HAM/1/20/120
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to John Dickenson and Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My Dear Sir,
Some Resolutions paʃsed,
in the Committee of Privileges, last Monday,
give Me a very broad hint, that my Right
of Franking will cease in a very few days.
Therefore, to save your Pence, not from a
Cacoethes scribendi; (for I am really not very
partial to the Amusement of Writing) I hasten
to answer your Letter.
Their Lordships of the
Committee, have Unanimously resolved, that
my Right to the Title of Napier is perfectly good.
Even those who were pleased to attack my
Dignities, were obliged to acknowledge their
inability to sustain their objections. But, tho'
this was well known from the beginning,
yet, it has cost Me upwards of £170, which
I have no hopes of getting back from my
Enemies, and so They have punished Me
pretty severely, for presuming to differ in
opinion with them. My misfortunes do
not stop here, for the same Committee ha=
=ving found, that one of my Voters had no
claim to the Title he had aʃsumed, and repelled
some objections I had stated to the Voting of
Lord Kinnaird, it becomes certain that
I shall lose my Election, for Alas! there is
another of my Noble Voters, who I fear, will
likewise be turned off the Roll. And then
comes the worst part of the Story, viz. The Soli=
=citors Bill (for my share of the General Expen=
=ces, which I have heard amount to some
Thousand Pounds in groʃs, & consequently will
cost one individually 3 or 400 £Pounds, if not
more). So much for Ambition. Had matters
turned out more to my wishes, I should have
had great satisfaction in making Taxal, in
my way to London.
We shall be very happy to see
You & Yours next May, or whenever it is con=
=venient for You. Maria says, she rejoices You
don't come sooner, because our Trees would not
be in Leaf, and She has now lived so long in
Scotland, that she feels an interest in the
Country appearing well, in the Eyes of Stran=
=gers.
Tho' Mrs- Dickenson may have read the
Rights of Women, yet being a Valiant & Sturdy
Knight of Nova Scotia, I think myself still
equal to keeping her in Order, and if She at=
=tempts to corrupt the Allegiance of my Wife,
there is an excellent Cascade, near the House,
under which She may be soused, till She
cries peccavi. Ever My Dear Sir,
Yours very Sincerely
Napier.
My Dear Sister,
You need be under no appre=
=hensions of meeting with any of the Blue
Stocking Tribe in this habitation. We are
all downright Country Folks, staring with
our Eyes & gaping with our Mouths, just as
all Puts[1] do. Maria has taught my Daughter
Mary to read, which She performs very tolerably.
I believe, they are now beginning to dabble
in French. Mary has very quick parts & a good
Memory. Little Anne, has likewise begun to
learn her Letters under her Mother's tuition, but
She, now & then, takes an
obstinate fit, & so They fight.
As for my Son William, I
have made him comprehend
his Letters & he now reads Gay's
Fables & the Bible. Taking on
Me the duty of Godfather, with much pains
and labour, I have taught him to repeat his
Catechism, a few Psalms, & the Busy Bee. And this
is a true state of the Erudition of the Family.
My young hopeful, to his other accomplish=
=ments, has added a happy Stutter, arising
from an overeagerneʃs to speak, which with
an agreeable Twist of the Body, will make him
a Charming Young Man. He is full of Mis=
=chief, as all Boys are. And so we bid thee
farewell, desiring You to believe that we are
all sincere Wellwishers of You & Yours. Ever
Your Affectionate Brother
Napier.
Hawick Third March 1793.
[2]
John Dickenson Esqr=
Taxal
Chapel-in-Frith
Derbyshire
Napier. by Carlisle
[3]
49
5
24-¼
245
269
9/269
29[4]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘A stupid or foolish person, a blockhead’ (OED s.v. put n. 3). See also country put, ‘obsolete slang a loutish, unsophisticated, or foolish person from the country; an inexperienced person’. Accessed 04-11-2021).
2. Postmark 'HAWICK' in brown ink.
3. Seal, in red wax.
4. These figures are written upside down at the bottom of the page.
Normalised Text
Wilton Lodge, 2d. March
1793.
My Dear Sir,
Some Resolutions passed,
in the Committee of Privileges, last Monday,
give Me a very broad hint, that my Right
of Franking will cease in a very few days.
Therefore, to save your Pence, not from a
Cacoethes scribendi; (for I am really not very
partial to the Amusement of Writing) I hasten
to answer your Letter.
Their Lordships of the
Committee, have Unanimously resolved, that
my Right to the Title of Napier is perfectly good.
Even those who were pleased to attack my
Dignities, were obliged to acknowledge their
inability to sustain their objections. But, though
this was well known from the beginning,
yet, it has cost Me upwards of £170, which
I have no hopes of getting back from my
Enemies, and so They have punished Me
pretty severely, for presuming to differ in
opinion with them. My misfortunes do
not stop here, for the same Committee having
found, that one of my Voters had no
claim to the Title he had assumed, and repelled
some objections I had stated to the Voting of
Lord Kinnaird, it becomes certain that
I shall lose my Election, for Alas! there is
another of my Noble Voters, who I fear, will
likewise be turned off the Roll. And then
comes the worst part of the Story, viz. The Solicitors
Bill (for my share of the General Expenses
, which I have heard amount to some
Thousand Pounds in gross, & consequently will
cost one individually 3 or 400 Pounds, if not
more). So much for Ambition. Had matters
turned out more to my wishes, I should have
had great satisfaction in making Taxal, in
my way to London.
We shall be very happy to see
You & Yours next May, or whenever it is convenient
for You. Maria says, she rejoices You
don't come sooner, because our Trees would not
be in Leaf, and She has now lived so long in
Scotland, that she feels an interest in the
Country appearing well, in the Eyes of Strangers
.
Though Mrs- Dickenson may have read the
Rights of Women, yet being a Valiant & Sturdy
Knight of Nova Scotia, I think myself still
equal to keeping her in Order, and if She attempts
to corrupt the Allegiance of my Wife,
there is an excellent Cascade, near the House,
under which She may be soused, till She
cries peccavi. Ever My Dear Sir,
Yours very Sincerely
Napier.
My Dear Sister,
You need be under no apprehensions
of meeting with any of the Blue
Stocking Tribe in this habitation. We are
all downright Country Folks, staring with
our Eyes & gaping with our Mouths, just as
all Puts do. Maria has taught my Daughter
Mary to read, which She performs very tolerably.
I believe, they are now beginning to dabble
in French. Mary has very quick parts & a good
Memory. Little Anne, has likewise begun to
learn her Letters under her Mother's tuition, but
She, now & then, takes an
obstinate fit, & so They fight.
As for my Son William, I
have made him comprehend
his Letters & he now reads Gay's
Fables & the Bible. Taking on
Me the duty of Godfather, with much pains
and labour, I have taught him to repeat his
Catechism, a few Psalms, & the Busy Bee. And this
is a true state of the Erudition of the Family.
My young hopeful, to his other accomplishments
, has added a happy Stutter, arising
from an overeagerness to speak, which with
an agreeable Twist of the Body, will make him
a Charming Young Man. He is full of Mischief
, as all Boys are. And so we bid thee
farewell, desiring You to believe that we are
all sincere Wellwishers of You & Yours. Ever
Your Affectionate Brother
Napier.
Hawick Third March 1793.
John Dickenson Esqr=
Taxal
Chapel-in-Frith
Derbyshire
Napier. by Carlisle
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/1/20/120
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 March 1793
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, written in two parts: the first
to John Dickenson, the second to Mary Hamilton.
Napier writes to Dickenson that 'their Lordships Committee have unanimously
resolved that my Right to the title of Napier is perfectly good' but the
dispute has cost him £170. His misfortunes do not end here as the same
Committee has found that one of Napier's voters had no claim to his title.
Napier feels certain that he will now lose the election as he fears yet
another of his voters will be 'turned off the Roll'. The solicitors bill for
his share of the General Election will cost him three or four hundred
pounds. 'So much for ambition'.
Napier ends his letter to Dickenson by noting (in jest) that although
Hamilton may have read
The Rights of Women
[Mary Wollstonecraft's
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
, published in 1791], 'yet being a Valiant & sturdy Knight of Nova Scotia, I think
myself still equal to keeping her in Order'.
Napier writes to Hamilton assuring her that they are all country folk in
Wilton Lodge and she should be under no apprehension of meeting any
bluestocking tribe there. He continues his letter on his children and on
their education.
Dated at Wilton Lodge [Roxburghshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 648 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