HAM/1/20/78
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Edinr. 6th. April 1783.
My Dear Sister,
Be so good as to present
the inclosed to Miʃs Clarke. Will you
never leave off drawing me into Corres=
=pondencies? Remember Mr. Farhill.
Since my arrival here
I have done nothing but Feast. The affec=
=tionate reception I meet with from my
Friends here amply makes up for the
cold insipidity of my London Relations.
Talk not to me of English politeneʃs, which
consists of a stiff Curtsey or bow and an
invitation to a Route. Compare this
with a clean Hearth, a good Fire, a good
Dinner & a hearty welcome. Blush for your
English Breeding, & allow that we excel
John Bull in real hospitality. Neither
are our Miʃses more forward than
Yours (recollect your conversation with
me). To be sure they neither Paint, nor drive
the expreʃsion of their feelings from
their countenance. If they esteem You
they are not ashamed to acknowledge
it -- Now Madam, I have seen
Miʃs L.. Have been displeased & determined
never to make a second offer to Her. When
She did not accept of me, secresy was required
from me. I kep't it inviolably. She or
her friends (proud of the proposal) have
told it to my Relations. Gueʃs my surprise
when within twenty four Hours of my
arrival, it was mentioned to me by four
different People. Some approving & vice
versa. I have visited her twice & am much
taken notice of by her Relations, have handed
her out of the Playhouse & to her Chair at
a Private Ball & can be as indifferent as
the D. of Atholl. Yesterday I dined & supped
with her at her Aunts. Her father was
present. My spirits happened to be afloat &
I flirted openly with another Lady. Is not
this admirable.
No accounts yet of my Watch.
Your advice was good, but had been put
in Execution before I received it. The Eve=
=ning I was robbed I wrote to the Man who
made it, directing him to acquaint Fieldings
Men & to offer a reward, but I have not
the most distant idea of recovering it.
Your conjecture about my Nerves was ill
founded. The Gentleman I was to have wrote
to is expected in England with the first fleet
from Canada. Had You been present at
my Adventure, an unconcerned Spectator
it would have amused You; when we
meet, You shall have a full account
of it. The conversation lasted full ten Minutes.
Mrs. Hunter begs her best Compts-
to You. At present her Breadth considerably
exceeds her Length. Next Month she intends
to make me an Uncle & from the good
Health She is in, we have the most flat=
=tering hopes of her being more fortunate
than she was last time. Adieu. Write to
me soon & long. Beleive me never more
sincere than when I add
Your Affect: Brother
and Friend
N——
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Edinburgh 6th. April 1783.
My Dear Sister,
Be so good as to present
the enclosed to Miss Clarke. Will you
never leave off drawing me into Correspondencies
? Remember Mr. Farhill.
Since my arrival
I have done nothing but Feast. The affectionate
reception I meet with from my
Friends here amply makes up for the
cold insipidity of my London Relations.
Talk not to me of English politeness, which
consists of a stiff Curtsey or bow and an
invitation to a Route. Compare this
with a clean Hearth, a good Fire, a good
Dinner & a hearty welcome. Blush for your
English Breeding, & allow that we excel
John Bull in real hospitality. Neither
are our Misses more forward than
Yours (recollect your conversation with
me). To be sure they neither Paint, nor drive
the expression of their feelings from
their countenance. If they esteem You
they are not ashamed to acknowledge
it -- Now Madam, I have seen
Miss Leslie. Have been displeased & determined
never to make a second offer to Her. When
She did not accept of me, secrecy was required
from me. I kept it inviolably. She or
her friends (proud of the proposal) have
told it to my Relations. Guess my surprise
when within twenty four Hours of my
arrival, it was mentioned to me by four
different People. Some approving & vice
versa. I have visited her twice & am much
taken notice of by her Relations, have handed
her out of the Playhouse & to her Chair at
a Private Ball & can be as indifferent as
the Duke of Atholl. Yesterday I dined & supped
with her at her Aunts. Her father was
present. My spirits happened to be afloat &
I flirted openly with another Lady. Is not
this admirable.
No accounts yet of my Watch.
Your advice was good, but had been put
in Execution before I received it. The Evening
I was robbed I wrote to the Man who
made it, directing him to acquaint Fieldings
Men & to offer a reward, but I have not
the most distant idea of recovering it.
Your conjecture about my Nerves was ill
founded. The Gentleman I was to have written
to is expected in England with the first fleet
from Canada. Had You been present at
my Adventure, an unconcerned Spectator
it would have amused You; when we
meet, You shall have a full account
of it. The conversation lasted full ten Minutes.
Mrs. Hunter begs her best Compliments
to You. At present her Breadth considerably
exceeds her Length. Next Month she intends
to make me an Uncle & from the good
Health She is in, we have the most flattering
hopes of her being more fortunate
than she was last time. Adieu. Write to
me soon & long. Believe me never more
sincere than when I add
Your Affectionate Brother
and Friend
Napier
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
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/1/20/78
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 6 April 1783
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes on
the difference between his English and Scottish relations and friends. He
asks Hamilton not to talk of English politeness which consists of a stiff
curtsey or bow. ‘Compare this with a clean Hearth, a good fire, a good
Dinner & allow that we excel John Bull in real hospitality’. He also
writes of his past proposal to Miss Leslie and the fact that it was supposed
to be a secret. Four people mentioned it to him after only 24 hours in
Edinburgh. He has visited her twice and she and her relations have taken
some interest in him. He is determined not to make her a second offer. He
dined with her yesterday and ‘flirted openly with another Lady’. He asks
Hamilton if ‘this is not admirable?'
Napier mentions the robbery of his watch (see HAM/1/20/77) and notes that he
has written to the man who made it telling him to ‘acquaint Fieldings men
& to offer a reward’. Even so, he doubts that it will be recovered.
Dated at Edinburgh.
Length: 1 sheet, 481 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 23 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