HAM/1/20/36
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Tewin Water 6th. August
1780.
For once, My Dear Sister,
you have discovered an amazing
want of penetration. You suppose
my Heart to be wounded -- beleive
me it is not made of such inflam=
=mable matter as you seem to suspect,
& if it was, the danger from the Herts
Beauties is not very alarming, ------ but
to confeʃs the truth, I am not quite
clear that it has renounced it's alle=
giance to M. L. The idea of her
intrudes upon my recollection in
my solitary walks more frequently
than I could wish.
I like the letter
from D——shire[1]. It leaves you at
liberty to pursue your own incli=
=nations. Your situation is delicate,
your prudence great. I think you
must now either accept or absolutely
refuse the offer.
I proposed the plan
of visiting East Bourne to Lady
Cathcart. She was pleased ------ with your
attention and I beleive very little
persuasion would have made her
agree to the expedition. Her trip
into Eʃsex will take place in a
fortnight. I have attempted to keep
her at home but without effect.
I fear changing Beds at her time
of Life may be attended with bad
consequences; however she is determined
(I might have said obstinate) & I am
obliged to be quiet. The Atholls did
not aquaint her of the Birth of thier
Daughter -- This is the first time of
their neglecting itto do so -- She went
so far as to say, that she imagined
They did not approve of my making
my Visit so long at Tewin. I wish they
would not be so careleʃs of her; a little
civility would please.
I am rejoiced to hear of
your Bathing, thatit will certainly
do you good -- it will brace your
Nerves & prevent Feverets[2] in Winter.
Riding on horseback is goodlikewise good,
when people like it; for my part I
seldom affront my feet. Now & then
I venture to drive an open Chaise
with one old blind Cart Horse, but
this is only upon very particular
occasions. You did not tell me
whether the August Birthday is
to be publick or private; however it
is of little consequence as I do not
intend to be present. Adieu. Beleive
me Your's very sincerely & Affectionately
N[3]
Ld- Napier
6 Augst. 1780.
34
2
2
2
2
2[4]
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Probably a letter from John Dickenson; cf. HAM/1/20/34, and note also ‘I avoid mentioning anything relative to Dshire- & shall in future avoid it except when you particularly require my opinion’ (HAM/1/20/35).
2. ‘An epidemic disease characterized by fever and catarrh (probably influenza). In later use also: any slight or brief fever’ (OED s.v. feveret n. Accessed 16-09-2021).
3. The rest of the page is cut away, removing the bottom half of the signature.
4. This annotation is written diagonally upside down.
5. The lines below the p.3 image, showing through from p.2 col.1 as the sheet has been cut short, are of course not transcribed again.
Normalised Text
Tewin Water 6th. August
1780.
For once, My Dear Sister,
you have discovered an amazing
want of penetration. You suppose
my Heart to be wounded -- believe
me it is not made of such inflammable
matter as you seem to suspect,
& if it was, the danger from the Hertfordshire
Beauties is not very alarming, but
to confess the truth, I am not quite
clear that it has renounced it's allegiance
to The idea of her
intrudes upon my recollection in
my solitary walks more frequently
than I could wish.
I like the letter
from Derbyshire. It leaves you at
liberty to pursue your own inclinations
. Your situation is delicate,
your prudence great. I think you
must now either accept or absolutely
refuse the offer.
I proposed the plan
of visiting East Bourne to Lady
Cathcart. She was pleased with your
attention and I believe very little
persuasion would have made her
agree to the expedition. Her trip
into Essex will take place in a
fortnight. I have attempted to keep
her at home but without effect.
I fear changing Bedfordshire at her time
of Life may be attended with bad
consequences; however she is determined
(I might have said obstinate) & I am
obliged to be quiet. The Atholls did
not acquaint her of the Birth of their
Daughter -- This is the first time of
their neglecting to do so -- She went
so far as to say, that she imagined
They did not approve of my making
my Visit so long at Tewin. I wish they
would not be so careless of her; a little
civility would please.
I am rejoiced to hear of
your Bathing, it will certainly
do you good -- it will brace your
Nerves & prevent Feverets in Winter.
Riding on horseback is likewise good,
when people like it; for my part I
seldom affront my feet. Now & then
I venture to drive an open Chaise
with one old blind Cart Horse, but
this is only upon very particular
occasions. You did not tell me
whether the August Birthday is
to be public or private; however it
is of little consequence as I do not
intend to be present. Adieu. Believe
me Your's very sincerely & 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/1/20/36
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Welwyn
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Eastbourne (certainty: high)
Date sent: 6 August 1780
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, concerning
general family news. Napier assures Hamilton that his heart is not wounded
and the danger of the 'Herts Beauties is not very alarming'. He is not quite
sure if his heart has 'renounced its allegiance to' [blank space] and he
writes that he often thinks of her when walking alone. Turning to a letter
Hamilton has received from Dickenson, Napier advises that it is now up to
Hamilton to accept or reject Dickenson's marriage proposal. Napier also
writes of Lady Cathcart and describes her as determined if not 'obstinate'.
The Atholl's had not informed her of the birth if their child and he wishes
that they would be less careless as a 'little civility would please'.
Napier is pleased that Hamilton has been bathing and notes that it will
benefit her health and also suggests horse-riding as a beneficial activity.
For his part he 'seldom affronts [...] [his] feet' and on occasions drives
an open chaise.
Dated at Tewin Water [Hertfordshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 372 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 16 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