Single Letter

HAM/1/20/28

Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


                                                         Edinburgh 29th. Decemr-
                                                         1779





      I must begin, My Dear Sister,
by telling you that the affair ------of Miʃs
L.
was settled a Week ago, Not to my sa=
=tisfaction
. She approved of the Method
taken & said it was what She would have
wished -- sensible of the Merit of the
Party -- but the thing was impoʃsible,
& begged that no further Notice of it might
be taken on either Sides. When we meet
perhaps I may talk more fully uponupon the
subject, than I should chuse to put
upon paper -- indeed the theme
is not the most agreable I could
fix upon --
      The footing you are upon
with your Uncle Frederick pleases
me much. I hope he has done you
the utmost justice, if not he deserves



to be flogged.
      I do not think Old Ly-
Cathcart
means anything by her enquiries.
Perhaps it was intended as a reproof to
Ly- S—— for not paying her proper attention.
I generally write to her once in three
Months. The Atholl's treated us so
cavalierly, en paʃsant, that I do not
propose calling for them, should my
duty bring mye to London this Winter.
They did not so much as send a
Servant to enquire after Us. They'll
find me as Saucy as they can be
Ly- S—— could not poʃsibly comment
upon my Answer. It was wrote with
Spirit, I wo'nt allow it to be called
Saucy, and it was true, a word You
people about Court hardly know the
meaning of.
      Nothing is yet settled as
to the time of my Departure. I expect
orders every post.[1] My Company consists



of only ten persons, including Serjts-
Corporals & Drummers & Privates. Great
Marlow, Bucks, is the Town, where
they are at present stationed. Sir A.
Oughton
is in England, but you do not
mention his having been at Court. I
fear from that circumstance, his health
is not such as I could wish.[2] Adieu. No
more Apologies, but write when con=
=venient
, without being upon Ceremony.
I can write no more, the first part
of my letter having renewed Ideas, I
should wish to forget -- Poor Lord
DeLawarr
. I am really concerned for
him.
                             Yours Affectionately.
                                                         N——

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Notes


 1. Francis Napier's promotion to Lieutenant in the 35th Regiment of Foot was reported in the London Chronicle (‘News’ London Chronicle, 20 November 1779 – 23 November 1779. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection. Accessed 14-09-2021).
 2. Indeed he died the following spring.

Normalised Text


                                                         Edinburgh 29th. December
                                                         1779





      I must begin, My Dear Sister,
by telling you that the affair of Miss
Leslie
was settled a Week ago, Not to my satisfaction
. She approved of the Method
taken & said it was what She would have
wished -- sensible of the Merit of the
Party -- but the thing was impossible,
& begged that no further Notice of it might
be taken on either Sides. When we meet
perhaps I may talk more upon the
subject, than I should choose to put
upon paper -- indeed the theme
is not the most agreeable I could
fix upon --
      The footing you are upon
with your Uncle Frederick pleases
me much. I hope he has done you
the utmost justice, if not he deserves



to be flogged.
      I do not think Old Lady
Cathcart means anything by her enquiries.
Perhaps it was intended as a reproof to
Lady Stormont for not paying her proper attention.
I generally write to her once in three
Months. The Atholl's treated us so
cavalierly, en passant, that I do not
propose calling for them, should my
duty bring me to London this Winter.
They did not so much as send a
Servant to enquire after Us. They'll
find me as Saucy as they can be
Lady Stormont could not possibly comment
upon my Answer. It was written with
Spirit, I won't allow it to be called
Saucy, and it was true, a word You
people about Court hardly know the
meaning of.
      Nothing is yet settled as
to the time of my Departure. I expect
orders every post. My Company consists



of only ten persons, including Serjeants
Corporals & Drummers & Privates. Great
Marlow, Buckinghamshire, is the Town, where
they are at present stationed. Sir Adolphus
Oughton is in England, but you do not
mention his having been at Court. I
fear from that circumstance, his health
is not such as I could wish. Adieu. No
more Apologies, but write when convenient
, without being upon Ceremony.
I can write no more, the first part
of my letter having renewed Ideas, I
should wish to forget -- Poor Lord
DeLawarr. I am really concerned for
him.
                             Yours Affectionately.
                                                         Napier

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 1. Francis Napier's promotion to Lieutenant in the 35th Regiment of Foot was reported in the London Chronicle (‘News’ London Chronicle, 20 November 1779 – 23 November 1779. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection. Accessed 14-09-2021).
 2. Indeed he died the following spring.

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/1/20/28

Correspondence Details

Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord

Place sent: Edinburgh

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: unknown

Date sent: 29 December 1779

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to Napier's proposal to Miss Leslie and other family news. Napier notes that the affair has now been settled and not to his satisfaction.
    Napier is happy that Hamilton his getting on well with her Uncle Frederick. He hopes that he has done her ‘justice, if not he deserves to be flogged’. He ends his letter by writing on his company in his Regiment which is made up of only 10 men which include sergeants, corporals, Drummers and privates.
    Dated at Edinburgh.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 364 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 14 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

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