HAM/1/20/169
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
4, Suffolk Street
Charing Croʃs
7th- April 1802
My Dear Sister,
I hope to escape from
this dusty, expensive Town, on Thurs-
day the 22d. Inst-. Such is my plan, if
I dont succeed in my Views; if I do, it
may either occasion my departure
suddenly, or delay me for another
week. At all events, I do not mean
to be here, longer than the last
day of this Month. Mr. Dundas is in
Town, and was to be with Lord
Pelham today. I trust, my matter
may then be fixed, or that They
will candidly say, it cannot be
done. Ministers You know are
callous Animals, and like to make
people dance after them as long
as poʃsible. This suits not with my
irritability of Temper.
I wish that some
of the Blood Royal would ask
me, about You, and then I would
give such a description of you,
as would excite their Curiosity, to
examine into the Truth of it, by
commanding You to appear in
their presence. When You left
the Palace, my advice was, that
You should appear at the Drawing
Room, which would have shewn
that You was not disgusted with
the Inhabitants of it. But, being a
willful Miʃs, you would not do
as I bid You, which I am convinced
nettled our Gracious Q.
My daughter will remain
here, after my departure; but, she
knows not of it yet. Only think
of their sleeping at Northampton,
in their way to Town, without
telling me of their intention. It
would have been so easy for You
to have seen her then.
I can tell you nothing
of Miʃs Law, except that the Cumber-
land Counteʃs consents to the Match.
No money, I imagine, & I even
believe that I misnamed the Son.
It is, Charles, the Captain in the
Scotch Greys. The Counteʃs herself
told me of it. I am happy to Frank
for You at any time.
Love to Mr. Dickenson
& Louisa, best wishes to my Country-
--- woman. Ever My Dear Sister
Your Affecte- Brother
Napier
London, Seventh April 1802
Mrs. Dickenson[1]
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Beds
Napier.
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
4, Suffolk Street
Charing Cross
7th- April 1802
My Dear Sister,
I hope to escape from
this dusty, expensive Town, on Thursday
the 22d. Instant. Such is my plan, if
I dont succeed in my Views; if I do, it
may either occasion my departure
suddenly, or delay me for another
week. At all events, I do not mean
to be here, longer than the last
day of this Month. Mr. Dundas is in
Town, and was to be with Lord
Pelham today. I trust, my matter
may then be fixed, or that They
will candidly say, it cannot be
done. Ministers You know are
callous Animals, and like to make
people dance after them as long
as possible. This suits not with my
irritability of Temper.
I wish that some
of the Blood Royal would ask
me, about You, and then I would
give such a description of you,
as would excite their Curiosity, to
examine into the Truth of it, by
commanding You to appear in
their presence. When You left
the Palace, my advice was, that
You should appear at the Drawing
Room, which would have shown
that You was not disgusted with
the Inhabitants of it. But, being a
willful Miss, you would not do
as I bid You, which I am convinced
nettled our Gracious Queen.
My daughter will remain
here, after my departure; but, she
knows not of it yet. Only think
of their sleeping at Northampton,
in their way to Town, without
telling me of their intention. It
would have been so easy for You
to have seen her then.
I can tell you nothing
of Miss Law, except that the Cumberland
Countess consents to the Match.
No money, I imagine, & I even
believe that I misnamed the Son.
It is, Charles, the Captain in the
Scotch Greys. The Countess herself
told me of it. I am happy to Frank
for You at any time.
Love to Mr. Dickenson
& Louisa, best wishes to my Countrywoman
. Ever My Dear Sister
Your Affectionate Brother
Napier
London, Seventh April 1802
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/1/20/169
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 7 April 1802
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He is
planning to leave London shortly but he has some business with a minister to
resolve first. He notes that ministers are 'callous animals, and like to
make people dance after them as long as possible'. He also writes of the
advice he gave Hamilton some years ago when she resigned from her court
post. He noted that she should attend the Drawing Room on occasions if only
to show she does not dislike the inhabitants of the Palace. As Hamilton was
a 'wilful Miss' she took no notice of his advice.
The letter continues with news of friends and family.
Dated at Suffolk Street.
Length: 1 sheet, 354 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 1 December 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: 8 March 2022