HAM/1/20/96
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My Dear Sister -- (I ought to have
begun Madam -- for on looking at the
date of your last Letter I find 20th. March
1786 staring at the head of the Page) if you
are still in the land of the living be
so good as to inform me what is the reason
you have not done me the Honor to
acknowledge my last letter written in
the beginning of April?[1] I presume the
cares of this World have so much increased,
that not a moment can be spared to enquire
after your wandering Friends. I now desire
a Categorical Answer to the following Question
viz -- Is it Peace or War between Us? If War,
be it so. If Peace, I am directed to request You
to take upon Yourself the office of Sponsor
to my Daughter which is to be born early
in October next. Harriot will aʃsist You.
If the Brat should prove a Male, I cannot
trust him to your Tuition, fearfull that
he might by following your example
become as Saucy as Yourself, the natural
consequence of which to him would be
broken bones. I am not under the same
apprehensions with regard to a Daughter,
for it is now quite fashionable and con=
=sequently neceʃsary for all Miʃses to be
as pert & disagreable as poʃsible. It is now
time to tell You that the abovenamed
Honor is unattended with the usual expence
as all Christening Money is abolished in
my family.
We moved our Quarters from
Cork to Charles Fort near this town last
May. A change we have had great reason
as to be satisfied with, as we have got
an excellent house in the Town & have
the satisfaction of breathing pure Air, a
comfort not to be expected in the Town
of Cork, which is without exception the filthiest
hole I ever put my foot in. What will
become of Us next Spring is very uncertain.
My Regiment is the first ffor foreign
Services & we hope it's destination will
be Canada or Nova Scotia. If my Lt Colonel
chuses to stay at home, I must go out
with the Regt- & in that case Maria will
accompany Me. A trip acroʃs the Atlantic
will be no inconvenience to her after
twice croʃsing the Pacific. I shall however
regret such an expedition as it will
prolong my Absence from Britain for
at least two Years more. I really begin
now to wish to see the Inhabitants of
the other Island, as I think there is
great danger of Our becoming White
Boys[2] & Savages like the miserable
Inhabitants of this oppreʃsed Country.
The state of the common people is miserable
beyond conception. The folly, extravagance
& absurdity of their betters is scandalous.
I honestly confeʃs it to be my firm beleive,
that some very unpleasant convulsion
must happen in Ireland before many
years paʃs on. Tythes are the present
griev[an]ce complained of by the White
Boys and I am sorry to add that there
is too much reason to suspect that these
deluded people are supported in secret
toby persons of some degree of consequence.
Was it otherways, thereit would be impoʃsible
for them to collect together armed in such
large Bodies as they constantly do; commit
depradations on their peacable Neighbours,
& escape undiscovered. What does Lord Cremorne
say on this Subject?
Maria joins me in every
affectionate Wish for Yourself & Mr. Dickenson.
I ever remain My Dear Sister, Your faithfull
& affectionate Brother
Napier.
[3]
[4]
[5]
Mrs- Dickenson
[6]Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
By
Chester.
[7]
Lord Napier Lord Napier
July 1786[8]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. No letter of this date survives in the Hamilton Papers from Francis Napier.
2. ‘The members of an agrarian protest organization active in Ireland in 1761-1765 and again in 1769-1775, whose chief grievances were the enclosure of land, extortionate leases and tithes, and the encroachment of livestock on tillage. Also in extended use: a rebellious or riotous group’ (OED s.v. white boy n. 4. Accessed 30-09-2021).
3. Postmark ‘IRELAND’ in black ink.
4. Faint Bishop mark in black ink, probably reading ‘25 July’.
5. Postmark ‘KINSALE’ in blue ink. Manuscript figure ‘4’ in black ink denoting postage due, crossed through.
6. Manuscript figures 1/3 [1s 3d] in brown ink, denoting revised postage.
7. Remains of seal, in red wax.
8. This annotation is written vertically in the left-hand margin.
Normalised Text
Kinsale 22nd: July 1786.
My Dear Sister -- (I ought to have
begun Madam -- for on looking at the
date of your last Letter I find 20th. March
1786 staring at the head of the Page) if you
are still in the land of the living be
so good as to inform me what is the reason
you have not done me the Honour to
acknowledge my last letter written in
the beginning of April? I presume the
cares of this World have so much increased,
that not a moment can be spared to enquire
after your wandering Friends. I now desire
a Categorical Answer to the following Question
viz -- Is it Peace or War between Us? If War,
be it so. If Peace, I am directed to request You
to take upon Yourself the office of Sponsor
to my Daughter which is to be born early
in October next. Harriot will assist You.
If the Brat should prove a Male, I cannot
trust him to your Tuition, fearful that
he might by following your example
become as Saucy as Yourself, the natural
consequence of which to him would be
broken bones. I am not under the same
apprehensions with regard to a Daughter,
for it is now quite fashionable and consequently
necessary for all Misses to be
as pert & disagreeable as possible. It is now
time to tell You that the abovenamed
Honour is unattended with the usual expense
as all Christening Money is abolished in
my family.
We moved our Quarters from
Cork to Charles Fort near this town last
May. A change we have had great reason
to be satisfied with, as we have got
an excellent house in the Town & have
the satisfaction of breathing pure Air, a
comfort not to be expected in the Town
of Cork, which is without exception the filthiest
hole I ever put my foot in. What will
become of Us next Spring is very uncertain.
My Regiment is the first for foreign
Services & we hope it's destination will
be Canada or Nova Scotia. If my Lieutenant Colonel
chooses to stay at home, I must go out
with the Regiment & in that case Maria will
accompany Me. A trip across the Atlantic
will be no inconvenience to her after
twice crossing the Pacific. I shall however
regret such an expedition as it will
prolong my Absence from Britain for
at least two Years more. I really begin
now to wish to see the Inhabitants of
the other Island, as I think there is
great danger of Our becoming White
Boys & Savages like the miserable
Inhabitants of this oppressed Country.
The state of the common people is miserable
beyond conception. The folly, extravagance
& absurdity of their betters is scandalous.
I honestly confess it to be my firm belief,
that some very unpleasant convulsion
must happen in Ireland before many
years pass on. Tithes are the present
grievance complained of by the White
Boys and I am sorry to add that there
is too much reason to suspect that these
deluded people are supported in secret
by persons of some degree of consequence.
Was it otherways, it would be impossible
for them to collect together armed in such
large Bodies as they constantly do; commit
depradations on their peaceable Neighbours,
& escape undiscovered. What does Lord Cremorne
say on this Subject?
Maria joins me in every
affectionate Wish for Yourself & Mr. Dickenson.
I ever remain My Dear Sister, Your faithful
& affectionate Brother
Napier.
Mrs- Dickenson
Taxal
Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
By
Chester.
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/1/20/96
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Kinsale
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 22 July 1786
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. The letter is
concerned with Napier's regiment, the state of Ireland and Napier's family.
Napier asks Hamilton to be a sponsor [godmother] of his daughter who is due
to be born in October. If it is a boy he writes that he ‘cannot trust him to
your Tuition’ in case he becomes as ‘saucy’ as her, the ‘natural consequence
of which to him would be broken bones’. He is not as apprehensive for a
daughter as he finds it currently fashionable for all girls to as
‘disagreeable as possible’.
His regiment have moved quarters from Cork to Charles Fort near Kinsale. He
is glad of this as he now breathes pure air. He found Cork to be ‘without
exception the filthiest hole I ever put my foot in’. His regiment is to be
the first to be deployed on foreign services in Spring and he is uncertain
as to what will be happening. They hope to be sent to Canada or Nova Scotia.
If his Lt. Colonel decides to stay home than Napier will have to leave with
the regiment and Maria will accompany him. He notes that a trip over the
Atlantic will not be inconvenient for her as she has already crossed the
Pacific twice. Napier continues of the condition of people in Ireland. The
state of the common people is miserable and the extravagance and folly of
‘their betters is scandalous’. He believes that in a matter of years ‘some
unpleasant convulsion must happen in Ireland’. Tythes are the present
grievance. He believes that ‘people of consequence’ are supporting the
common people to a degree otherwise they would not be able to arm themselves
in large numbers as they frequently do’. He asks what Lord Cremorne say on
this subject?
Dated at Kinsale [Ireland].
Length: 1 sheet, 596 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 30 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