HAM/1/20/90
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Dublin Barracks
20th. Decr- 1784.
My Dear Sister,
This letter is on the
outside directed to Miʃs Hamilton, as
neither the Newspapers nor a letter
from yourself have announced to me
that your name is Dickenson. I hope
however that the outside is mistaken
and that you have long ago followed
the advice I gave you when we last
parted. If you have not, I conceive my=
=self still entitled to scold you, but if
you should have already obeyed my
commands I beg Mr. Dickenson's pardon
for the familiar style in which
I addreʃs You. I can only excuse my=
=self by calling on you to witneʃs that
you ever allowed me the privilege
of finding fault, a permiʃsion which
to peevish discontented dispositions
like mine, was invaluable. You must
likewise do me the Justice to declare
that I have ever been ready to avail
myself of the slightest opportunities
of indulging myself in the exercise
of what gives me so much satisfaction.
I do not make any apologies
for not writing to you sooner, as I conceive
in strict etiquette you ought to have
written to me, but I could not resist the
inclination I felt to condole with You
& the rest of the Indigo Tribe on the
Death of Dr. Johnston. Alas poor Man,
he fell a victim to Signora Piozzi's
marriage, therefore I insist if you
are not already married, that you will
not by a pretended cruelty run the risk
of sacrificing Mr. Dickenson. It would
certainly make a fine subject for a Poem
for the blue Stocking tribe that one
of the Society had murdered a deserving
young Man. I who flatter myself
that I know something of your real
disposition cannot suspect you of so
much cruelty. You cannot imagine how
happily my dearest Maria & I live. She
makes the best of every inconvenience
she experiences, is ever chearfull and
desirous of making me so. As she has a
natural turn for Œconomy we contrive
to have every comfort without the folly's
of Life. She never appears so comfortable
as when at home and really makes me
(what you will make Mr. D. I beg you ------
obser[ve] this is the first compliment
I ever payed You) a most rational
Companion. She has constantly abused
me for not writing to You & now
desires me to aʃsure you of her most
affectionate good wishes. It is now time
to tell You that I am on the eve of purcha=
=sing the Majority[1] of this Regt- I am now
in. Adieu. Beleive me ever, what I
have ever been Your very
Affece. Brother & sincere friend
Napier
If you should condescend to write to me, direct
King's Own Regt- of Foot Dublin Barracks[2]
Lord Napier Anr
Janry 1st 85[3]
[4]
Miʃs Hamilton
Clarges Street[5]
London
[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘The rank or office of major’ (OED s.v. majority n.2. Accessed 27-02-2023), and for the result, see the next letter, HAM/1/20/91.
2. This annotation is written vertically in the right-hand margin.
3. This annotation is written vertically in the left-hand margin.
4. Double postmark 'IRELAND' in sepia ink.
5. A manuscript figure 6 is written across the address, denoting postage due.
6. Bishop mark in black ink, dated 20 December.
7. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Dublin Barracks
20th. December 1784.
My Dear Sister,
This letter is on the
outside directed to Miss Hamilton, as
neither the Newspapers nor a letter
from yourself have announced to me
that your name is Dickenson. I hope
however that the outside is mistaken
and that you have long ago followed
the advice I gave you when we last
parted. If you have not, I conceive myself
still entitled to scold you, but if
you should have already obeyed my
commands I beg Mr. Dickenson's pardon
for the familiar style in which
I address You. I can only excuse myself
by calling on you to witness that
you ever allowed me the privilege
of finding fault, a permission which
to peevish discontented dispositions
like mine, was invaluable. You must
likewise do me the Justice to declare
that I have ever been ready to avail
myself of the slightest opportunities
of indulging myself in the exercise
of what gives me so much satisfaction.
I do not make any apologies
for not writing to you sooner, as I conceive
in strict etiquette you ought to have
written to me, but I could not resist the
inclination I felt to condole with You
& the rest of the Indigo Tribe on the
Death of Dr. Johnston. Alas poor Man,
he fell a victim to Signora Piozzi's
marriage, therefore I insist if you
are not already married, that you will
not by a pretended cruelty run the risk
of sacrificing Mr. Dickenson. It would
certainly make a fine subject for a Poem
for the blue Stocking tribe that one
of the Society had murdered a deserving
young Man. I who flatter myself
that I know something of your real
disposition cannot suspect you of so
much cruelty. You cannot imagine how
happily my dearest Maria & I live. She
makes the best of every inconvenience
she experiences, is ever cheerful and
desirous of making me so. As she has a
natural turn for Economy we contrive
to have every comfort without the folly's
of Life. She never appears so comfortable
as when at home and really makes me
(what you will make Mr. Dickenson I beg you ------
observe this is the first compliment
I ever paid You) a most rational
Companion. She has constantly abused
me for not writing to You & now
desires me to assure you of her most
affectionate good wishes. It is now time
to tell You that I am on the eve of purchasing
the Majority of this Regiment I am now
in. Adieu. Believe me ever, what I
have ever been Your very
Affectionate Brother & sincere friend
Napier
If you should condescend to write to me, direct
King's Own Regiment of Foot Dublin Barracks
Miss Hamilton
Clarges Street
London
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/1/20/90
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Dublin
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 20 December 1784
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, noting the
death of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, author and lexicographer). ‘I could
not resist the inclination I felt to condole with you and the rest of the
Indigo tribe on the death of Dr Johnston [sic].
Alas poor Mary he fell a victim to Signora Piozzi's marriage therefore I
insist if you are not already married, that you will not by a pretended
cruelty run the risk of sacrificing Mr Dickenson. It would certainly make a
fine subject for a Poem for the blue stocking tribe that one of the society
had murdered a deserving young man’. Lord Napier suggests, somewhat in jest,
that Johnson died of a broken heart because of Hester Thrale's marriage and
teases Hamilton about her own forthcoming marriage to John Dickenson.
Dated at Dublin Barracks.
Length: 1 sheet, 462 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 28 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