HAM/1/20/119
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to John Dickenson and Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Wilton Lodge
22d. Janry- 1793.
My Dear Sir,
I am very glad to
know that Mrs= Dickenson is not dead,
tho' much concerned to hear her health
is not such, as those who esteem her as
much as I do, would wish it to be. I
fear, You do not keep her in proper
subjection. If you did, I think, She
would hardly dare to be Nervous. I
must therefore remind You, of the old
adage, (in spite of Lord Chesterfield) A Woman
a Spaniel & a Walnut Tree, the more they're
beat, the better they'll be. And as one
of your English Judges, known by the
name of Judge Thumb, allows of gentle
correction, perhaps a little Hazel Casti=
=gation might be as effectual a Prescrip=
=tion, as any Dr. Turton may propose, and
much more œconomical. My poor Wife,
dare not presume to be Nervous, not
even when I tell her, that I will have
a boiled Pig at Supper, the 13th. of next
April, having then been Nine Years
married. One gleam of consolation, however,
still seems to comfort her, tho' She is not
permitted to say so, & that is, the poʃsibility
of my being in London at that time,
if the House of Lords agree to allow Me
to sit amongst them. I almost wish
their Lordships may not, as I would
rather lose my Election, than my boiled
Pig. The one may be recovered at some
future period, but the other never.
I am out of all patience
with You for selling Taxal. Such a Man=
=œuvre is directly in opposition to every
principle of Liberty & Equality. Pray what
right have You to better your Income,
when mine grows worse every day? It
is really unpardonable, and I shall hate
you for it. I dont doubt, of its having
been a Scheme of your Wife's. It never
could have originated with Yourself, because,
every sensible Man knows, that Money
is the Root of all Evil. I presume, You
are a Man of Sense, but as for your Rib,
I know her so well, that I shall not
hesitate to declare my abhorrence, of
all wearers of Blue Stockings. I always
adorn my Limbs with white Cotton, ma=
=nufactured in our own Village.
Having now covered two Pages
with Nonsense, which I dare not venture
to read over, for fear of blushing, it is
time to say, that nothing in this world
would give Maria & I more real plea=
=sure, than to secure You, Mrs- Dicken=
=son & little Louisa, at our Farm, and
we really hope, you will not very long
delay giving us that satisfaction.
The Mothers, will be full
of Vanity, comparing the
Accomplishments of their
Children, and You and I,
may entertain ourselves laughing at
them.
Maria joins me in very sincere
good wishes & I remain ever, My Dear
Sir,
Yours very faithfully
Napier.
My Dear Sister,
I do forgive You, tho' like the
Witches, your petition is written backwards.
My worthy Mate, took it for Greek & was astoun
=ded with your Learning, God bleʃs You. Be good,
get well, & come to Us soon. But remember
▼
You are not to teach my Wife any of your
naughty tricks. She proposes, submitting to
a temporary confinement, next July. Ever
Your very Affectionate Brother
N——[1]
[2]
Hawick Twenty Second Janry- 1793.
John Dickenson Esqr=
Taxal
Chapel-le Frith
Derbyshire
by Carlisle
Napier[3]
[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. These last five lines of the letter appear below the address.
2. Large manuscript figures ‘3/9’ in brown ink, written vertically (upside down relative to address). It is not clear what this large sum refers to, as the letter itself is franked.
3. Moved address here from middle of page, written vertically.
4. Seal, in red wax.
Normalised Text
Wilton Lodge
22d. January 1793.
My Dear Sir,
I am very glad to
know that Mrs= Dickenson is not dead,
though much concerned to hear her health
is not such, as those who esteem her as
much as I do, would wish it to be. I
fear, You do not keep her in proper
subjection. If you did, I think, She
would hardly dare to be Nervous. I
must therefore remind You, of the old
adage, (in spite of Lord Chesterfield) A Woman
a Spaniel & a Walnut Tree, the more they're
beaten, the better they'll be. And as one
of your English Judges, known by the
name of Judge Thumb, allows of gentle
correction, perhaps a little Hazel Castigation
might be as effectual a Prescription
, as any Dr. Turton may propose, and
much more economical. My poor Wife,
dare not presume to be Nervous, not
even when I tell her, that I will have
a boiled Pig at Supper, the 13th. of next
April, having then been Nine Years
married. One gleam of consolation, however,
still seems to comfort her, though She is not
permitted to say so, & that is, the possibility
of my being in London at that time,
if the House of Lords agree to allow Me
to sit amongst them. I almost wish
their Lordships may not, as I would
rather lose my Election, than my boiled
Pig. The one may be recovered at some
future period, but the other never.
I am out of all patience
with You for selling Taxal. Such a Manoeuvre
is directly in opposition to every
principle of Liberty & Equality. Pray what
right have You to better your Income,
when mine grows worse every day? It
is really unpardonable, and I shall hate
you for it. I don't doubt, of its having
been a Scheme of your Wife's. It never
could have originated with Yourself, because,
every sensible Man knows, that Money
is the Root of all Evil. I presume, You
are a Man of Sense, but as for your Rib,
I know her so well, that I shall not
hesitate to declare my abhorrence, of
all wearers of Blue Stockings. I always
adorn my Limbs with white Cotton, manufactured
in our own Village.
Having now covered two Pages
with Nonsense, which I dare not venture
to read over, for fear of blushing, it is
time to say, that nothing in this world
would give Maria & I more real pleasure
, than to secure You, Mrs- Dickenson
& little Louisa, at our Farm, and
we really hope, you will not very long
delay giving us that satisfaction.
The Mothers, will be full
of Vanity, comparing the
Accomplishments of their
Children, and You and I,
may entertain ourselves laughing at
them.
Maria joins me in very sincere
good wishes & I remain ever, My Dear
Sir,
Yours very faithfully
Napier.
My Dear Sister,
I do forgive You, though like the
Witches, your petition is written backwards.
My worthy Mate, took it for Greek & was astounded
with your Learning, God bless You. Be good,
get well, & come to Us soon. But remember
▼
You are not to teach my Wife any of your
naughty tricks. She proposes, submitting to
a temporary confinement, next July. Ever
Your very Affectionate Brother
Napier
Hawick Twenty Second January 1793.
John Dickenson Esqr=
Taxal
Chapel-le Frith
Derbyshire
by Carlisle
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 John Dickenson and Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/119
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Roxburghshire
Addressee: John Dickenson and Mary Hamilton
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 22 January 1793
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to John Dickenson and Mary Hamilton, relating to
Mary Hamilton's health. He is glad to hear that Hamilton is not dead but
sorry to hear that she is unwell. He advises, in jest, that Dickenson does
'not keep her in proper subjugation. If you did, I think, she would hardly
dare to be nervous'. He continues that his own wife dares not be
nervous.
Napier invites Dickenson and his family to Wilton Lodge and notes that the
two 'mothers, will be full of Vanity, comparing the accomplishments of their
children, and you and I may entertain ourselves laughing at them'.
Dated at Wilton Lodge [Roxburghshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 565 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 9999)
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