HAM/1/20/91
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Dublin Barracks 19th. Febry. 1785.
My Dear Sister,
Tho' every paragraph
of your letter requires an expreʃs answer
or opinion yet I must begin this epistle
with my most favourite subject Self.
Imprimis, I am actually Major to the
King's Own Regt- of Foot and am now strutting
about with all the affected dignity of my
New Office. My Commiʃsion is dated the
end of last Decr- tho' it did not arrive
in this Country 'till about Ten days
ago. But this is the least part of the
satisfaction I experience, for be it known
to You that I am decidedly in the way
of being saluted Father. About the Month
of August (if Maria continues to do as
well as she has done) I expect to be
disturbed with the squalling of the
little Imp. I shall almost detest the
Brat for being born in this Country
as I have not yet brought myself
to admire it's Inhabitants. I hope this
does not proceed from a Narrowneʃs
of Ideas. I do not find myself more
partial to a Scotchman than to an
Englishman, but I confeʃs I feel that
tho' I may be pleased with the plausi=
=bility[1] of the Irish, yet I can neither
trust nor love them. In the course of my
Military Life I have formed intimacies
& affections for people of the three king=
=doms, but out of that Number I cannot
reckon many of this Nation. There is an
attention wanting in the formation of their
principles when Young, which they themselves
do not seem to improve as they advance
in Life, or to take any pains to correct.
Your situation is truly unpleasant.
I could say more on the subject, did I
not conceive it would add to what you
already feel. I sincerely hope old Mr. D. may
be expeditious in the Settlement of his
Affairs, or that he may be speedily released
from the troubles of this World and conveyed
to happier Mansions in the next. Either
of which circumstances will forward
your happineʃs, and consequently give me
real satisfaction. As to your Hub Elect I
will endeavour to instill such principles
of good Government into him that You
will find it most prudent quietly to sub=
=mit to his Authority which is & ought to
be despotic. Such is the Authority es=
=tablished in my family. By keeping a
steady Rein you prevent your horse
from stumbling; by keeping your Wife
in good Order & Due subordination you
prevent the habit of disputation which
never ends well. Maria & I have neve[r]
yet [quar]quarrelled, & I have not an idea
th[at we]that we ever shall.
As to your Cousin Mrs- Stratford
she is a compleat composition of
Rouge & Pearl Powder. I will not say She
has lost her Character, but I am justified
in saying she is not unsuspected. I am
not acquainted with her & indeed have
only been once in Company with her.
I did not wish to be introduced. Pray say
many civil things in both our Names to
the Stormonts. I do not write this imper=
=tinently, but I really mean it, as I confeʃs
I thought them attentive to me last
[2]Winter. As to Yourself you cannot doubt
the sincerity of my good Wishes. My Rib
hopes you will beleive hers equally
so. Best Compts- to Miʃs Anne Clark &c &c
Ever your faithfull & Affece. Friend
and Brother N——
[3]
[4]
Miʃs Hamilton[5]
Clarges Street
London
[6]
[7]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘The quality of deserving applause or approval; agreeableness, affability’ (OED s.v. plausibility n. 2. Accessed 29-09-2021).
2. This section is written vertically in the right-hand margin.
3. Partial Bishop mark in sepia ink, dated 24 February.
4. Postmark 'IRELAND' in sepia ink.
5. A manuscript figure 6 in brown ink has been written across the address, denoting postage due.
6. Bishop mark in black ink, dated 19 February.
7. Remains of a seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Dublin Barracks 19th. February 1785.
My Dear Sister,
Though every paragraph
of your letter requires an express answer
or opinion yet I must begin this epistle
with my most favourite subject Self.
Imprimis, I am actually Major to the
King's Own
Regiment of Foot and am now strutting
about with all the affected dignity of my
New Office. My Commission is dated the
end of last December though it did not arrive
in this Country till about Ten days
ago. But this is the least part of the
satisfaction I experience, for be it known
to You that I am decidedly in the way
of being saluted Father. About the Month
of August (if Maria continues to do as
well as she has done) I expect to be
disturbed with the squalling of the
little Imp. I shall almost detest the
Brat for being born in this Country
as I have not yet brought myself
to admire it's Inhabitants. I hope this
does not proceed from a Narrowness
of Ideas. I do not find myself more
partial to a Scotchman than to an
Englishman, but I confess I feel that
though I may be pleased with the plausibility
of the Irish, yet I can neither
trust nor love them. In the course of my
Military Life I have formed intimacies
& affections for people of the three kingdoms
, but out of that Number I cannot
reckon many of this Nation. There is an
attention wanting in the formation of their
principles when Young, which they themselves
do not seem to improve as they advance
in Life, or to take any pains to correct.
Your situation is truly unpleasant.
I could say more on the subject, did I
not conceive it would add to what you
already feel. I sincerely hope old Mr. Dickenson may
be expeditious in the Settlement of his
Affairs, or that he may be speedily released
from the troubles of this World and conveyed
to happier Mansions in the next. Either
of which circumstances will forward
your happiness, and consequently give me
real satisfaction. As to your Husband Elect I
will endeavour to instill such principles
of good Government into him that You
will find it most prudent quietly to submit
to his Authority which is & ought to
be despotic. Such is the Authority established
in my family. By keeping a
steady Rein you prevent your horse
from stumbling; by keeping your Wife
in good Order & Due subordination you
prevent the habit of disputation which
never ends well. Maria & I have never
yet quarrelled, & I have not an idea
that we ever shall.
As to your Cousin Mrs- Stratford
she is a complete composition of
Rouge & Pearl Powder. I will not say She
has lost her Character, but I am justified
in saying she is not unsuspected. I am
not acquainted with her & indeed have
only been once in Company with her.
I did not wish to be introduced. Pray say
many civil things in both our Names to
the Stormonts. I do not write this impertinently
, but I really mean it, as I confess
I thought them attentive to me last
Winter. As to Yourself you cannot doubt
the sincerity of my good Wishes. My Rib
hopes you will believe hers equally
so. Best Compliments to Miss Anne Clark &c &c
Ever your faithful & Affectionate Friend
and Brother Napier
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/1/20/91
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Dublin
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: London
Date sent: 19 February 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He is now a
Major in the King's Own Regiment of Foot and is 'strutting about with all
the affected dignity of my new office'. He also writes that he is in
expectation of being a father by August. He writes on the Irish and on
Hamilton's fiancé, John Dickenson. He describes Hamilton's cousin Mrs
Stratford [the daughter of Frederick Hamilton] as a 'complete composition of
Rouge & Pearl Powder'. He has been in her company only once and he did
not wish to be introduced.
Dated at Dublin Barracks.
Length: 1 sheet, 575 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 29 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