HAM/1/20/161
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
My Dear Sister,
Being the most
obedient Brother in the World,
although I have not been here
above Eight & Forty Hours, yet I
fulfil your commands by an-
nouncing my own safety, and that
of my Wife and Eight Children.
A very jolly Company we Ten make
around the Dining Table. At the
same time I cannot deny that
the sounds somewhat remind me
of a Story, I have read, in an old
fashioned, antiquated Book, rela-
tive to the Tower of Babel. Such
Society would not suit the de-
licate Nerves of fine folks, but as
We do not aspire to any dignity
above that of Rustick's, we bear it
tolerably well. At this very instant
my hopeful Heir Apparent is spit-
ting in the Flute, endeavouring to
make it produce the Dusty Miller.
He, however, is only a Paʃsenger[1] in
this family, and in a very few
days, he will be consigned to his
Studies, under the care of a Cler-
gyman near Edinburgh, for the
purpose of making him compre-
hend what he has been labouring
and idling over at Houghton. He
is grown a fine stout, decent look-
ing Lad; poʃseʃses a tolerable share
of capability; without much desire
of exerting it, well tempered, and
free from any Vice, as far as I
have been able to discover. One
thing was certainly to his Credit.
On leaving Houghton School, he
had not a single debt, except
one of five Shillings, which he
informed me of, when he contracted
it. This, I beleive, is seldom the
case, at public Schools.
The sight of Green Fields,
and the Music of the Birds, make
me ample amends for the loʃs
of Employment in attending on
the affairs of the Nation. Not, that
I am idle here, for I have been
most busily, and perplexedly em-
ployed, in finding Places for a
Cargo of large Books, just ar-
rived from London, in my Libra-
ry. After having consumed the
whole morning in attempting to
accommodate Twenty Folio Volumes
(Rymer's Fœdera), my next operation
was to inspect, and find fault
(for without doing so, my Authority
would be lost) with the Management
of my farm, during my absence.
I could not in conscience, however,
abuse my Overseer very much,
for it was in tolerably
good order.
I left Lady Warren
on Tuesday last. Her arrival
at home brought many painful
recollections to her Mind.[2] But, She
was evidently better for removing
from Town. I left her with a Mrs-
Edge, a particular friend of hers, and
by this time Lady Clavering will
have gone out to her.
Adieu, My Dear Sister.
Maria joins me in best wishes
to You, Mr. Dickenson, & Louisa. Re-
member me to my Countrywoman.
Ever Your sincere friend and
Affecte- Brother
Napier
9d pd[3]
Hawick, Twenty Sixth May 1801
Mrs. Dickenson[4]
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Beds
Napier.
[5]
3/6
120
6
30
6
180
52
360
900
9360
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘A person who passes by or through a place; a traveller, esp. a traveller on foot. Also figurative. Chiefly Scottish in later use (OED s.v. passenger n. 3.a. Accessed 07-03-2021).
2. See HAM/1/20/159 and HAM/1/20/160 for the death of Lady Warren's son.
3. This annotation and that in ink below are written vertically.
4. FREE frank in red ink, dated 25 May 1801.
5. Seal, in black wax, divided between the top and the bottom of sheet.
Normalised Text
Wilton Lodge
25th- May 1801.
My Dear Sister,
Being the most
obedient Brother in the World,
although I have not been here
above Eight & Forty Hours, yet I
fulfil your commands by announcing
my own safety, and that
of my Wife and Eight Children.
A very jolly Company we Ten make
around the Dining Table. At the
same time I cannot deny that
the sounds somewhat remind me
of a Story, I have read, in an old
fashioned, antiquated Book, relative
to the Tower of Babel. Such
Society would not suit the delicate
Nerves of fine folks, but as
We do not aspire to any dignity
above that of Rustic's, we bear it
tolerably well. At this very instant
my hopeful Heir Apparent is spitting
in the Flute, endeavouring to
make it produce the Dusty Miller.
He, however, is only a Passenger in
this family, and in a very few
days, he will be consigned to his
Studies, under the care of a Clergyman
near Edinburgh, for the
purpose of making him comprehend
what he has been labouring
and idling over at Houghton. He
is grown a fine stout, decent looking
Lad; possesses a tolerable share
of capability; without much desire
of exerting it, well tempered, and
free from any Vice, as far as I
have been able to discover. One
thing was certainly to his Credit.
On leaving Houghton School, he
had not a single debt, except
one of five Shillings, which he
informed me of, when he contracted
it. This, I believe, is seldom the
case, at public Schools.
The sight of Green Fields,
and the Music of the Birds, make
me ample amends for the loss
of Employment in attending on
the affairs of the Nation. Not, that
I am idle here, for I have been
most busily, and perplexedly employed
, in finding Places for a
Cargo of large Books, just arrived
from London, in my Library
. After having consumed the
whole morning in attempting to
accommodate Twenty Folio Volumes
(Rymer's Fœdera), my next operation
was to inspect, and find fault
(for without doing so, my Authority
would be lost) with the Management
of my farm, during my absence.
I could not in conscience, however,
abuse my Overseer very much,
for it was in tolerably
good order.
I left Lady Warren
on Tuesday last. Her arrival
at home brought many painful
recollections to her Mind. But, She
was evidently better for removing
from Town. I left her with a Mrs-
Edge, a particular friend of hers, and
by this time Lady Clavering will
have gone out to her.
Adieu, My Dear Sister.
Maria joins me in best wishes
to You, Mr. Dickenson, & Louisa. Remember
me to my Countrywoman.
Ever Your sincere friend and
Affectionate Brother
Napier
Hawick, Twenty Sixth May 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/1/20/161
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Roxburghshire
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 25 May 1801
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes
about his family, particularly his eldest son William. He is to be put under
the supervision of a clergyman to study. Napier describes his son in detail
noting that he has no vices that he has been 'able to discover'. He also
writes of his sister, Lady Warren, and of his library at Wilton Lodge.
Dated at Wilton Lodge [Roxburghshire].
Length: 1 sheet, 474 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 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