HAM/1/20/150
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
28, St. Albans Street
9th. June 1800.
My Dear Sister,
I can aʃsure You
that I am in perfect peace with
You, and all Mankind, on the
score of Letter Writing; and I am
really sorry that your Conscience
should have been so troublesome,
as to have made You write to
Me now, as it will be no longer
in my power to put this aʃsertion
beyond all doubt. My plan was,
to have paʃsed a Night at your House,
and another with Arch. Cathcart,
if poʃsible, oin my way home. But,
I had determined to inform neither
of You of my intention, untill the
fulfilling of it was certain. That
depends on the Motions of Parliament.
A great Minister told me ten days
ago, that the Prorogation would take
place, on the 18th. Inst.. But, the busineʃs
now remaining to be concluded
convinces me, that we cannot be
dismiʃsed before the beginning of
next Month. If I am right, it will
be utterly impoʃsible for Me to
halt one moment on my Northern
Journey. My Sons holidays begin
the 18th- He waits for my taking
him home, and I have a point of
moment to carry with him. A few
Months ago, he announced to Me, his
desire of going to Sea. I wondered
at his choice, but consented to it,
and have arranged with Sir John
Warren, to send him to Sir John's
Ship, next Spring. Ten days ago, Mr-
Dundas made me a Voluntary
offer of sending my Son to India,
with the view of putting him in
the way of repairing the worn out
Fortune of our Family. I felt the
full force of Mr. D.s goodneʃs; but
the acceptance, must depend on
my Son himself. To counsel and ad-
vise, I shall always be ready; but
to thwart natural genius, or to force
my Children to enter into a line
of Profeʃsion, to which, they do not
feel inclined, I never can bring
myself. Dundas has behaved like
a true friend. He says, “if your eldest
“Son won't go to India, I will send
“any of your younger Sons who may
“like it better -- ” This is very flatter-
ing; but, my second Son is only Seven
Years old. I have written to William
mentioning the Offer; desiring to
know whether he has positively fixed
on the Navy for his profeʃsion, or
whether he does not think, that
by going to India, he may sooner
become an Independant Man, than
by trusting to the chance of Prize
Money. I have not preʃsed him to
decide. I have only begged to know
his present Sentiments, without dis-
guise. My wish is, to be the friend
of my Children, not their dread.
William's answer may
poʃsibly arrive in a day,
or two. My anxiety, I leave
You to gueʃs at.
My coming to Town, ------
Spring, was entirely owing to the
Important subject of the Union
with the Ireland. The doing so was
by no means convenient, my Income
being leʃsened upwards of £300 pr-
An. by the reduction of the Regiment
I served in, as Lt Colonel. Since I
did come up, I have vented my
Spite on You Ladies, by voting
for (what goes by the name of) the
Adultery Bill. I know not your
sentiments on that subject. In
opposition to mine of course.
Give my love and
▼
▼
▼
best wishes to Mr. Dickenson, and
my Pet Louisa, and I beg You
will not forget my Civilities
to my Countrywoman. Adieu My
Dear Sister, Ever Your sincere[1]
friend and affectionate Brother
Napier
How You found out
that I was in London,
I cannot gueʃs.[2]
London, Tenth June 1800
Mrs- Dickenson[3]
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Napier[4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
28, St. Albans Street
9th. June 1800.
My Dear Sister,
I can assure You
that I am in perfect peace with
You, and all Mankind, on the
score of Letter Writing; and I am
really sorry that your Conscience
should have been so troublesome,
as to have made You write to
Me now, as it will be no longer
in my power to put this assertion
beyond all doubt. My plan was,
to have passed a Night at your House,
and another with Archibald Cathcart,
if possible, in my way home. But,
I had determined to inform neither
of You of my intention, until the
fulfilling of it was certain. That
depends on the Motions of Parliament.
A great Minister told me ten days
ago, that the Prorogation would take
place, on the 18th. Instant. But, the business
now remaining to be concluded
convinces me, that we cannot be
dismissed before the beginning of
next Month. If I am right, it will
be utterly impossible for Me to
halt one moment on my Northern
Journey. My Sons holidays begin
the 18th- He waits for my taking
him home, and I have a point of
moment to carry with him. A few
Months ago, he announced to Me, his
desire of going to Sea. I wondered
at his choice, but consented to it,
and have arranged with Sir John
Warren, to send him to Sir John's
Ship, next Spring. Ten days ago, Mr-
Dundas made me a Voluntary
offer of sending my Son to India,
with the view of putting him in
the way of repairing the worn out
Fortune of our Family. I felt the
full force of Mr. Dundass goodness; but
the acceptance, must depend on
my Son himself. To counsel and advise
, I shall always be ready; but
to thwart natural genius, or to force
my Children to enter into a line
of Profession, to which, they do not
feel inclined, I never can bring
myself. Dundas has behaved like
a true friend. He says, “if your eldest
“Son won't go to India, I will send
“any of your younger Sons who may
“like it better -- ” This is very flattering
; but, my second Son is only Seven
Years old. I have written to William
mentioning the Offer; desiring to
know whether he has positively fixed
on the Navy for his profession, or
whether he does not think, that
by going to India, he may sooner
become an Independent Man, than
by trusting to the chance of Prize
Money. I have not pressed him to
decide. I have only begged to know
his present Sentiments, without disguise
. My wish is, to be the friend
of my Children, not their dread.
William's answer may
possibly arrive in a day,
or two. My anxiety, I leave
You to guess at.
My coming to Town, ------
Spring, was entirely owing to the
Important subject of the Union
with the Ireland. The doing so was
by no means convenient, my Income
being lessened upwards of £300 per
Annum by the reduction of the Regiment
I served in, as Lieutenant Colonel. Since I
did come up, I have vented my
Spite on You Ladies, by voting
for (what goes by the name of) the
Adultery Bill. I know not your
sentiments on that subject. In
opposition to mine of course.
Give my love and
▼
▼
▼
best wishes to Mr. Dickenson, and
my Pet Louisa, and I beg You
will not forget my Civilities
to my Countrywoman. Adieu My
Dear Sister, Ever Your sincere
friend and affectionate Brother
Napier
How You found out
that I was in London,
I cannot guess.
London, Tenth June 1800
Mrs- Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
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/1/20/150
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 9 June 1800
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. The letter
relates to Napier's eldest son William [9th Lord Napier of Merchistoun
(1786-1834) naval officer and trade envoy]. He writes of his son's desire
to go to sea. Napier wondered at his choice but consented and wrote to Sir
John Warren to place him on his ship the following spring. Napier writes
that 10 days ago Mr Dundas made Napier a voluntary offer of sending his son
to India ‘with the view of putting him in the way of repairing the worn out
Fortune of our Family’. He will leave the decision to his son as he will not
force his son into a profession that he is not inclined to. He has written
to William asking him if he has definitely determined on the navy. He has
made it clear that he will support his decision.
Napier also writes that he came to London in Spring was entirely due to the
subject of the ‘Union with the Ireland’. He also notes that he has voted for
a bill which is known as the ‘adultery bill’. Napier notes that he is aware
of Hamilton's sentiments on that subject which is the opposite of his
own.
Dated at St Albans Street.
Length: 1 sheet, 616 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 22 November 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: 6 March 2022