HAM/1/20/24
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Edinr- 30th. Septr- 1779
My Dear Sister,
When I wrote last
to you I was out of temper, & for that
reason incapable of answering some
questions in your letter so calmly as
I should have done.
Never was poor Devil
so tormented as I have been & still
continue to be -- from an exceʃs of
prudence & delicacy, I may happen to
loʃslose the object of my wishes. Under a
promise of Silence 'till an answer is
received from Genl. L. in America, I
cannot addreʃs Miʃs L. at a time when
I have some small reason to suspect
a rising attachment in her breast in
favor of a Young Earl, & that attachment
strengthened by the advice of her Cousin
and Confidant. If this appears to gain ground
it will be neceʃsary for me to take the
field, at any rate my resolution is
fixed of finishing the matter one way
or other before I leave Scotland, which
I hope will be in a short time as I
have a promotion Treaty in great
forwardneʃs -- that is to say I hope it
will take place in about Six Weeks.
Do not suspect me of being jealous. My
information comes from too good a quarter,
no leʃs a personage than Ly- Hopetoun
who is her Aunt as well as myine & who
wishes me well -- You see the
scrape, I have got into, it will require
great addreʃs & ingenuity to get out again,
more I fear than I am Master of --
however Fortune favors the brave &
I won't be cast down --
I am just returned
from a Visit to my Estate -- the
first time of my appearance there.
No house of my own to lodge in, tho
------ I have two Castles without side
Walls, Roofs, Windows, Doors or floors.
Next Summer my intention is to build,
not a palace but a Cottage -- Lofty
green hills at the back which are
to be planted, a flat in River in the
front, the opposite side of the River
rising into Mountains likewise to
be planted & the ruin of an Old
Castle at the foot of one of them, which
will be a principle object from the
House. I hope some day or other to
see you in it.
Adieu
Yours Affecty-
N——.[1]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Edinburgh 30th. September 1779
My Dear Sister,
When I wrote last
to you I was out of temper, & for that
reason incapable of answering some
questions in your letter so calmly as
I should have done.
Never was poor Devil
so tormented as I have been & still
continue to be -- from an excess of
prudence & delicacy, I may happen to
lose the object of my wishes. Under a
promise of Silence till an answer is
received from General Leslie in America, I
cannot address Miss Leslie at a time when
I have some small reason to suspect
a rising attachment in her breast in
favour of a Young Earl, & that attachment
strengthened by the advice of her Cousin
and Confidant. If this appears to gain ground
it will be necessary for me to take the
field, at any rate my resolution is
fixed of finishing the matter one way
or other before I leave Scotland, which
I hope will be in a short time as I
have a promotion Treaty in great
forwardness -- that is to say I hope it
will take place in about Six Weeks.
Do not suspect me of being jealous. My
information comes from too good a quarter,
no less a personage than Lady Hopetoun
who is her Aunt as well as mine & who
wishes me well -- You see the
scrape, I have got into, it will require
great address & ingenuity to get out again,
more I fear than I am Master of --
however Fortune favours the brave &
I won't be cast down --
I am just returned
from a Visit to my Estate -- the
first time of my appearance there.
No house of my own to lodge in, though
I have two Castles without side
Walls, Roofs, Windows, Doors or floors.
Next Summer my intention is to build,
not a palace but a Cottage -- Lofty
green hills at the back which are
to be planted, a flat River in the
front, the opposite side of the River
rising into Mountains likewise to
be planted & the ruin of an Old
Castle at the foot of one of them, which
will be a principal object from the
House. I hope some day or other to
see you in it.
Adieu
Yours Affectionately
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/1/20/24
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 30 September 1779
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He is still
waiting to hear from General Leslie in America with regards to his proposal
to his daughter. He has promised to keep the proposal secret until he hears
from the General and he is unable to address her which he wishes he could do
has he has reason to suspect that she may be growing attached to an Earl and
that this attachment may be influenced by the advice of her cousin. He hopes
to have an answer by the time he leaves Scotland which will be in a short
time. He assures Hamilton that he is not jealous and that the information
comes from her aunt, Lady Hopetoun.
Napier writes of his estate which he has just returned from. Although he has
two castles, both without side walls, roofs, windows and so on. He intends
to build a cottage the following Summer and he hopes to see Hamilton at it
at some point.
Dated at Edinburgh.
Length: 1 sheet, 383 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 13 September 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: 3 December 2021