HAM/1/20/136
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Wilton Lodge
13th. Janry- 1797.
My Dear Sister,
As a proof of my punctu=
=ality & dispatch, I now (¼ before twelve) re=
=turn the Poetry received from You
at Ten O'Clock this Morning. The
present state of Affairs keep Me, on
the Alert, my Regiment having re=
=ceived orders to be in readineʃs to
move from Aberdeen, at a Moments
warning. I have notified to Our Com=
=mander Lord Adam Gordon, that
(disdaining my Privilege of Parliament)
I am ready to join the Corps, when=
=ever he may think my presence
may be neceʃsary. So, least the French,
driven from Ireland, should come
to forage in Scotland, and penetrate
as far as this, I return your Valu=
=able Manuscripts, to prevent the
poʃsibility of their falling into such
unhallowed hands.
As the post departs
at One. I must write short. Tell Mr.
Dickenson, that the Teviot, running
past my Door, abounds with Par,
Small Trout, sometimes Salmon, and
now & then a few Sea Trout, find their
way up. All these remain unmolested
by Me, not having had a Fishing Rod
in my hand above once, since I came
to live here. That, I have one Pointer,
two Greyhounds, & my Lady has a Spa=
=niel, not one of which I ever go out
with. But, if he strays this way, He
may, if he thinks fit. Partridges & Hares
are to be found, they tell me, at the
Door, & Grouse, in the Neighbourhood.
So much for sporting intelligence.
Now, for domestic news, My
Wife & eldest Daughter, well. My two
younger Sons, & two Younger Daughters,
Colded (if you dont understand the Ex=
=preʃsion, apply to my Countrywoman.)
My eldest Son, supposed to be, well. My
fat Uncle Patrick, confined with the
Gout. Myself, in my Ordinar,[1] (apply
again to Countrywoman), & doomed to
paʃs the forenoon in my Library, owing
to an agreeable Sleet, from the West=
=ward. I hope, this account is sufficiently in De=
=tail, to please You.
The 8th- Vol. of Goldsmith's Natu=
=ral Histy-!!!!!!!!![2] and a Vixen. Happy will
that Man be, whose fate may join
him to so much Wisdom. Commend
me to Louisa. Being an ignorant
Blockhead myself, I hate every thing
that savours of too much Learning,
and would rather see, a Child of the
Age of Ly. Caroline running about, lay=
=ing in a Stock of health, than hear
one enter into scientific conversations.
So Adieu. Commend me most Gracious=
=ly to your Husband; Give Louisa, a
Kiʃs; and say every thing civil to my
Countrywoman. My Rib joins me
in best wishes &c. &c. &c
Ever My Dear Sister
Your Affectionate Brothe[r]
& faithful Friend
Napier.
[3]
Hawick, Thirteenth Janry- 1797
Mrs- Dickenson[4]
Birch Hall
Manchester
Napier.
[5]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘One's usual practice, what one is accustomed to, one's wont; one's usual state of health’ (A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue s.v. ordinar n. 1, sense 7b. See also OED s.v. ordinar n. and ordinary n. sense 15b. Accessed 10-11-2021).
2. Oliver Goldsmith (1774) A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, 8 vols.
3. Calculation in brown ink, figures partially illegible.
4. Postmark ‘HAWICK’ in brown ink.
5. Seal in black wax.
Normalised Text
Wilton Lodge
13th. January 1797.
My Dear Sister,
As a proof of my punctuality
& dispatch, I now (¼ before twelve) return
the Poetry received from You
at Ten O'Clock this Morning. The
present state of Affairs keep Me, on
the Alert, my Regiment having received
orders to be in readiness to
move from Aberdeen, at a Moments
warning. I have notified to Our Commander
Lord Adam Gordon, that
(disdaining my Privilege of Parliament)
I am ready to join the Corps, whenever
he may think my presence
may be necessary. So, lest the French,
driven from Ireland, should come
to forage in Scotland, and penetrate
as far as this, I return your Valuable
Manuscripts, to prevent the
possibility of their falling into such
unhallowed hands.
As the post departs
at One. I must write short. Tell Mr.
Dickenson, that the Teviot, running
past my Door, abounds with Parr,
Small Trout, sometimes Salmon, and
now & then a few Sea Trout, find their
way up. All these remain unmolested
by Me, not having had a Fishing Rod
in my hand above once, since I came
to live here. That, I have one Pointer,
two Greyhounds, & my Lady has a Spaniel
, not one of which I ever go out
with. But, if he strays this way, He
may, if he thinks fit. Partridges & Hares
are to be found, they tell me, at the
Door, & Grouse, in the Neighbourhood.
So much for sporting intelligence.
Now, for domestic news, My
Wife & eldest Daughter, well. My two
younger Sons, & two Younger Daughters,
Colded (if you don't understand the Expression
, apply to my Countrywoman.)
My eldest Son, supposed to be, well. My
fat Uncle Patrick, confined with the
Gout. Myself, in my Ordinar, (apply
again to Countrywoman), & doomed to
pass the forenoon in my Library, owing
to an agreeable Sleet, from the Westward
. I hope, this account is sufficiently in Detail
, to please You.
The 8th- Volume of Goldsmith's Natural
History!!!!!!!!! and a Vixen. Happy will
that Man be, whose fate may join
him to so much Wisdom. Commend
me to Louisa. Being an ignorant
Blockhead myself, I hate every thing
that savours of too much Learning,
and would rather see, a Child of the
Age of Lady Caroline running about, laying
in a Stock of health, than hear
one enter into scientific conversations.
So Adieu. Commend me most Graciously
to your Husband; Give Louisa, a
Kiss; and say every thing civil to my
Countrywoman. My Rib joins me
in best wishes &c. &c. &c
Ever My Dear Sister
Your Affectionate Brother
& faithful Friend
Napier.
Hawick, Thirteenth January 1797
Mrs- Dickenson
Birch Hall
Manchester
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 Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/136
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Roxburghshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Rusholme, near Manchester
Date sent: 13 January 1797
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. His regiment
has received orders to be in ‘readiness’ to move at a moment's notice so he
is in a constant state of alert. His letter includes some poetry Hamilton
has sent him (which she wished him to return once read). He writes that
‘least the French driven from Ireland, should come to forage in Scotland,
and penetrate as far as this, I return your valuable manuscripts, to prevent
the possibility of their falling into such unhallowed hands’.
Napier continues his letter on the health of his family and on the subject
of sport, specifically of fishing and hunting in the area of Wilton Lodge
which he asks Hamilton to make Dickenson aware of.
Dated at Wilton Lodge [Roxburghshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 446 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 10 November 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: 4 March 2022