HAM/1/20/85
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Edinr- 25th: Janry- 1784.
I had once resolved not
to write to My Dear Sister 'till the
first of next June, nor do I beleive
I should have altered my resolution
had not a severe cold confined me to
the House. Tired therefore of reading,
I write to You merely to keep me from
falling asleep. My letter perhaps may
bring on You that Inclination I wish
to drive from myself. You must
not from what I have wrote suppose
that I am ill. The weather at present
is extremely Cold, hard frost & snow on
the ground, I had got my feet wet
which was followed by a Sore throat
& Toothach. Loyalty to my Royal Mistreʃs
carried me to an Aʃsembly on her birth
=day, where I increased my complaints;
I have therefore prudently confined
myself to the house instead of going
to church this morning.
To punish You for your
saucineʃs, I have resolved not to copy
one single Sheet of my Journal to the
Highlands. Had you treated the first
I gave you on that subject with the
attention it merited, I might have
been induced to expose my remarks
even to one of the Blue Stocking Tribe,
but as it has been remarked that
Miʃs Hamilton is perfect Indigo, and as
she confeʃses to have sojourned with
the Empreʃs of Shells & Mother Delany
for a long period, I must beg to be
excused. Now Madam as to your
Quarterly Communications, you may
follow your own inclination. If writing
pleases You, Write. If the contrary is
agreable, tant mieux, the
leʃs trouble shall I have in answering
your letters. I hope you are convinced
that I am perfectly indifferent about
the matter, being thoroughly satisfied
that Friendship is a mere word without
any meaning in it. Every body makes
use of it, and every body would wish
the world to beleive that they really
felt that Quality, but for my part
I agree with the old Song “Friendship
for Interest is but a Name.[1]
In this Country We
are all Politicians. I was an avowed
Reprobater of Mr. Fox's East India
Bill, and have been ever since wishing
for a Diʃsolution of Parliament. In that
event, there will probably be considerable
changes amongst the Scotch Peers & Commo=
=ners. Seven new Candidates for the
Honour of representing the Peerage
have already declared themselves, Viz --
The Earls of Murray, Balcarres, Kellie
Dumfries, & Hopetoun, Lords Cranstoun
& Kinnaird -- Whether Ld. Stormont
expects to be turned out or not I can=
=not say; he has however been par
=ticularly attentive to strengthen his
Interest. Lady Stormont applied to me
to support her husband. This was not
thought sufficient for the purpose but
was followed by Letters from the Duke
of Atholl & Lord Cathcart & likewise beg=
=ging my Vote & Interest for Lord S——
Many people would have refused their
request considering the style in which
they had behaved to me; but I thought
proper to be civil, & to aʃsure His
Grace, His Lordship & Her Ladyship
that I would support Lord Stormont
whether in or out of Office. I do not
know whether they feel obliged to
me, they have not however thought
it expedient to thank me for my
Civility, mais je les meprise. Adieu.
Be a good Girl & perhaps I may
take you into favour again.
Ever your Affece. Brother
N——
My best Compts- to Miʃs Clarke's &
Uncle Frederick. By the bye I hear Miʃs Pul=
=teney has run away from the Convent --
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
Edinburgh 25th: January 1784.
I had once resolved not
to write to My Dear Sister till the
first of next June, nor do I believe
I should have altered my resolution
had not a severe cold confined me to
the House. Tired therefore of reading,
I write to You merely to keep me from
falling asleep. My letter perhaps may
bring on You that Inclination I wish
to drive from myself. You must
not from what I have written suppose
that I am ill. The weather at present
is extremely Cold, hard frost & snow on
the ground, I had got my feet wet
which was followed by a Sore throat
& Toothache. Loyalty to my Royal Mistress
carried me to an Assembly on her birthday
, where I increased my complaints;
I have therefore prudently confined
myself to the house instead of going
to church this morning.
To punish You for your
sauciness, I have resolved not to copy
one single Sheet of my Journal to the
Highlands. Had you treated the first
I gave you on that subject with the
attention it merited, I might have
been induced to expose my remarks
even to one of the Blue Stocking Tribe,
but as it has been remarked that
Miss Hamilton is perfect Indigo, and as
she confesses to have sojourned with
the Empress of Shells & Mother Delany
for a long period, I must beg to be
excused. Now Madam as to your
Quarterly Communications, you may
follow your own inclination. If writing
pleases You, Write. If the contrary is
agreeable, tant mieux, the
less trouble shall I have in answering
your letters. I hope you are convinced
that I am perfectly indifferent about
the matter, being thoroughly satisfied
that Friendship is a mere word without
any meaning in it. Every body makes
use of it, and every body would wish
the world to believe that they really
felt that Quality, but for my part
I agree with the old Song “Friendship
for Interest is but a Name.
In this Country We
are all Politicians. I was an avowed
Reprobater of Mr. Fox's East India
Bill, and have been ever since wishing
for a Dissolution of Parliament. In that
event, there will probably be considerable
changes amongst the Scotch Peers & Commoners
. Seven new Candidates for the
Honour of representing the Peerage
have already declared themselves, Viz --
The Earls of Murray, Balcarres, Kellie
Dumfries, & Hopetoun, Lords Cranstoun
& Kinnaird -- Whether Lord Stormont
expects to be turned out or not I cannot
say; he has however been particularly
attentive to strengthen his
Interest. Lady Stormont applied to me
to support her husband. This was not
thought sufficient for the purpose but
was followed by Letters from the Duke
of Atholl & Lord Cathcart & likewise begging
my Vote & Interest for Lord Stormont
Many people would have refused their
request considering the style in which
they had behaved to me; but I thought
proper to be civil, & to assure His
Grace, His Lordship & Her Ladyship
that I would support Lord Stormont
whether in or out of Office. I do not
know whether they feel obliged to
me, they have not however thought
it expedient to thank me for my
Civility, mais je les meprise. Adieu.
Be a good Girl & perhaps I may
take you into favour again.
Ever your Affectionate Brother
Napier
My best Compliments to Miss Clarke's &
Uncle Frederick. By the bye I hear Miss Pulteney
has run away from the Convent --
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/1/20/85
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 25 January 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. The letter
relates to the representatives for the Scottish Peerage and to general news.
Napier had resolved not to write to Hamilton before he himself had received
a letter first from her. He has changed his mind since he has been at home
with a cold and notes that he writes to her 'merely to keep [...] from
falling asleep'.
Napier jests with Hamilton that although she is a member of the bluestocking
tribe, if she had been less 'saucy' her would have allowed her to read a
section of his journal on his visit to the West Highlands. He notes that it
has been remarked that Hamilton is the 'Perfect Indigo, and as she confesses
to have sojourned with the Empress of the Shells & Mother Delany for a
long period, I must beg to be excused'.
Napier writes that in Scotland everybody is a politician. He notes that he
himself was a confirmed 'Reprobator of Mr Fox's East India Bill' and has
been wishing for a dissolution of Parliament. He believes that there will be
major changes amongst the Scottish peers and Commissioners. Seven new
candidates to represent the peerage have already declared themselves,
including the Earls of Murray, Hopetoun and Dumfries amongst others. He does
not know whether Lord Stormont expects to be 'turned out' though he reports
that he has been 'particularly attentive to strengthen his interest'. Lady
Stormont had applied to Napier to support her husband and this was followed
with letters from the Duke of Atholl and Lord Cathcart asking for his
support for Lord Stormont. He has informed them that he will support
Stormont whether in or out of office. He writes that he does not know if
they are 'obliged' to him or not as they have not thought it 'expedient to
thank me for my Civility'. Napier also writes on the meaning of
friendship.
Dated at Edinburgh.
Length: 1 sheet, 587 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 24 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: 20 February 2024