The Mary Hamilton Papers : Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton

Napier, Francis Scott, 8th Lord

The Mary Hamilton Papers

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to his being put on half pay by his regiment. Since the 24th of the previous month Napier has been on half pay and notes that his income has now decreased from £417 to £285. He does not know how he is to manage. His inclination is to go abroad but he doubts that he will be able to afford to live comfortably in a 'Strange Land'.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Referring back to an earlier letter he had sent (HAM/1/20/80) on the subject of marriage and fortune, he writes that there is no act of Parliament 'by which a man is prevented altering his opinion – when I wrote you my prudent letter I had not acknowledged to myself that I was in Love with a Miss without a fortune'. Now that he has met her he finds the ides of oat cakes, milk and potatoes a sufficient meal.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier teases Hamilton on her staying part time in the country and part in town and wonders if her next residence would be the debtors prison. Or will he read in the newspapers that a certain lady of distinction had absconded from Clarges Street leaving behind many creditors. He makes reference to William Wake's infatuation with Hamilton (see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/data/gb133-ham/ham/1/8/8'>HAM/1/8/8</a>) writing that the newspaper will also report that 'She has escaped into the Wake of a certain Northamptonshire Baronet'.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Merchiston Halls.</p>