Your Lop will have seen from y News, that the Spaniards are certainly sailed for Oran; the infidels will have a powerful Auxiliary in the heat of the Season and ye Climate. By our Letters from Hanover, the King is in good health, & well pleased; the Emperor has as good as finished y Affair of Mecklembourg intirely to his Ma satisfaction, and most courteous & affectionate Letters have past between them upon it. That of Holsteyn also is adjusted, by a treaty between y Emperor, y Czarina, & ye King of Denmark, without our being concerned; by which we have ye Advantage of having got rid of the Guaranty of Sleswick to ye Danes, without contributing towards y equivalent to yo D. of Holsteyn; and as this treaty contains mutual Guarantys of possessions, we could not have come into that part of it without disobliging the Sweedes; who tho' they have no near prospect of recovering what ye Muscovites have got from them, yet are not very thankfull, I believe, to those who guaranty ye possession of it to Russia. As to domestic Occurrences, we have none that I know of, worth troubling your Lop; so I shall only add most sincere professions of the hearty Respect with which Your Lops most humble and most obedient Servant, No. CLXI. D' Sir, The Lord Advocate to M' Scrope. Edin' 8th August 1732. MY Business being over in this place, I take my journey northward to-day, intending to find quiet for a few weeks, if possible. Every thing in this Country is quiet, and would go well on, if those whose Business it is to promote the publick good, would not obstruckt it. What I mean particularly by this reflexion, Bowles & Dodswell, who are now on the road, will explain to you. It surely would provoke any man living, as it did me, to see the last day of our term in Exchequer. The effect of every verdict we recovered for the Crown, during the whole term (and we recovered verdicts in every Cause we tryed, except two) stopt; upon the triflingest pretences, that false popularity and want of sense could suggest; if some remedy is not found for this evil, we must shut up shop. It's pity that when we have argued the Jury's out of their mistaken notions of popularity, the behaviour of the Court should give any handle to their relapsing. You know, Sir, it has for some years been my opinion, that under the favour of the fondness the Country is possest with for their Improvements and Manufactures, the jurys, and indeed the justices of peace, and other magistrates, may receive a favourable turn towards the revenue, out of the surplus whereof the funds for their improvements arise; and you may remember, that towards propagating this favourable Opinion in the Country, I proposed to Sir Robert and to you, before I left London, that as the Country is interested in the surplus of the Malt duty, a general Surveyor should be appointed for the Malt, to be recommended by the trustees for the Manufactures; whose business it should be to superintend the Officers employed in that service, and who might, by making rounds through the Country, recommend to the people every where the full collection of that duty, and discover to them, by degrees, how important it is to the national improvements, that fraudulent trade be layd aside, and that the revenues of all kinds bear surpluses. How useful so ever I think such an Officer 125 Officer might be at this time, yet I should not choose to load the surplus of the Malt Duty with any appointment for him; but, as it happens, there is room enough at preIn the Year 1726, the Comsent to make a beginning, and there soon will be more. missioners named 4 General Supervisors, at a salary of £150 each; and tho', soon after, they began to think them not extreamly useful, yet as they were once employed, and as the men had merite, they were unwilling to discharge them. One of these is dead; so that his salary may be made use of for the Officer I speak of; and Mr. Dodswell agrees, that when any of the remaining 3 drops, his salary may be added to the appointment of the new Officer, which will make a provision of £300 per Annum, and sufficiently enable the Gentleman I should recommend to do what is expected from him : his name is Archibald Hope, Son to M' Hope of Rankeiter, one of our Trustees, and is a very diligent, sensible young fellow; from whose Industry and Zeal, I expect very considerable service to the publick. I have prevailed with him to begin at the salary of £150, now vacant; upon assurance that when any of the other three fall, or are better provided, his appointment shall be increased to £300. As this is nothing out of the Revenue, I should hope it would meet with no difficulty; and if you will take the trouble to settle it with M' Dodswell whilst he is with you, it will be, I think, doing the Revenue and the Country a kindness. Ten or twelve days agoe I wrote to Sir Robert Walpole on the subject of the Dutchess of Gordon's business. What I earnestly begged was an answer; because I soon must see her, and must make a very silly figure if I do not know what to say, after all that has passed on this subject. Hitherto I have had no answer from him, and must therefor in this, as I do in all my other dificultys, apply myself to you; and entreat, that with your first conveniency you will let me know how that matter stands, and what I am to say. Any commands you have for me, directed to me at Edin', will find me wherever I may happen to be. I beg your pardon, and with great reason, for giving you the trouble of so long, and so ill wrote a letter; and your perpetual indulgence encourages me to hope for it. I am most faithfully, &c. My Lord, No. CLXII. M' Henry Home (afterwards L' Kames) to the Lord Advocate. I ESTEEM it my duty to acquaint your Lordship, that I have it in View to stand as a Candidat for the Professorship of Roman Law, now vacant by the death of M' Craig. As I have it at heart, by this application, to contribute my small mite towards the service of my Country, I shall hope your Lordship's interest only in case you reckon me qualified; and yet further, as your Lordship stands justly possessed of the most amiable Character of disinterestedness, as well in publick as in private life, with great alacrity and submission shall I be ready to throw up my pretensions the moment you tell me the office may better be supplied by another. Believe me, my Lord, these are not words of course; they are the real sentiments and resolution of Your faithful and devoted Servant, Ed', 24 Aug 1732. HENRY HOME. No. CLXIII. My dear Duncan, No. CLXIII. M' Hew Dalrymple to the Lord Advocate. Elphinston, Aug 26, 1732. I WAS sorry to hear of your Riotous Journey northward. Remember your flannels and Swing; and if you will not for your own sake give over such pranks, pray at least be so complisant as to avoid them for y° sake of a good many folks, myself in particular, who languish when they see you doing yourself so much harm. I seldom have been troublesome to you in asking favours for myself, or any other body; tho' now I must beg a favour of you, which I hope you'll be so good as to grant me. You know that the Professor of Law's Chair in the College of Edinb' is now vacant, & the method how that is supplied. The faculty of Advocate's Leet two, and the Town Councill choose one to fill it out of that leet. There are two Gentlemen who I hope have the honour to be known to you; Mr Will. Duff, and M' Will. Brodie, Advocates; whom our friend the Lord Preside recommended to me as fit persons to be put in that leet, and for whom I now presume to ask your patronage. I always placed a great value upon your friendship, and need not, I am sure, multiply words, nor depart from the stile of a friend, to make protestations in another way of my sincerity in being yours: all that, between us, is quite well understood; but if you are at liberty to give your Countenance for these Gentlemen, it will give me great joy, because it will be of the last consequence to them. I now take again the liberty to recommend yourself to yourself, & beg of you to be more moderate in your riots; which more than any thing, as the best for you, will oblige, My Dear Duncan, The Laird of Colloden to John Forbes, the President's Son, dated Inverness, I AM very glad to fynd from your own hand, that you are in Lyfe, after the bad accounts I had of you some months agoe. At the same tyme, I wonder you did not write me oftener; however, I expect you'll mend this fault in tyme coming. As the greatest happiness of my lyfe now, My dear Johnie, depends on the hopes I have of your comeing home an honest man and a pretty fellow, I dare not doubt but you have improved your tyme, since abroad, to the best advantage; and therefore I will insist with your father to comply with what you desire, and also to send you proper directions, that when you come home, you may not be idle. Pray lett me hear often casie. Give my from you, and believe that I will doe all in my power to make service to M' Murdoch. you I am, Dear Jok, Your affectionate Uncle, JO. FORBES. No. CLXV. Sir, No. CLXV. The Lord Advocate to M' Murdoch. Bunchrew, 8th October 1732. WHEN I sent John into the south of France, you know it was my intention he should pass some years there; partly that he might form his manners and habits in a place where example gives less temptation to vicious ones, and where he might have some encouragement to study; and partly to keep him out of this most corrupt corner of the world till those habits were put on, and his mind grown somewhat firmer by age. But this intention was in some degree traversed by his impatience to see Italy; which, tho' I did not contradict (because I know what fruit that commonly produces), I did not approve of; and he is now returned to Geneva, where a resolution must be taken what further is to be done. If my original purpose can yet in any degree be executed; if after he has seen Italy, and I presume reckons himself a fine travelled Gentleman, he can chearfully submit to retire for some time to any convenient place in France, Swiss, or Germany, to improve himself there, and grow a little older, at less expence, and with smaller temptation to folly, than he would meet with in Paris or London, I shall be very well pleased; but if he is reluctant to this, and has a violent itch to come home, I shall probably submit to that upon my part, and he may make Paris and London his way; but as a traveller only, and not to reside there: the good that is to be had at either of those places I know pretty well, and the price of it. By what I now say, and formerly have often told you, you see my strong byass is, to his remaining abroad some [time] longer, if it may be done at reasonable charge, and with tolerable hopes of his not doing harm rather than good, by hiding himself a little beyond seas; and my reason for this is, the imminent danger I see him in of being undone, if he is to make this part of the world his home without being well fortifyed against folly. But as I am intirely unacquainted with his present turn of mind, and ignorant of his byass and inclinations, as well as of what Change to the better or worse time and observation may have made on him, I must insist with you, that, without any reserve, you do report to me your real opinion of him, that I may be enabled to determine what is fittest to be done with him. And, that your return may answer as near as may be my views, I desire to be resolved in the following particulars: 1. Is his understanding and Capacity to comprehend, the same as when we parted; or is it in any degree improved, and how far? 2. Is his Application and Attention to learning or thinking, to any or all kinds, the same; or is it mended in any, and in what, degree? 3. Has he pursued any study, and what? By study, I mean learned Amusement only. Did he read willingly, so as to find entertainment in it; or by compulsion, and from compliance; and does not reading produce any fruit in his conversation? 4th. Has he made any discreet Observations of what he has hitherto heard and seen; are his Views at all improved by them? 5th. Has he got so much relish of reading, Reflexion, or study of any kind, that he can entertain himself agreeably alone; or must he, to kill time, run into Company, diversion, and folly? 6th. What is his most favorite pursuit; which the scenes in which he discovers the greatest satisfaction and sense of happiness? 7th. Does 7th. Does he delight in Company, and of what sort; does he incline to show in Company, and on what subjects; is he given to telling of Stories; does he boast; or is he usually the subject of his own story? 8th. Does he love eating and drinking, so as to frequent Company that are given to these things; is he able to bear drink when he sets himself to it; whether is excess or sobriety his Choise? 9th. Whether is his disposition to be a good or bad husband of his money; does he show any inclination to play? 10th. Does he conduct himself with decency and discretion in Company, and in his way of living with his acquaintance? 11th. Is his prudence such, that you think he may be safely trusted with the Government of himself, where temptations to vanity or riot may frequently come across him? These are Questions which, doubtless, you can answer; and as they are put by one who desires to be resolved only for his service, and who must be resolved in them before he can prudently determine what to do with him for his further benefite, I must expect a particular and candid Answer; together with such other circumstances as may lead me to form a just idea of my son, if they do not come within the Resolution of the presyse questions I have put to you. Wherever this finds you, it is my desire that you remain there, or in the Neighbourhood, untill, upon hearing from you, I may be enabled to give further directions your conduct. for If you cannot hide this Letter from John, it may show him that my doubts and fears about him are great; but then it must also show him, that my affection and regard for him is great in proportion. As to yourself, Dear P., tho' my views have not been punctually followed, yet I impute that to accidents of different kinds, and not to you. I am very sensible of my obligations to you, and shall lay hold of all proper occasions to answer and discharge them. I am very sincerely your friend and humble serv', Mr Mac Leod to the Laird of Culloden, dated Dunvegan, Dec' 19th, 1732. My dear John, THIS evening, about 5, I gott yours. You'll see, by the date, your express has not been slow. I am very glad to see your quondam friends have appeared in their proper colours. My surprise is, how the Laird of Grant can ask the vote of a real Baron, after endeavouring to enslave them. Anie that will give it him (that's not dependant) ought to be marked properly for the use of posterity. I'm sorry Sanders Baillie should have the least ailment when he must undertake a highland Journie. I've named him the day & materials he should meet me w' att Glenelg, What do you mean, to ask if I'm to make Barons? I own its against the grain w' me; but necessity has no law; & every one of our shyre that won't on this occasion exert himself, may he be for ever pd on by all his neighbours. 2+ I won't |