HAM/1/20/209(1)
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
X
71, Queen Street
30th- Decrr 1806
My Dear Sister,
Since I have no long=
er the power of franking, I have abridged
as much as poʃsible, the number of my
Correspondents, not chusing to put them
to the expence of paying for my dull
stupid scrawls. And, as I know You would
have early intelligence of my Defeat, at
the Election on the 4th Instant, from the
Newspapers, I really did not conceive
that You would have expected the
disagreeable intelligence to be sent to
You, by myself. I had the weight of Go=
vernment against me; but I have the
satisfaction of reflecting, that the Opposi=
tion was honourable to Me. Would
I have given up my Friends, I might
have had my Name inserted in the
Ministerial List. But, having all my
Life presumed to follow my own Will,
and that Will not agreeing with the
Ministers, of course, I lost my Election.
You will be surprised when I tell You,
that I failed, having the Majority of
Peers, who voted, in my favour. This
appears odd, but was occasioned by the
way, in which, the Votes were chequered.
My supporters were, the Dukes of Buccleuch,
Lennox, Gordon, Argyll, Atholl, Montrose, the
Earls of Craufurd, Morton, Caithneʃs, Moray, Home,
Strathmore, Abercorn, Kellie, Haddington, Gal=
loway, Kinnoull, Dalhousie, Leven, Balcarres,
Aboyne, Aberdeen, Dunmore, Hyndford, Glasgow,
Bute, Hopetoun, Deloraine, Viscounts Stormont,
Arbuthnot, Lords Cathcart, Sinclair, Torphichen,
Napier, Reay & Elibank. 36. My opponents were,
The Dukes of Rothsay, P: of W. Queensberry, Earls of Errol,
Eglinton, Caʃsillis, Lauderdale, Elgin, Dysart,
Selkirk, Northesk, Dundonald, Kintore, Bread=
albane, Stair, Roseberry, Portmore, Viscounts Falkland,
Dunblane, Lords Forbes, Sempill, Elphinstone,
Somerville, Blantyre, Colvill, Kirkcudbright,
Belhaven, Rollo, Kinnaird, 28, to which must
be added the Claimant of the Dukedom of Rox=
burgh, & the Claimant of the Earldom of March=
mont, who both voted on the Ministerial
side, though the House of Lords have not
yet decided on their Claims. On comparing
the Names, on the above Lists, I have no
reason to be ashamed at the loʃs of my
Election. Whether my office will go too,
I shall not know, till I write the
usual Letter of application, in the
Month of March; but, it is to be presumed
that it will be an Object for some of the
Ministers friends. The probability there=
fore is, that I shall be left to live out
the remainder of my Days in a State
of peaceful retirement. So, that if You
dont wander to this Country, it may be
long enough before we meet again. Now
for a reply to all your Queries &c --
I never see Colonel Graham -- My
Son William, is at Sea, on board the Imperieuse
Frigate, commanded by Lord Cochrane, and is
too keen a Sailor to waste his precious time, in
journeying to this Country -- The Justice Clark is
now at Dunira, with Lord Melville -- Your Letter
shall be burnt, according to your Orders -- You must
not direct to me under Cover to any Member
of Parliament, more especially under Cover
to Lord Cathcart -- I am not likely to meet
with Mrs Campbell, (late Miʃs Wynne), as I do not
aʃsociate with her Husband.
His father, Mr. Campbell of Shaw=
field, has a large Estate, but
is not Brother to the late Duke
of Argyll. His eldest Son married
the Duke's daughter Lady Charlotte --
As this is an Age of Wonders, in=
stead of Frost & Snow, we have the verdure of
Spring at Christmas. The frequent Storms of
Wind & Rain, have been most tremendous,
and have rendered the walking about intole=
rably disagreeable. My Lungs play best, in
clear frosty Weather, for which, I most
ardently long; but, very much fear it will
not come till next Midsummer.
Adieu, My Dear Sister. Best love
to Mr. Dickenson, Louisa, Countrywoman &c
My Rib & Progeny are in good health. Ever
Your faithful & affecte- Brother
Napier
P.S.
When You are idle,
remember, I dont grudge postage.
[1] [2]
[3]
Mrs- Dickenson[4]
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Beds
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. The address is written vertically.
2. An apparently unrelated draft letter from Hamilton to Mr Hill that occupies blank space around the address panel is transcribed as HAM/1/20/209(2).
3. Round postmark in red ink, dated 3 January 1807.
4. Round postmark in red ink, dated 30 December 1806. Large manuscript numbers in brown ink written across the address, denoting postage due.
5. Seal, in red wax, split by unfolding.
Normalised Text
71, Queen Street
30th- December 1806
My Dear Sister,
Since I have no longer
the power of franking, I have abridged
as much as possible, the number of my
Correspondents, not choosing to put them
to the expense of paying for my dull
stupid scrawls. And, as I know You would
have early intelligence of my Defeat, at
the Election on the 4th Instant, from the
Newspapers, I really did not conceive
that You would have expected the
disagreeable intelligence to be sent to
You, by myself. I had the weight of Government
against me; but I have the
satisfaction of reflecting, that the Opposition
was honourable to Me. Would
I have given up my Friends, I might
have had my Name inserted in the
Ministerial List. But, having all my
Life presumed to follow my own Will,
and that Will not agreeing with the
Ministers, of course, I lost my Election.
You will be surprised when I tell You,
that I failed, having the Majority of
Peers, who voted, in my favour. This
appears odd, but was occasioned by the
way, in which, the Votes were chequered.
My supporters were, the Dukes of Buccleuch,
Lennox, Gordon, Argyll, Atholl, Montrose, the
Earls of Craufurd, Morton, Caithness, Moray, Home,
Strathmore, Abercorn, Kellie, Haddington, Galloway
, Kinnoull, Dalhousie, Leven, Balcarres,
Aboyne, Aberdeen, Dunmore, Hyndford, Glasgow,
Bute, Hopetoun, Deloraine, Viscounts Stormont,
Arbuthnot, Lords Cathcart, Sinclair, Torphichen,
Napier, Reay & Elibank. 36. My opponents were,
The Dukes of Rothsay, Queensberry, Earls of Errol,
Eglinton, Cassillis, Lauderdale, Elgin, Dysart,
Selkirk, Northesk, Dundonald, Kintore, Breadalbane
, Stair, Roseberry, Portmore, Viscounts Falkland,
Dunblane, Lords Forbes, Sempill, Elphinstone,
Somerville, Blantyre, Colvill, Kirkcudbright,
Belhaven, Rollo, Kinnaird, 28, to which must
be added the Claimant of the Dukedom of Roxburgh
, & the Claimant of the Earldom of Marchmont
, who both voted on the Ministerial
side, though the House of Lords have not
yet decided on their Claims. On comparing
the Names, on the above Lists, I have no
reason to be ashamed at the loss of my
Election. Whether my office will go too,
I shall not know, till I write the
usual Letter of application, in the
Month of March; but, it is to be presumed
that it will be an Object for some of the
Ministers friends. The probability therefore
is, that I shall be left to live out
the remainder of my Days in a State
of peaceful retirement. So, that if You
don't wander to this Country, it may be
long enough before we meet again. Now
for a reply to all your Queries &c --
I never see Colonel Graham -- My
Son William, is at Sea, on board the Imperieuse
Frigate, commanded by Lord Cochrane, and is
too keen a Sailor to waste his precious time, in
journeying to this Country -- The Justice Clark is
now at Dunira, with Lord Melville -- Your Letter
shall be burnt, according to your Orders -- You must
not direct to me under Cover to any Member
of Parliament, more especially under Cover
to Lord Cathcart -- I am not likely to meet
with Mrs Campbell, (late Miss Wynne), as I do not
associate with her Husband.
His father, Mr. Campbell of Shawfield
, has a large Estate, but
is not Brother to the late Duke
of Argyll. His eldest Son married
the Duke's daughter Lady Charlotte --
As this is an Age of Wonders, instead
of Frost & Snow, we have the verdure of
Spring at Christmas. The frequent Storms of
Wind & Rain, have been most tremendous,
and have rendered the walking about intolerably
disagreeable. My Lungs play best, in
clear frosty Weather, for which, I most
ardently long; but, very much fear it will
not come till next Midsummer.
Adieu, My Dear Sister. Best love
to Mr. Dickenson, Louisa, Countrywoman &c
My Rib & Progeny are in good health. Ever
Your faithful & affectionate Brother
Napier
P.S.
When You are idle,
remember, I don't grudge postage.
Mrs- Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
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/1/20/209(1)
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 30 December 1806
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to
Napier's defeat in an election. He has lost the election although he had the
votes of the majority of Peers. He notes that this may seem an odd thing, but
it was a result of 'the way [...] the Votes were chequered'. He lists his
supporters, who included such peers as Lennox, Gordon, Argyll and Abercorn.
He also lists his opponents and notes that in examining the two lists he has
no reason to feel ashamed of losing. Napier continues on the election and
with news of his son William, who is at sea under the command of Lord
Cochrane, and with general news of society and friends.
On p.3 is an apparently unrelated draft letter from Hamilton to a Mr Hill, transcribed as HAM/1/20/209(2).
Dated at Queen Street [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 659 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 8 February 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: 25 April 2023