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. It relates to the death of Napier's brother-in-law, Dr [Andrew] Hunter, which he considers a public as well as a private loss. Hunter left his two daughters £3000 each, his young son £4000 and his eldest son will have a landed estate of at least £1200 per annum. He imagines that the eldest son will be burdened with the expense of the younger children.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier also writes that he was delighted to receive a letter which was purportedly written by Hamilton but was in fact written by her daughter, Louisa. He says that Louisa writes very much like Hamilton but that he can read her writing without the use of his glasses which he cannot do when reading Hamilton's letters. He writes of ‘Miss Hamilton's book’ and that he does not think it will reform those ‘class of people in this Country’ such as the cottagers of Glenbernie(?). The price of the book ‘will not admit of their purchasing it, & secondly, because they never will forgive her for exposing their manners to the Englishers’.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>General Clavering remains at Newgate (HAM/1/20/233) as he ‘will not condescend to tell the House of Commons that he did wilfully prevaricate, and that they acted justly, in committing him for doing so’ and he must remain there as long as the session lasts.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Queen Street [Edinburgh].</p>