Diplomatic Text
Monday next there will
be a Ball in this ------ part of the County,
at which I am to be introduced to the adorable
Miʃs H. Aged Seventeen -- person tolerable --
face better than one in three you meet with --
fortune £70,000 -- a House & Park well stocked
with Deer -- Birth to be sure, not thrice Noble
Education admirable -- and from a fault in
the construction of her Pallat, she is leʃs noisy
than the ------ Miʃses of this Age
generally are -- A qualification very desirable
in a Wife. Miʃs wants a Title, Master
wants her Cash; so that in all probability
matters may be adjusted without much
difficulty. The House is only Eight Miles
from Town, & a smart post chaise & four
shall always be ready to convey your Ladyship
to the Mansion. I propose making a very
brisk attack & don't doubt of succeʃs, my
personal Charms & mental accomplishments being
(as you know) absolutely irresistable. Your
presence will be expected at the solemnization
of the Nuptial Rites. As you're a Poeteʃs pray
send me some pretty Sonnets of your own
composing to Warble to the lovesick Maid.
Let there be a proper proportion of Flames,
Darts, Loves, Graces, Cupids, Sighs, Groans
& Deaths -- Something a la Shenstone
will do very well -- for instance
5 What Bliʃs Hymens Torches import
6 What Happineʃs beams on each Face
7 When ClœliaLaura gives up her Heart
8 And yeilds to her Jockey'sN——'s embrace
1 Let others of Courts boast the Pride[1]
2 The raptures attendant on State
3 What Joys flow in luxury's Tide
4 What Transports on greatneʃs await
9 Yet Courts have no pleasure for me
10 State raptures afford me no ease
11 Ah Clœlia when absent from thee
12 What is there on Earth that can please
13 Hymens Torches more clearly shall burn
14 More Happineʃs beam on each face
15 When Clœlia resigns in her turn
16 And yeilds to her N——rs embrace.
I think such verses as these
must prevail -- You'll find them more
harmonious if you read them according to
the Numbers prefixed to each Line. As I have
a fine Voice & a pretty taste for Music I
intend singing them to her & then if her heart
is not made of Marble I think the fortreʃs
must surrender. Adieu Yours sincearly & affecly-
N[2]
Delrow House
3 Janry- 1779.
[Miʃs Hamilto]n[3]
------ 's Stairs
[St. J]ames's.
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Marginal crosses above the line marked ‘1’ and below the line marked ‘4’ additionally serve to pick out the quatrain to be moved to the start of the poem.
2. The page has been cut away. It is unclear whether more of Napier's signature has been lost, as several of his letters are signed only with an initial.
3. Round postmark ‘PENNY POST NOT PAID. W.', in sepia ink.
4. Bishop mark in sepia ink, dated 5 January.
Normalised Text
Monday next there will
be a Ball in this part of the County,
at which I am to be introduced to the adorable
Miss H. Aged Seventeen -- person tolerable --
face better than one in three you meet with --
fortune £70,000 -- a House & Park well stocked
with Deer -- Birth to be sure, not thrice Noble
Education admirable -- and from a fault in
the construction of her Palate, she is less noisy
than the Misses of this Age
generally are -- A qualification very desirable
in a Wife. Miss wants a Title, Master
wants her Cash; so that in all probability
matters may be adjusted without much
difficulty. The House is only Eight Miles
from Town, & a smart post chaise & four
shall always be ready to convey your Ladyship
to the Mansion. I propose making a very
brisk attack & don't doubt of success, my
personal Charms & mental accomplishments being
(as you know) absolutely irresistible. Your
presence will be expected at the solemnization
of the Nuptial Rites. As you're a Poetess pray
send me some pretty Sonnets of your own
composing to Warble to the lovesick Maid.
Let there be a proper proportion of Flames,
Darts, Loves, Graces, Cupids, Sighs, Groans
& Deaths -- Something a la Shenstone
will do very well -- for instance
5 What Bliss Hymens Torches import
6 What Happiness beams on each Face
7 When Laura gives up her Heart
8 And yields to her Napier's embrace
1 Let others of Courts boast the Pride
2 The raptures attendant on State
3 What Joys flow in luxury's Tide
4 What Transports on greatness await
9 Yet Courts have no pleasure for me
10 State raptures afford me no ease
11 Ah Clœlia when absent from thee
12 What is there on Earth that can please
13 Hymens Torches more clearly shall burn
14 More Happiness beam on each face
15 When Clœlia resigns in her turn
16 And yields to her Napiers embrace.
I think such verses as these
must prevail -- You'll find them more
harmonious if you read them according to
the Numbers prefixed to each Line. As I have
a fine Voice & a pretty taste for Music I
intend singing them to her & then if her heart
is not made of Marble I think the fortress
must surrender. Adieu Yours sincerely & affectionately
Napier
Delrow House
3 January 1779.
Miss Hamilton
------ 's Stairs
St. James's.
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 Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/8
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Aldenham
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 3 January 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, describing a
potential wife. Napier light-heartedly informs Hamilton that he will be in
her part of the country shortly to be introduced to the seventeen-year-old
Miss H. who he describes as having a fortune of £70,000, a house and
park and a ‘face better than one in three you meet with’. He proposes to
‘make a very brisk attack’ and he believes that he will be successful as he
writes the lady ‘wants a Title, Master wants her Cash’. He asks
Hamilton, as a poet, to forward him some of her compositions that he can
‘warble’ to his ‘mate’ with a ‘proper portion of flame, Darts, Loves,
Graces, cupids, sighs [...]’ and so on. Napier continues with examples of
the types of poetry he has in mind. He intends to sing the verses to his
prospective wife and as long as ‘her heart is not made of Marble’ he thinks
she will ‘surrender’.
Length: 1 sheet, 403 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: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 7 September 2021)
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: 3 December 2021