The Mary Hamilton Papers : Letter from William Napier (later 7th Lord Napier) to Mary Hamilton

Napier, William, 7th Lord

The Mary Hamilton Papers

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter from William Napier [later 7th Lord Napier] to Mary Hamilton. He writes Hamilton a long letter in reply to her last letter to him. Napier again raises the subject of Hamilton writing to her Uncle Cathcart (HAM/1/19/26). He knows that Hamilton writes to Lady Hamilton and he has left it up to her to decide whether she writes to her uncle, Frederick Hamilton.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier also assures Hamilton of his pleasure in correspondence noting that a ‘chit chat letter now & then unburdens the mind, its like reading a novel after having been studying hard all day’. He agrees with Hamilton in her opinion of cards but notes that as not everybody is born to do as they please and ‘cards now is the only business (I had near said education) of the better sort of this Kingdom it is a duty to learn them, that we may be sometimes useful to those who cannot take any more rational amusement’. He wants Hamilton to be able to amuse both the sensible and those less able. The latter of which are in the greatest number.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Canterbury.</p>