HAM/1/20/154
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
11, St. James's Street
27th. Janry. 1801.
My Dear Sister,
Your Letter of the
17th. Inst- having reached Wilton Lodge
after my departure, only found me
out yesterday. Had I received it when
in the Country, I might poʃsibly have
been induced to have favoured you
with a reply, upon an extended Scale;
but, as it was not convenient for You
to write to Me, till the very moment
You was certain I could not be at
home, it is equally inconvenient
for Me to waste my precious time
in scribbling, when the State requires
my most profound meditations. I arrived
here on Tuesday last, having left my
Rib and Chatterers in perfect health.
If I do not alter my plan, which is by
no means improbable, I shall remain
here till Easter. Whether I may take
the trouble of enquiring about You
in my way North, is not yet fixed.
But my Love, towards your Husband
& Louisa, will be a strong inducement
to draw me to Leighton House. And,
perhaps, the satisfaction of scolding
and tormenting You, may be another.
I return Sir Wm. Hamilton's Letter.
I certainly do not intend to call on
him, and there is little chance of
his thinking it worth his while to
honour me with a Visit. I am old
fashioned, and cannot easily recon-
cile my ideas to the propriety of approving
and countenancing the fair Emma.
Had he been a Boy of Sixteen, such a
step might have been pardonable.
But, really at his time of Life, to espouse
the Mistreʃs of his Nephew, picked up in
the Streets, seems such an intolerable
peice of folly, and meaneʃs, that I quite
despise him for it. As he is not my
Uncle, I shall therefore plead privi-
lege, and avoid darkening his Doors.
Yesterday I dined at Lord Mansfields
and had an expectation, of the poʃsibi-
lity of my seeing the fair Emma there.
In this, I was mistaken, and my cu-
riosity to behold this prodigy remains
ungratified. I hear, our Gracious Queen
cannot be prevailed on to receive her,
and I applaud her for it.
Our great Cousins are very
civil to me. Invite me to dinner and
pretend that they regard me. Why
this should be more of late Years,
than formerly I know not; but, I
receive all their attentions as if I
felt they were due to me, and by
doing so, perhaps, may convince them,
that they ought to be attentive to Me.
The plague is, I cannot afford to keep
a Carriage, and as You know that
Magnificence, is a ruling paʃsion
amongst our Relatives, they would
certainly hold me cheap,
for the want of it, did
I not, now & then, contrive
to appear in a Velvet Coat
at the Drawing Room. This, seems to
have the effect of keeping up my Dignity
amongst them.
The Watchman tells me it
is time to go to Bed. So Adieu. With my
abhorrence to You; Love to your Husband
and Daughter; and best Compts- to my
Countrywoman, I remain ever, My
Dear Sister, your faithful Friend
& Affecte- Brother
Napier
P.S.
I am growing blind, though
too vain to wear Spectacles.
London, Twenty Eighth Janry. 1801.
[1]
Mrs. Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Beds.
Napier.
[2]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
11, St. James's Street
27th. January 1801.
My Dear Sister,
Your Letter of the
17th. Instant having reached Wilton Lodge
after my departure, only found me
out yesterday. Had I received it when
in the Country, I might possibly have
been induced to have favoured you
with a reply, upon an extended Scale;
but, as it was not convenient for You
to write to Me, till the very moment
You was certain I could not be at
home, it is equally inconvenient
for Me to waste my precious time
in scribbling, when the State requires
my most profound meditations. I arrived
here on Tuesday last, having left my
Rib and Chatterers in perfect health.
If I do not alter my plan, which is by
no means improbable, I shall remain
here till Easter. Whether I may take
the trouble of enquiring about You
in my way North, is not yet fixed.
But my Love, towards your Husband
& Louisa, will be a strong inducement
to draw me to Leighton House. And,
perhaps, the satisfaction of scolding
and tormenting You, may be another.
I return Sir William Hamilton's Letter.
I certainly do not intend to call on
him, and there is little chance of
his thinking it worth his while to
honour me with a Visit. I am old
fashioned, and cannot easily reconcile
my ideas to the propriety of approving
and countenancing the fair Emma.
Had he been a Boy of Sixteen, such a
step might have been pardonable.
But, really at his time of Life, to espouse
the Mistress of his Nephew, picked up in
the Streets, seems such an intolerable
piece of folly, and meanness, that I quite
despise him for it. As he is not my
Uncle, I shall therefore plead privilege
, and avoid darkening his Doors.
Yesterday I dined at Lord Mansfields
and had an expectation, of the possibility
of my seeing the fair Emma there.
In this, I was mistaken, and my curiosity
to behold this prodigy remains
ungratified. I hear, our Gracious Queen
cannot be prevailed on to receive her,
and I applaud her for it.
Our great Cousins are very
civil to me. Invite me to dinner and
pretend that they regard me. Why
this should be more of late Years,
than formerly I know not; but, I
receive all their attentions as if I
felt they were due to me, and by
doing so, perhaps, may convince them,
that they ought to be attentive to Me.
The plague is, I cannot afford to keep
a Carriage, and as You know that
Magnificence, is a ruling passion
amongst our Relatives, they would
certainly hold me cheap,
for the want of it, did
I not, now & then, contrive
to appear in a Velvet Coat
at the Drawing Room. This, seems to
have the effect of keeping up my Dignity
amongst them.
The Watchman tells me it
is time to go to Bed. So Adieu. With my
abhorrence to You; Love to your Husband
and Daughter; and best Compliments to my
Countrywoman, I remain ever, My
Dear Sister, your faithful Friend
& Affectionate Brother
Napier
P.S.
I am growing blind, though
too vain to wear Spectacles.
London, Twenty Eighth January 1801.
Mrs. Dickenson
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
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/1/20/154
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 27 January 1801
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, concerning
Sir William and Emma Hamilton. Napier plans to stay in London until Easter
and he has not yet decided whether he will visit her on his return North
although he confesses that seeing her daughter and her husband is an
inducement to visit Leighton House. He continues on the subject of
Hamilton's uncle, Sir William Hamilton, and returns to her Sir William's
letter. He notes that he does not intend visiting Sir William and that there
is little chance of Sir William feeling it worth his while to visit him. He
writes that he is old fashioned ‘and cannot easily reconcile my ideas to the
propriety of approving and countenancing the fair Emma. Had he been a Boy of
sixteen, such a set might have been pardonable. But, really at his time of
Life, to espouse the mistress of his nephew, picked up in the streets, seems
such an intolerable piece of folly [...] that I quite despise him for it’.
Napier dined at Lord Mansfield's the previous night and expected to see Emma
there but did not and his ‘curiosity to behold this prodigy remains
ungratified’. He understands that the Queen will not receive her and he
applauds her for it.
He continues to note that his (and Hamilton's) cousins [the Cathcarts or the
Mansfields?] are being unexpectedly civil to him. More so than they have
been previously but as he cannot afford a carriage and as Hamilton knows
such things are important among their relations, they may ‘hold me
cheap’.
Dated at St James's Street [London].
Length: 1 sheet, 545 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 25 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: 7 March 2022