many months.
Hamilton inscribes this letter, noting that it was written on the deathbed 'of my Dearest Friend – I answer[e]d it by return of post & in answer rec[eive]d the heart-breaking intelligence from his Son L[or]d Napier that I had for ever lost my beloved my valuable Friend'.
Dated at Edinburgh.
Length: 1 sheet, 415 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 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.
Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester
Transliterator: Liqun Shi, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2018)
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