HAM/1/20/183
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
38, St. James's Street
8 April 1803
My Dear Sister,
I do not intend to
obey your directions, by sending in
your name to enquire after Lady
Hamilton, because, as it is well known
that You are not in Town, it cannot
be expected that such Meʃsages should
be sent, and as to myself, I never had
any acquaintance with her Ladyship
whatever, neither did I ever see her,
except in her Carriage. If I hear anything
about Sir William's burial &c I will
certainly inform You; but, I fear,
except, I can pick up that sort of
information among the Atholls, I
am not likely to learn it elsewhere,
not having dined with the Cathcarts
since the Week after I came to Town,
and not having yet dined with Robert
Greville. I was to have dined with
the latter, last Sunday, but the Party
was put off on account of Sir William's
illneʃs.
This season of Devotion comes
very opportunely for composing my
Mind, and preparing me to submit
to the final Decisions against me, in
Ireland. I am told that my Adversa=
ries throw out, that their claims against
me, for what I had received of Mrs- Naper's
property, & for Costs on a 17 Years Suit &c. &c.
will amount to six or seven thousand
Pounds. I do not think, this Statement
is correct; but, I would chearfully give
four, to receive a Discharge in full.
I doubt very much, whether it will
be poʃsible for me to take your Road
home, as the Cathcarts, the Sedleys at
Stapleford Hall, & their Father at
Nuttal Temple, could not be paʃsed
by, without calling on them, and
that would occasion more delay, than
I can bring my mind to bear, being
most anxious to get to my Wife & Children
the moment I can escape from hence.
This busineʃs coming on Me, when
absent from Maria, has been doubly
distreʃsing. But, I trust, we shall all
be supported by a Gracious Providence,
and enabled to meet every difficulty,
this Life subjects us too with calmneʃs
& resignation.
I am glad to hear that
Louisa is better. Give my Love to
her, to Mr- Dickenson, & best wishes
to my Countrywoman. Nothing is
known as yet, about Peace & War. Par=
liament adjourned yesterday, to the 19th-
Inst-. Adieu, My Dear Sister,
Ever Your Affecte. Brother
Napier
London, Eighth April 1803
Mrs- Dickenson[1]
Leighton House
Leighton Buzzard
Beds
Napier.
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
38, St. James's Street
My Dear Sister,
I do not intend to
obey your directions, by sending in
your name to enquire after Lady
Hamilton, because, as it is well known
that You are not in Town, it cannot
be expected that such Messages should
be sent, and as to myself, I never had
any acquaintance with her Ladyship
whatever, neither did I ever see her,
except in her Carriage. If I hear anything
about Sir William's burial &c I will
certainly inform You; but, I fear,
except, I can pick up that sort of
information among the Atholls, I
am not likely to learn it elsewhere,
not having dined with the Cathcarts
since the Week after I came to Town,
and not having yet dined with Robert
Greville. I was to have dined with
the latter, last Sunday, but the Party
was put off on account of Sir William's
illness.
This season of Devotion comes
very opportunely for composing my
Mind, and preparing me to submit
to the final Decisions against me, in
Ireland. I am told that my Adversaries
throw out, that their claims against
me, for what I had received of Mrs- Naper's
property, & for Costs on a 17 Years Suit &c. &c.
will amount to six or seven thousand
Pounds. I do not think, this Statement
is correct; but, I would cheerfully give
four, to receive a Discharge in full.
I doubt very much, whether it will
be possible for me to take your Road
home, as the Cathcarts, the Sedleys at
Stapleford Hall, & their Father at
Nuttal Temple, could not be passed
by, without calling on them, and
that would occasion more delay, than
I can bring my mind to bear, being
most anxious to get to my Wife & Children
the moment I can escape from hence.
This business coming on Me, when
absent from Maria, has been doubly
distressing. But, I trust, we shall all
be supported by a Gracious Providence,
and enabled to meet every difficulty,
this Life subjects us too with calmness
& resignation.
I am glad to hear that
Louisa is better. Give my Love to
her, to Mr- Dickenson, & best wishes
to my Countrywoman. Nothing is
known as yet, about Peace & War. Parliament
adjourned yesterday, to the 19th-
Instant. Adieu, My Dear Sister,
Ever Your Affectionate Brother
Napier
London, Eighth April 1803
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/1/20/183
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: London
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Leighton Buzzard
Date sent: 8 April 1803
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to
Sir William Hamilton and Lady Hamilton. Napier writes that he will not
enquire after Lady Hamilton in her name as it is general knowledge that
Hamilton is out of town and therefore such a message will not be expected
from her. Napier notes that he is not acquainted with Lady Hamilton and he
has never even seen her except when she was in her carriage. He will inform
Hamilton if he hears anything about Sir William's burial.
Napier also writes about his Irish lawsuit regarding a legacy from Mrs
Napier.
Dated at St James's Street [London].
Length: 1 sheet, 405 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 28 January 2022)
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: 28 January 2022