HAM/1/20/225
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton and John Dickenson
Diplomatic Text
X Miʃs D presented at Court
71, Queen Street
10th- June 1808
My Dear Sister,
Be comforted. People
come to your Time of Life, having the
Gout for the first Time, never have
it very severely. I rejoice, however,
that it has paid You a Visit; as
You will now know how to feel
for your Friends, when You see
them in Lambs Wool Stockings, and
Cloth Shoes. I expected, that the want
of Exercise, added to the increased Quanti=
ty of Meat and Drink, which I unavoida=
bly swallow during the General Aʃsem=
bly, might have induced the Gout
to have paid me a Visit. It has, most
kindly been pleased to spare me, and
I trust will continue to do so, as I
propose going to Lord Haddington's
next Week.
That Louisa has been
presented, I think perfectly right,[1]
and had her Gouty Mother gone
with her, I should have been better
pleased. If the Queen should accidentally
see You, her next Speech to Louisa
will be “You are not so broad as Your
“Mother -- ” I have not the least doubt
that the Princeʃses eyed her from head
to foot, and, if the could, would have
found fault with her. They dont seem
to have said anything kind of You,
or to have sent any kind Meʃsage
to You. I dont approve of this. They
ought to have pretended at least, to be
interested about You. As for old Cis, She
is certainly smitten with Mr. Dickenson.
Lady Clavering, perhaps, may have imbibed
the same tender paʃsion, & therefore, for
your Peace of Mind, avoids your Company.
I have not the least doubt, that her
Ladyship was so intent on her Cards,
at Lady Cis's party, the she knew not
either Mr. Dickenson, or your Daughter
was in the Room. Lady Eliz. Macgregor
Murray, makes a Tour of the Cumberland
Lakes before She arrives at Lanrick Castle.
(By the bye, that same place ought to have been
mine, had not my Grandfathers imprudence
sent it into the Market). I think of going
there in the course of the Summer. Sir
John M. Murray has built a good house on
the property since he purchased it. I do not
think Captain Murray healthy, and should
not be surprised, to see her Ladyship a
Young Widow. Having written that much
to You; it is proper, that the remainder
of this Sheet of Paper should be addreʃsed
to your Husband, who is certainly your
better half, for I will be bound, he could
not have persuaded You to have finished
a Letter for him. So, Adieu.
My Dear Sir,
Should it be publickly known
that You took up the Pen to finish your
Wife's Letter, when She chose to go a Gad=
ding, all our Wives would rise in Rebel=
lion, and attempt to make Jerries of Us
all. But, I protest against your conti=
nuing to indulge her, in any of her un=
reasonable fancies. The accounts from
Manchester are very unpleasant indeed.
No sooner, did the news reach Edinbur[gh]
than the Devils immediately
circulated the Report of simi=
lar Riots at Glasgow. That
there are people wicked
enough to wish for such disturbances,
both in England & Scotland, I firmly
believe. But, I trust, there is still left
so large a portion of good Sense, in the
bulk of the People, that the Demons
will not succeed in creating that Con=
fusion they aim at. Our Manufacturers
have remained very quiet, and I hope
will continue to do so. I am really glad
that our Cousins have behaved properly,
& that the Queen has seen Louisa. Her
Majesty owes her some kindneʃs, for the
Torment her Mother had, in her Service.
I wish she had graciously condescended,
at least, to have expreʃsed her approbation
▼
▼
of Mrs- D. I wish I had been of the Presen=
tation Party, that I might have fixed
my Eye on the Q. & poʃsibly have brought
back to her recollection, the manner, in
which, She used to talk to Me, about Mrs-
D.
Adieu, My Dear Sir. With best[2]
love from all here to You & Yours,
I ever am,
Your faithful
humble Servant
Napier[3]
Edinburgh, Tenth June
1808
[4]
Mrs- Dickenson[5]
26, Duke Street
Manchester Square
London
Napier.[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Louisa's presentation is mentioned by 'G. H.' in HAM/1/9/18/1.
2. This section (7 lines) appears at the bottom of the page, below the address, and is continued at the top.
3. Moved section (4 lines) from top of page.
4. FREE frank in brown ink, dated 14 June 1808.
5. Round postmark in red ink, dated 10 June 1808. Second postmark in red ink.
6. Moved address here from middle of page, written vertically.
7. Seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
71, Queen Street
10th- June 1808
My Dear Sister,
Be comforted. People
come to your Time of Life, having the
Gout for the first Time, never have
it very severely. I rejoice, however,
that it has paid You a Visit; as
You will now know how to feel
for your Friends, when You see
them in Lambs Wool Stockings, and
Cloth Shoes. I expected, that the want
of Exercise, added to the increased Quantity
of Meat and Drink, which I unavoidably
swallow during the General Assembly
, might have induced the Gout
to have paid me a Visit. It has, most
kindly been pleased to spare me, and
I trust will continue to do so, as I
propose going to Lord Haddington's
next Week.
That Louisa has been
presented, I think perfectly right,
and had her Gouty Mother gone
with her, I should have been better
pleased. If the Queen should accidentally
see You, her next Speech to Louisa
will be “You are not so broad as Your
“Mother -- ” I have not the least doubt
that the Princesses eyed her from head
to foot, and, if they could, would have
found fault with her. They don't seem
to have said anything kind of You,
or to have sent any kind Message
to You. I don't approve of this. They
ought to have pretended at least, to be
interested about You. As for old Cis, She
is certainly smitten with Mr. Dickenson.
Lady Clavering, perhaps, may have imbibed
the same tender passion, & therefore, for
your Peace of Mind, avoids your Company.
I have not the least doubt, that her
Ladyship was so intent on her Cards,
at Lady Cis's party, the she knew not
either Mr. Dickenson, or your Daughter
was in the Room. Lady Elizabeth Macgregor
Murray, makes a Tour of the Cumberland
Lakes before She arrives at Lanrick Castle.
(By the bye, that same place ought to have been
mine, had not my Grandfathers imprudence
sent it into the Market). I think of going
there in the course of the Summer. Sir
John Macgregor Murray has built a good house on
the property since he purchased it. I do not
think Captain Murray healthy, and should
not be surprised, to see her Ladyship a
Young Widow. Having written that much
to You; it is proper, that the remainder
of this Sheet of Paper should be addressed
to your Husband, who is certainly your
better half, for I will be bound, he could
not have persuaded You to have finished
a Letter for him. So, Adieu.
My Dear Sir,
Should it be publicly known
that You took up the Pen to finish your
Wife's Letter, when She chose to go a Gadding
, all our Wives would rise in Rebellion
, and attempt to make Jerries of Us
all. But, I protest against your continuing
to indulge her, in any of her unreasonable
fancies. The accounts from
Manchester are very unpleasant indeed.
No sooner, did the news reach Edinburgh
than the Devils immediately
circulated the Report of similar
Riots at Glasgow. That
there are people wicked
enough to wish for such disturbances,
both in England & Scotland, I firmly
believe. But, I trust, there is still left
so large a portion of good Sense, in the
bulk of the People, that the Demons
will not succeed in creating that Confusion
they aim at. Our Manufacturers
have remained very quiet, and I hope
will continue to do so. I am really glad
that our Cousins have behaved properly,
& that the Queen has seen Louisa. Her
Majesty owes her some kindness, for the
Torment her Mother had, in her Service.
I wish she had graciously condescended,
at least, to have expressed her approbation
▼
▼
of Mrs- Dickenson I wish I had been of the Presentation
Party, that I might have fixed
my Eye on the Queen & possibly have brought
back to her recollection, the manner, in
which, She used to talk to Me, about Mrs-
Dickenson
Adieu, My Dear Sir. With best
love from all here to You & Yours,
I ever am,
Your faithful
humble Servant
Napier
Edinburgh, Tenth June
1808
Mrs- Dickenson
26, Duke Street
Manchester Square
London
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 and John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/225
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton and John Dickenson
Place received: London
Date sent: 10 June 1808
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton and John
Dickenson, relating to their daughter Louisa's presentation at Court. He
writes first to Hamilton and then to Dickenson.
Hamilton did not attend, possibly because she was suffering from gout.
Napier is in no doubt that the princesses examined Louisa from head to foot
and he does not approve of them not sending a 'kind' word to Hamilton. He
teases that they ought to have 'least pretended to be interested in her'. To
Dickenson Napier writes that he is glad that the Queen has seen Louisa and
that she owes Louisa 'some kindness, for the torment her mother had, in her
service' and he wishes that 'she had graciously condescended, at least, to
have expressed her appreciation of Mrs D'. He wished he had been a member of
the party so he could have fixed his eye on the Queen and brought back to
her memory the conversations they had on Hamilton.
Dated at Queen Street [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 699 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 14 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: 16 March 2022