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. The letter is concerned with Napier's regiment, the state of Ireland and Napier's family. Napier asks Hamilton to be a sponsor [godmother] of his daughter who is due to be born in October. If it is a boy he writes that he ‘cannot trust him to your Tuition’ in case he becomes as ‘saucy’ as her, the ‘natural consequence of which to him would be broken bones’. He is not as apprehensive for a daughter as he finds it currently fashionable for all girls to as ‘disagreeable as possible’.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>His regiment have moved quarters from Cork to Charles Fort near Kinsale. He is glad of this as he now breathes pure air. He found Cork to be ‘without exception the filthiest hole I ever put my foot in’. His regiment is to be the first to be deployed on foreign services in Spring and he is uncertain as to what will be happening. They hope to be sent to Canada or Nova Scotia. If his Lt. Colonel decides to stay home than Napier will have to leave with the regiment and Maria will accompany him. He notes that a trip over the Atlantic will not be inconvenient for her as she has already crossed the Pacific twice. Napier continues of the condition of people in Ireland. The state of the common people is miserable and the extravagance and folly of ‘their betters is scandalous’. He believes that in a matter of years ‘some unpleasant convulsion must happen in Ireland’. Tythes are the present grievance. He believes that ‘people of consequence’ are supporting the common people to a degree otherwise they would not be able to arm themselves in large numbers as they frequently do’. He asks what Lord Cremorne say on this subject?</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Kinsale [Ireland].</p>