HAM/1/19/29
Letter from William Napier (later 7th Lord Napier) to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
13th-
Canterbury Jany 30th- 1773
Yours without a date come to hand My
dearest Mary to night & I immediately
sit down to write a few lines to make
this as long as I poʃsible can, tho at present
I am so hurried with other buʃineʃs that
I am oblig'd to write many sheets of
paper daily and much against my
inclination so if they are not so long as
uʃual you'll forgive me & whenever I have
time shall make them as long as for=
=merly. It gives me extreme concern to find
you think Mrs Hamiltons[1] dont mend so
well as you could wish but I hope by the
next I get that she will be quite as[2]
well as I wish her. You mistake me My
Dear Girl I did not mean to scold you
for the penseroso but only to prevail on
you never to indulge it, could it be of
any Consequence I would be for it, but where
it may hurt yr health without doing any
good to anothers I think its wrong for any
body to indulge themselves in it, tho its
very natural yet I dont think it prudent
but as I hope to ------ hear Mrs- Hamilton is quite
well in a few days I shall ʃay no more at
present on the subject -- I shall be very
glad that I was mistaken in the Gentleman
that made up a part of my last letter, but
am afraid its too true as it comes from many
good hands & those letters I have heard
hurt him greatly with his Uncle, One
thing is certain its prudent to keep ʃome
things to oneself and as those letters cd-
never do any good, they had better never
been printed & sent about to different
people who had not the least concern
with the affair.[3] Believe me My dearest Girl
that I have not a thought of yr having
the least interest in the affair, but I
know well that when a Person forms a
good opinion of another that it must
chagrine one greatly to find themselves
mistaken however I shall be happy to
find my opinion quite wrong in regard
to him, & still more so, as you are the per-
son to set me right, which will flatter me
not a little to find my opinion of My dearest
Girl's penetration anʃwer in every respect
as I could wish, but as you are not very much
acquainted a Person with a very common
share of sense may impose on the most
knowing people for ʃome time as there
is a plauʃibleneʃs in ʃome folks that can al=
=ways make their own story right till the
other ʃide is heard, I dont ʃay thats his
case, but I am ʃure he has acted with very
little prudence in most of his transactions
in Life at least so I am told by his friends
& relations & I am afraid there is too
much truth in the report especially
as things have turned out a tranquil retirement
is what I could wish for him but that I am
afraid his romantic turn will never allow
him to enjoy. I have heard off the eighteen penny
phamplet you speak off but never saw it Adieu
till to Morrow My Dearest Girl
Sunday morning Jany 31st. I was obliged to give over last
night rather abruptly, as I found myself very far
from being well having catched cold some how
or other & with it a great cough which did last
night greatly distreʃs me, together with a
shivering fitt like that of an ague however I
find myself much better to day & by keeping
my room till to morrow hope all will be
well again tho my Cold & Cough still continues
but I must not imagine that those things
are just to go off when one would have
them, they will stay there time & lucky we
are ever to get the better of them. I thank
you My dearest Girl for burning part of my last, I beg'd
it not that I was afraid of your shewing it
but as accident does & may happen I did not
think it right that I should have wrote
so, of so near a relation, nor would I have put
pen to paper concerning him in that way
to any Mortal but yourself or Mrs Napier as
I am sure I can depend on both. Indeed My
dearest Mary I believe you never will give
me cause to repent my opinion of you, either
for your sincerity or any other virtue a young
Lady ought to poʃseʃs to make her so very amiable
as my dearest Ward is, and believe me my
sincerity is to be depended upon in every thing
I ever write you, as Compliments between us
now would be rather too much to bear, since
we open our Minds to one another so freely
and I hope we ever shall continue to do the
same & take nothing for granted of one another
from other people, till we come to an ecclair=
=ciʃsement ourselves & than we can have none
but ourselves to blame. every body ought most
certainly to have an opinion of their own, its
only faulty when people carry's it to too great
hieght & in that doing their good manners and
even I am afraid their Judgement is often lost
out of keenish[4] to support their own Argument
but I shall be happy always to hear My dear Mary's
opinion on every subject she writes about, as I
am entirely perswaded I shall improve by it as
believe me ------ nothing is so apt to give a right
turn to a Man's mind than the opinion
of a Lady that he esteems, and I believe its
quite reciprocal in both Sexes, or I am ʃure
it ought to be, & in my opinion I think our
Sex will always be the gainer where it is,
as I am far from thinking the Male Sex has
so much sincerity as the female in many
things, from the liberty given in our education
excepting in the affair of Love where your Sex
are com̄only brought up with more dissimulation
not (from custom) having the liberty to speak
your minds as we have which has been very
hard on many poor Girls, especially as its com̄only
called the Noble Paʃsion why should Men have
the priviledge only to make that flame known
known to the beloved Person, was it allowed for X
both to speak their Minds freely I am perswad'd
that we would not see so many unhappy
marriages, as both Men & Women willwould chuse
for themselves & of course would decline
an offer they did not like. And I am afraid
many Lady's takes offers where their hearts
are not concerned in order to an Establishment
which they wd never have taken, were they
allowed by custom to ask the Man they
would prefer -- If I am not mistaken alas poor
Kitten to whom I beg you'll remember me
& that I wish sincerely for the reestablishment
of her health -- its now three o'Clock afternoon
& I have been writing constantly ever ʃince
I got up (& you know I am an early riser) and
have not as yet broke my fast, so you may
think I am hungry & very fitt for my dinner
which for all that must be a disagreeable
one as I dine by myself in my bed chamber
which I think must always give the vapours
or as you ʃay make the penseroso prevail,
but I can aʃsure you its not the case with me
for the instance I began to finish this to
you my spirits got up surprisingly and I
am quite alive, I shall sink after dinner as
I have many more letters to write by this
day post, to people I have not the least regard
for, but buʃineʃs must be - transacted[5]
whither one will or not & its best to do it
with a good grace & gulp it down the best
way one is able & believe me My dear Girl yt
People that lives in the world should have
good swallows otherwise they stand a good
chance of choking very often Adieu My dearest
Mary this is a very pretty lenghth of a letter
& double yours however believe me yours
most affctly- may every thing good fall to ye
share of my ever dear Ward -- remember me
to Mrs Hamilton in the most affct way -- -
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Apparent omission of a noun such as health.
2. A thin horizontal line merely filling up the space to the edge of the page has been ignored here.
3. These are more likely than not the letters referred to by Hope in HAM/1/6/8/22.
4. No word keenish is recorded in OED or DOST. It may be a slip for keenness.
5. The apparent letter s before transacted is possibly an incomplete d (for done), abandoned but not deleted.
Normalised Text
Canterbury January 30th- 1773
Yours without a date come to hand My
dearest Mary to night & I immediately
sit down to write a few lines to make
this as long as I possible can, though at present
I am so hurried with other business that
I am obliged to write many sheets of
paper daily and much against my
inclination so if they are not so long as
usual you'll forgive me & whenever I have
time shall make them as long as formerly
. It gives me extreme concern to find
you think Mrs Hamiltons doesn't mend so
well as you could wish but I hope by the
next I get that she will be quite as
well as I wish her. You mistake me My
Dear Girl I did not mean to scold you
for the penseroso but only to prevail on
you never to indulge it, could it be of
any Consequence I would be for it, but where
it may hurt your health without doing any
good to anothers I think it's wrong for any
body to indulge themselves in it, though it's
very natural yet I don't think it prudent
but as I hope to hear Mrs- Hamilton is quite
well in a few days I shall say no more at
present on the subject -- I shall be very
glad that I was mistaken in the Gentleman
that made up a part of my last letter, but
am afraid it's too true as it comes from many
good hands & those letters I have heard
hurt him greatly with his Uncle, One
thing is certain it's prudent to keep some
things to oneself and as those letters could
never do any good, they had better never
been printed & sent about to different
people who had not the least concern
with the affair. Believe me My dearest Girl
that I have not a thought of your having
the least interest in the affair, but I
know well that when a Person forms a
good opinion of another that it must
chagrin one greatly to find themselves
mistaken however I shall be happy to
find my opinion quite wrong in regard
to him, & still more so, as you are the person
to set me right, which will flatter me
not a little to find my opinion of My dearest
Girl's penetration answer in every respect
as I could wish, but as you are not very much
acquainted a Person with a very common
share of sense may impose on the most
knowing people for some time as there
is a plausibleness in some folks that can always
make their own story right till the
other side is heard, I don't say that's his
case, but I am sure he has acted with very
little prudence in most of his transactions
in Life at least so I am told by his friends
& relations & I am afraid there is too
much truth in the report especially
as things have turned out a tranquil retirement
is what I could wish for him but that I am
afraid his romantic turn will never allow
him to enjoy. I have heard of the eighteen penny
pamphlet you speak of but never saw it Adieu
till to Morrow My Dearest Girl
Sunday morning January 31st. I was obliged to give over last
night rather abruptly, as I found myself very far
from being well having caught cold some how
or other & with it a great cough which did last
night greatly distress me, together with a
shivering fit like that of an ague however I
find myself much better to day & by keeping
my room till to morrow hope all will be
well again though my Cold & Cough still continues
but I must not imagine that those things
are just to go off when one would have
them, they will stay their time & lucky we
are ever to get the better of them. I thank
you My dearest Girl for burning part of my last, I begged
it not that I was afraid of your showing it
but as accident does & may happen I did not
think it right that I should have written
so, of so near a relation, nor would I have put
pen to paper concerning him in that way
to any Mortal but yourself or Mrs Napier as
I am sure I can depend on both. Indeed My
dearest Mary I believe you never will give
me cause to repent my opinion of you, either
for your sincerity or any other virtue a young
Lady ought to possess to make her so very amiable
as my dearest Ward is, and believe me my
sincerity is to be depended upon in every thing
I ever write you, as Compliments between us
now would be rather too much to bear, since
we open our Minds to one another so freely
and I hope we ever shall continue to do the
same & take nothing for granted of one another
from other people, till we come to an éclaircissement
ourselves & than we can have none
but ourselves to blame. every body ought most
certainly to have an opinion of their own, it's
only faulty when people carry's it to too great
height & in that doing their good manners and
even I am afraid their Judgement is often lost
out of keenish to support their own Argument
but I shall be happy always to hear My dear Mary's
opinion on every subject she writes about, as I
am entirely persuaded I shall improve by it as
believe me nothing is so apt to give a right
turn to a Man's mind than the opinion
of a Lady that he esteems, and I believe it's
quite reciprocal in both Sexes, or I am sure
it ought to be, & in my opinion I think our
Sex will always be the gainer where it is,
as I am far from thinking the Male Sex has
so much sincerity as the female in many
things, from the liberty given in our education
excepting in the affair of Love where your Sex
are commonly brought up with more dissimulation
not (from custom) having the liberty to speak
your minds as we have which has been very
hard on many poor Girls, especially as it's commonly
called the Noble Passion why should Men have
the privilege only to make that flame
known to the beloved Person, was it allowed for
both to speak their Minds freely I am persuaded
that we would not see so many unhappy
marriages, as both Men & Women would choose
for themselves & of course would decline
an offer they did not like. And I am afraid
many Lady's takes offers where their hearts
are not concerned in order to an Establishment
which they would never have taken, were they
allowed by custom to ask the Man they
would prefer -- If I am not mistaken alas poor
Kitten to whom I beg you'll remember me
& that I wish sincerely for the reestablishment
of her health -- it's now three o'Clock afternoon
& I have been writing constantly ever since
I got up (& you know I am an early riser) and
have not as yet broke my fast, so you may
think I am hungry & very fit for my dinner
which for all that must be a disagreeable
one as I dine by myself in my bed chamber
which I think must always give the vapours
or as you say make the penseroso prevail,
but I can assure you it's not the case with me
for the instance I began to finish this to
you my spirits got up surprisingly and I
am quite alive, I shall sink after dinner as
I have many more letters to write by this
day post, to people I have not the least regard
for, but business must be - transacted
whether one will or not & it's best to do it
with a good grace & gulp it down the best
way one is able & believe me My dear Girl that
People that lives in the world should have
good swallows otherwise they stand a good
chance of choking very often Adieu My dearest
Mary this is a very pretty length of a letter
& double yours however believe me yours
most affectionately may every thing good fall to the
share of my ever dear Ward -- remember me
to Mrs Hamilton in the most affectionate way -- -
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 William Napier (later 7th Lord Napier) to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/29
Correspondence Details
Sender: William Napier, 7th Lord
Place sent: Canterbury
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: Northampton (certainty: medium)
Date sent: 31 January 1773
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from William Napier [later 7th Lord Napier] to Mary Hamilton. He discusses an unnamed gentleman [a near relation to Napier, probably John Hope (see HAM/1/6/8)] and letters he has foolishly distributed.
Dated at Canterbury.
Length: 2 sheets, 1432 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: Tino Oudesluijs, editorial team (completed 20 August 2020)
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: 2 November 2021