HAM/1/20/89
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Edinburgh 1st. July 1784.
I do confeʃs, My Dear Sister, that
the contents of your letter did surprise
me not a little. It is so long since I
have heard You mention Mr. D——, that
I naturally concluded the Letter you wrote
him two or threefour Years ago had put an
end to his Hopes. When you consulted
me at that time on the expediency &c
of the Match, I fairly, candidly & honestly
gave you my Opinion. I shall be again
as open and not hesitate to say that
Mr. D.'s present conduct seems to prove
him strictly sincere in his Attachment
to You and perfectly disinterested in
repeating his Proposals. Removed from
your Office near the person of your
Royal Mistreʃs, he can have no am=
=bitious views of increasing his fortune
from your Interest with her. Your own
private fortune is not sufficiently great
to suppose that to be his temptation. Your
own worth and intrinsic merit can alone
be the inducements Mr. D. has had to
appear once more as an humble sup=
=plicant on your Imperial Will. I must
therefore be of opinion that your friends
cannot disapprove of your making choice
of him for your Husband. The Seige of Troy
has been a Joke to the Seige poor Mr. D.
has been obliged to carry on, & if I rightly
understand your letter You ------ intend to be
so unmercifull as to prolong it till next
Winter. As this is perhaps the last
time I shall have a right to advise, I
beg leave to say that I recommend it
most earnestly to You not to delay this
matter but to put an end to it as soon
as poʃsible. This I think Mr. Dickenson
has a right to expect after the length
of time he has waited for Your Ladyship's
hand, and as you know I approve of
expedition in these matters, I insist on
your paying implicit obedience to
my Commands. I sincerely hope You will
find all your ideas of Matrimonial
felicity compleatly answered and when
I add my wishes for your being as happy
as Maria and I, let me tell You I have
not said a little. She says she is thoroughly
rejoiced that You think of becoming One
of Us, being confident that few people
poʃseʃs the qualities neceʃsary to render
Matrimony happy in a greater degree
than You do --
My Commiʃsion as
Captain in the 4th. or Kings Own Regiment
of Foot is at last Signed. The Regiment is
now on Dublin Duty, but as the Review
is over for this Year I have applied for
leave of Absence for as long a time
as my Commanding Officer may think
fit. It would be very inconvenient for
me to leave Britain this Winter as I
shall probably have busineʃs before
the House of Peers relative to the
Sale of my Entailed Estate, which
may make my presence in London
neceʃsary. I shall then hope to be not
only introduced to Mr. but to Mrs- D..
My Sisters are both well. Mrs. Hunter
about a fortnight ago produced another
Daughter. A very fine Child & promises
to be handsome. Adieu. Write to me
when you have leisure and beleive
me ever sincerely interested in your
happineʃs.
Ever Your Affectionate Brother
Napier.
Lord Napier July
1784[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Edinburgh 1st. July 1784.
I do confess, My Dear Sister, that
the contents of your letter did surprise
me not a little. It is so long since I
have heard You mention Mr. Dickenson, that
I naturally concluded the Letter you wrote
him four Years ago had put an
end to his Hopes. When you consulted
me at that time on the expediency &c
of the Match, I fairly, candidly & honestly
gave you my Opinion. I shall be again
as open and not hesitate to say that
Mr. Dickenson's present conduct seems to prove
him strictly sincere in his Attachment
to You and perfectly disinterested in
repeating his Proposals. Removed from
your Office near the person of your
Royal Mistress, he can have no ambitious
views of increasing his fortune
from your Interest with her. Your own
private fortune is not sufficiently great
to suppose that to be his temptation. Your
own worth and intrinsic merit can alone
be the inducements Mr. Dickenson has had to
appear once more as an humble supplicant
on your Imperial Will. I must
therefore be of opinion that your friends
cannot disapprove of your making choice
of him for your Husband. The Siege of Troy
has been a Joke to the Siege poor Mr. Dickenson
has been obliged to carry on, & if I rightly
understand your letter You intend to be
so unmerciful as to prolong it till next
Winter. As this is perhaps the last
time I shall have a right to advise, I
beg leave to say that I recommend it
most earnestly to You not to delay this
matter but to put an end to it as soon
as possible. This I think Mr. Dickenson
has a right to expect after the length
of time he has waited for Your Ladyship's
hand, and as you know I approve of
expedition in these matters, I insist on
your paying implicit obedience to
my Commands. I sincerely hope You will
find all your ideas of Matrimonial
felicity completely answered and when
I add my wishes for your being as happy
as Maria and I, let me tell You I have
not said a little. She says she is thoroughly
rejoiced that You think of becoming One
of Us, being confident that few people
possess the qualities necessary to render
Matrimony happy in a greater degree
than You do --
My Commission as
Captain in the 4th. or Kings Own Regiment
of Foot is at last Signed. The Regiment is
now on Dublin Duty, but as the Review
is over for this Year I have applied for
leave of Absence for as long a time
as my Commanding Officer may think
fit. It would be very inconvenient for
me to leave Britain this Winter as I
shall probably have business before
the House of Peers relative to the
Sale of my Entailed Estate, which
may make my presence in London
necessary. I shall then hope to be not
only introduced to Mr. but to Mrs- Dickenson.
My Sisters are both well. Mrs. Hunter
about a fortnight ago produced another
Daughter. A very fine Child & promises
to be handsome. Adieu. Write to me
when you have leisure and believe
me ever sincerely interested in your
happiness.
Ever Your Affectionate Brother
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 Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/89
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 1 July 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes of
John Dickenson and of his commission as Captain in his regiment. It is so
long that Hamilton had mentioned Dickenson to him that he had assumed that
she 'had put an end to his hopes' [of marriage]. He gives his opinion on the
match. He believes that Dickenson conduct proves that he is sincere. Now
that Hamilton is no longer in her position at Court 'he can have no
ambitious views of increasing his fortune from' her access to the Royal
Family and her own fortune is not large enough to tempt him. He believes
that Dickenson's proposal comes from Hamilton's own merit. He writes that
Dickenson has had to make himself more 'an humble supplicant on your
Imperial Will'. He advises that Hamilton has made Dickenson wait long enough
'for your Ladyship's hand'.
Napier also writes that his commission as Captain in the 4th or King's Own
Regiment of Foot soldiers as at last been signed and the regiment is now in
Dublin. Once the Review is over for the year he has applied for a leave of
absence. he has business before the House of Peers relating to the sale of
his entailed estate which may make it necessary to be in London.
Dated at Edinburgh.
Length: 1 sheet, 548 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 28 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