HAM/1/20/149
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My Dear Sister,
As your post Office
people at Leighton Buzzard cannot
read, your Letter went to Harwich,
instead of Hawick, by which means,
I have been for four days deprived
of the superlative satisfaction of
knowing that You are still in
existence. This peice of information
I received with the utmost Gracious=
neʃs, and as I learned, at the same
time, that your Husband, Kitten,
& my Countrywoman are amongst
the Living, I sincerely congratulate
You all, particularly Mr. D. that
he has got You, again fixed, in
the Country. When Wives gad about
Town, they are apt to become
unmanageable, for which good
reason, I have taken special
care to keep my Rib in the
Country. Though to convince You
that I have great confidence in
her Discretion, I have permitted
her to make a Trip, acroʃs the
Mountains, to Newcastle, without
my attending her, and Monday
is fixed for her departure. In
return for this, She brings back
with her my Son William,
who is to honour Us with his
Company, during his holidays. When
these are ended, it is proposed
that I should take the young
Gentleman, back again. Maria
has not been at all well, this
Winter, and was by no means
so, when I came home. She still
has a Cold, which the uncertain
weather will not let her get
quit of. I trust, this little Jaunt
may do her good, both as Exercise,
and as change of Air. How I shall
contrive to keep all the Seven Children
in order, at home, during her
Absence, rather puzzles Me.
Every thing, in this Country,
is at least a Month later than usu=
=al. It is, a melancholy sort of Com=
=fort, but still it is a Comfort, to
know that our Neighbours in
England, are not better off than
ourselves. I do not expect that any
of my Hay will be ready for cut=
=ting before the end of next Month,
and if my Wheat, Barley, an Oats
are fairly in the Barn Yard by
November, my expectations will
be answered. As to our Beef and
Mutton, the poor Animals are
half starved. The Store Farmers,[1]
on the Sheep Farms, have lost
almost all their Lambs from
the severity of the Weather; and
what is even of more consequence
to them, there has been a great
Mortality amongst the old
Sheep. All this is very serious
to those, who like myself, draw
our Rents from Sheep Farms.
When Rent Day arrives, I expect
to be treated with a black List
of Loʃses, instead of Bank Notes.
The Japan Warehouse
cost me some trouble to com=
=prehend. As to the Lord & Lady
Cathcart, She would be in great
Grief for the death of her Mother,
to whom she was very much
attached. I received the Accounts
of the old Womans death, which
was sudden, on my Road North.
To us, the loʃs is considerable, as
Mrs= Elliot spent most of her
time with my Neighbour, Ad=
=miral Elliot, whose house has
always been a kind of second
home to us, and Maria used
to be frequently there, while I was
with my Regiment. Mrs- Elliot
has left her property to be di=
=vided equally between her Daugh=
=ters Lady Cathcart & Lady Carnegie.
What the amount of it may be,
I know not, but I fancy it
must be something handsome.
My Aunt Lady Christian Graham,
has at the Age of Eighty four, or
six, removed from this World
to a better. Her Son Tommy is
with his Regiment at Minorca.
You need not tell me about
Your Roads. There is not a Bone
in my Body, that is not perfectly
convinced of their Execrability. I
have more than half vowed, ne=
=ver to do penance on them again.
Therefore, if You wish that We
should live in the same Neigh=
=bourhood, You must remove
Your Establishment to this part
of the World, where we could
meet without being in danger
of breaking our Necks. Mr. D.
would be an admirable acquisi=
=tion to my Lady at the Harpsi=
=chord, and might groan forth
an Accompaniment on the Violon=
=cello, while You & I were dispu=
=ting in a sharper Key. I never
heard of Lord Monboddo's propo=
=sal of Marriage to Mrs- Garrick.
But, it was high time for him
to die, as he was quite
superannuated. Lord
Selkirk left one Son,
the present Earl, and,
I believe, four or five Daughters. The
second Daughter married Sir James
Hall, as notorious a Republican as
her Father. Four Sons of Lord Selkirk
died, after they grew up to be Men.
The present Lord was the youngest
Boy. If his political principles
are no better than those of the
rest of his Family, I shall not
weep on being desired to put
on a black Coat for him. Adieu,
My Dear Sister. Love & best wishes
to You & Yours. Ever Yours Sincerely
Napier
Remember Me
to my Countrywoman
Hawick, Thirteenth June 1799
[2]
Mrs- Dickenson
Leighton House[3]
Leighton Buzzard
Beds.
Napier.
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Wilton Lodge
13th- June 1799.
My Dear Sister,
As your post Office
people at Leighton Buzzard cannot
read, your Letter went to Harwich,
instead of Hawick, by which means,
I have been for four days deprived
of the superlative satisfaction of
knowing that You are still in
existence. This piece of information
I received with the utmost Graciousness
, and as I learned, at the same
time, that your Husband, Kitten,
& my Countrywoman are amongst
the Living, I sincerely congratulate
You all, particularly Mr. Dickenson that
he has got You, again fixed, in
the Country. When Wives gad about
Town, they are apt to become
unmanageable, for which good
reason, I have taken special
care to keep my Rib in the
Country. Though to convince You
that I have great confidence in
her Discretion, I have permitted
her to make a Trip, across the
Mountains, to Newcastle, without
my attending her, and Monday
is fixed for her departure. In
return for this, She brings back
with her my Son William,
who is to honour Us with his
Company, during his holidays. When
these are ended, it is proposed
that I should take the young
Gentleman, back again. Maria
has not been at all well, this
Winter, and was by no means
so, when I came home. She still
has a Cold, which the uncertain
weather will not let her get
quit of. I trust, this little Jaunt
may do her good, both as Exercise,
and as change of Air. How I shall
contrive to keep all the Seven Children
in order, at home, during her
Absence, rather puzzles Me.
Every thing, in this Country,
is at least a Month later than usual
. It is, a melancholy sort of Comfort
, but still it is a Comfort, to
know that our Neighbours in
England, are not better off than
ourselves. I do not expect that any
of my Hay will be ready for cutting
before the end of next Month,
and if my Wheat, Barley, an Oats
are fairly in the Barn Yard by
November, my expectations will
be answered. As to our Beef and
Mutton, the poor Animals are
half starved. The Store Farmers,
on the Sheep Farms, have lost
almost all their Lambs from
the severity of the Weather; and
what is even of more consequence
to them, there has been a great
Mortality amongst the old
Sheep. All this is very serious
to those, who like myself, draw
our Rents from Sheep Farms.
When Rent Day arrives, I expect
to be treated with a black List
of Losses, instead of Bank Notes.
The Japan Warehouse
cost me some trouble to comprehend
. As to the Lord & Lady
Cathcart, She would be in great
Grief for the death of her Mother,
to whom she was very much
attached. I received the Accounts
of the old Womans death, which
was sudden, on my Road North.
To us, the loss is considerable, as
Mrs= Elliot spent most of her
time with my Neighbour, Admiral
Elliot, whose house has
always been a kind of second
home to us, and Maria used
to be frequently there, while I was
with my Regiment. Mrs- Elliot
has left her property to be divided
equally between her Daughters
Lady Cathcart & Lady Carnegie.
What the amount of it may be,
I know not, but I fancy it
must be something handsome.
My Aunt Lady Christian Graham,
has at the Age of Eighty four, or
six, removed from this World
to a better. Her Son Tommy is
with his Regiment at Minorca.
You need not tell me about
Your Roads. There is not a Bone
in my Body, that is not perfectly
convinced of their Execrability. I
have more than half vowed, never
to do penance on them again.
Therefore, if You wish that We
should live in the same Neighbourhood
, You must remove
Your Establishment to this part
of the World, where we could
meet without being in danger
of breaking our Necks. Mr. Dickenson
would be an admirable acquisition
to my Lady at the Harpsichord
, and might groan forth
an Accompaniment on the Violoncello
, while You & I were disputing
in a sharper Key. I never
heard of Lord Monboddo's proposal
of Marriage to Mrs- Garrick.
But, it was high time for him
to die, as he was quite
superannuated. Lord
Selkirk left one Son,
the present Earl, and,
I believe, four or five Daughters. The
second Daughter married Sir James
Hall, as notorious a Republican as
her Father. Four Sons of Lord Selkirk
died, after they grew up to be Men.
The present Lord was the youngest
Boy. If his political principles
are no better than those of the
rest of his Family, I shall not
weep on being desired to put
on a black Coat for him. Adieu,
My Dear Sister. Love & best wishes
to You & Yours. Ever Yours Sincerely
Napier
Remember Me
to my Countrywoman
Hawick, Thirteenth June 1799
Mrs- Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
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/1/20/149
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Roxburghshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 13 June 1799
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to
his family and farming. He writes that the hay will not be ready to cut
before the end of next month and the wheat and oats will not be ready until
November. 'Every thing, in this Country is out at least a month later than
usual'. His sheep and cows are half starved and reports that 'farmers on the
sheep farms, have lost almost all their lambs from the severity of the
Weather'. What is of more important to them there has also been a 'great
mortality amongst the old Sheep'. Napier rents to a number of sheep farmers
and expects that they will find it difficult to pay him.
Napier also writes about the death of a relative and how her property is to
be divided. He writes that he never knew that Lord Monboddo [James Burnett
(c.1714-1799), Judge and Philosopher] had asked Mrs Garrick to marry him and
notes that 'it was time for him to die, as her was quite superannuated'. He
continues the letter on the subject of Lord Selkirk and his family.
Dated at Wilton Lodge [Roxburghshire].
Length: 2 sheets, 836 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 24 January 2022)
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: 7 March 2022