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 Napier's family and his anxieties over his sons. His son William's ship the <i><i>Goshawk</i></i> has been wrecked but all hands were saved. He is going to the fleet to stand his court martial after which he hopes to join his brother Charles at San Sebastian and to come home via this route thus escaping the quarantine he ‘would be exposed to, by coming directly from the Mediterranean’. Napier has heard nothing from the Admiralty or from William since his initial letter. William was due to be made Post [Captain] shortly before the wreck and Napier is unsure as to when he will now be promoted.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier's other son, Francis is in Ireland and writes that he is due to set sail for the West Indies and he presumes that Charles is in camp in France. In his last letter to Napier he had noted that the Pyrenees was covered in snow that was ten feet thick. Napier notes his anxieties and writes that although he rejoices at the success ‘of his Majesty's arms, and those of his allies; at Lord Wellington's late advantage; the disasters of Bonaparte; the recovery of Hanover’ the return of the Prince of Orange to Holland; [...] I cannot entirely forget that I have three sons, exposed to the dangers of sea, enemies & climate’.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The letter continues with more general news of society and friends.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Queen Street, [Edinburgh].</p>