Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

HAM/1/19/7

Letter from Mary Anne Napier to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


                                                         Abbey Janry 15th 1770



      I hope my Dear Miʃs Hamilton will
not measure my regard by my writeing for bellieve
me I never can faill towards you in reality
however much I have done it lately in
Appearance -- at the time I got yours I
received the Accounts of the Death of my
only Sister[1] since then, yr two Eldest Cousins
have had the Measels Frank a feaver &
Mr Napier a Severe Rhumatism -- all this you
See has been greatly against Writteing -- therefore
I hope you'll hold me excused & give me the
Pleasure to hear soon from you & to tell me
how you all do this very cold Weather none
of you can be better than we Wish you --
& this I hope all of you do us the justice
to bellieve -- . Last Post brought me a long Letter
from Ruʃsia -- yr Aunt asures me they are all
in good Health & much pleas'd with their
present Situation -- so I hope all goes well there


I wish we had any news from hence could Amuse
you this town begins to grow very Gay How do yr
Babylonians amuse themselves? we have of that sort
with us too; they are Weeds that grow in every
Soill -- Accept all our best compts: (& though late)
those of the Saison -- & present the same to your
Pappa & Mamma -- none of us will ever forgett
all yr goodneʃs to us when wth you -- Adieu
My Dear Miʃs Hamilton -- bellieve me Ever
                             your Affect & faithfull Humble Sert:
                             M A Napier
Enclose as Useal
to Mr Hope[2]

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Notes


 1. Eleanor Houstoun (née Cathcart) died on 3 November 1769. Another sister, Elisabeth (b. 1726) does not appear to have survived to adulthood.
 2. The postscript begins to the left of the signature.

Normalised Text


                                                         Abbey January 15th 1770



      I hope my Dear Miss Hamilton will
not measure my regard by my writing for believe
me I never can fail towards you in reality
however much I have done it lately in
Appearance -- at the time I got yours I
received the Accounts of the Death of my
only Sister since then, your two Eldest Cousins
have had the Measles Frank a fever &
Mr Napier a Severe Rheumatism -- all this you
See has been greatly against Writing -- therefore
I hope you'll hold me excused & give me the
Pleasure to hear soon from you & to tell me
how you all do this very cold Weather none
of you can be better than we Wish you --
& this I hope all of you do us the justice
to believe -- . Last Post brought me a long Letter
from Russia -- your Aunt assures me they are all
in good Health & much pleased with their
present Situation -- so I hope all goes well there


I wish we had any news from hence could Amuse
you this town begins to grow very Gay How do your
Babylonians amuse themselves? we have of that sort
with us too; they are Weeds that grow in every
Soil -- Accept all our best compliments (& though late)
those of the Saison -- & present the same to your
Pappa & Mamma -- none of us will ever forget
all your goodness to us when with you -- Adieu
My Dear Miss Hamilton -- believe me Ever
                             your Affectionate & faithful Humble Servant
                             Mary Anne Napier
Enclose as Usual
to Mr Hope

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 1. Eleanor Houstoun (née Cathcart) died on 3 November 1769. Another sister, Elisabeth (b. 1726) does not appear to have survived to adulthood.
 2. The postscript begins to the left of the signature.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Mary Anne Napier to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/7

Correspondence Details

Sender: Lady Mary Anne Napier (née Cathcart)

Place sent: Edinburgh

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Northampton (certainty: medium)

Date sent: 15 January 1770

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Anne Napier [later Lady Napier] to Mary Hamilton, concerning the death of her only sister, the ill health of her husband and two of her children, who have had the measles.
    Dated at Abbey [Edinburgh].
   

Length: 1 sheet, 266 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.

Research assistant: Emma Donington Kiey, former undergraduate student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Aileen Loftus, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted 29 July 2020)

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: 2 November 2021

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