MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. PINKERTON. Perth, Aug. 20th, 1789. Though your book has been my only companion on a three weeks' journey to Scotland, and though I have read some parts of it over a score of times, yet I am not qualified to make any observations on it worthy your attention; for I have not as yet read it all over twice. The intention of this, therefore, is merely to convey to you a whimsical idea, which never before, I dare say, occurred to any body. You mention a Gallia braccata, or the breech'd Gauls. Did it never occur to you that the other race might be called Celtic or Keltic Gauls, from their wearing, instead of breeches, a piece of dress, called at this day the kelt or philabeg? This last is not the name, but description of the dress, short petticoat; whereas kelt is really the name. I cannot conclude without saying that every new perusal of your book gives me more and more reason to admire the learning and accuracy of its author. MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. PINKERTON. Dunnichen, near Forfar, I am favored with yours, and could not help smiling at finding my nonsense of kelt had en tered your brain as well as mine, but been condemned, as it deserved, by your juster judgment. But is the Gothicism of the word a good reason? for braccata, or breeched, is also Gothic. The argument from the dress is more conclusive; and it is an anecdote respecting that, which occasions you thus early trouble, lest it should escape my memory. The Rev. Mr. Mason, our minister here, told me, on my reading that part of your letter, that Mr. Ferguson, the brother of the professor, had told him that his father, minister of Mulmearn, which lies in the direct line of the rebels' march, in the rebellion 1715, told him that he had heard him often say, that those Highlanders who joined the Pretender from the most remote parts of the Highlands, were not dressed in party-colored tartans, and had neither plaid nor philabeg; but that their whole dress consisted of what we call a Polonian or closish coat, descending below midleg, buttoned from the throat to the belly, and, below that, secured, for modesty's sake, with a lace till towards the bottom. That it was of one color and home-made, and that they had no shirt, shoes, stockings nor breeches. It would be curious if this should coincide with your French print. I rejoice you have begun the less irksome part of your task; and hope it will soon see the light; for I have long been sick of the history of monks, pedants, and party-men. Lord Hailes's work afforded me the first relief from them; and yours will, I hope, leave me nothing to wish for. I must take a good while to think of the task you have assigned me, before I can be certain of saying one word on the subject worthy of your attention. I was charmed with a hint in your book, of the feudal system being earlier than the Lombards' irruption into Italy; for my mind always misgave me as to that assertion of our jurisconsults. In that system we know the rights of the vassals of the crown; we know that of the vassals of the vassals; but I apprehend we are totally in the dark as to the only rights worth inquiring after, the rights of the man who tilled and sowed the ground, who made and held the plough, and of the several artizans of the state. I suspect they were very low; one of the rights of our towns being that of obliging a laird to satisfy his debt, if they caught him in town. Now the vassal of the crown was a very idle gentleman; and that his vassals were not inferior to their superior in point of idleness, is beyond doubt; for it is our manners to this day. May we not suspect that privileges belonged exclusively to the idle, and that industry had no means of self-protection? Yet among the Hebrides I saw the needle of a warrior's brooch lately found with his body, the workmanship of which would have done honor to Sheffield or Birmingham. It was of copper, plated with silverthe button ground brilliant-ways and playing on a swivel. Our friend, Thorkelin, I think great on these subjects. He will, I hope, help you to much useful information. I am a mere oyster, very little capable of research, with my mouth always open to receive what has been provided by others. I cannot call myself an enemy to aristocracy, though a decided one to an aristocratical government I consider our peers as giving stability to all the rest of the state-they qualify the levity and inconstancy of our democracy. I heartily wish you may find materials that will afford us more rational amusement than the history of proud lords and weak princes; but, alas! I am unable to furnish any. I was thinking of writing you some conjectures about Tacitus's precious account of Germany, having had a variety of ideas excited in my mind by these passages, "Dextero Suevici maris littore Estyorum (Easterlings) gentes alluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua Britannica propior." The Swedish tongue at this moment is nearer the English than any other dialect of the German is, and argues strongly in favor of your hypothesis of Britain being occupied very early by people speaking German. The other, "Gothinos Gallica lingua coarguit non esse Germanos," and this, not a paltry tribe; for Tacitus says, "nec minus valent:" yet they were taxed by the Quadi as strangers, and employed in the ironworks as slaves. Cæsar's giving us one general character of all the Gauls, after setting out with telling us of their difference in laws, language, and religion, is also quite irreconcilable to the usual accuracy of that hero. I had once thought of putting this scrawl into the fire; but the anecdote saves it. DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. Aberdeen, Oct. 6th, 1789. At my return home a few days ago, after an absence of several months, I found your much esteemed present, your Inquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the reign of Malcolm III. Accept of my best thanks for this memorial of your remembrance and friendship, and be assured that I value it very highly. Now, when bad health and other painful circumstances have in some measure obliged me to retire from the world, I think myself under very particular obligations to those friends who still honor me with their esteem, and show that they are not willing to forget me. I will give your work a very careful perusal, as soon as I shall have disengaged my mind from some other things which at present engross it; and I expect much entertainment and information. Of that period of our history I must own myself to be very ignorant; for I never paid much attention to the fables of George Buchanan and Hector Boece. Sir David Dalrymple's Annals, which, if I mistake not, begin where you end, I have read once and again with very great satisfaction, and am happy to see that you esteem them as highly as I do. The task you have executed Mr. Pinkerton, in the Introduction to his Inquiry, p. lxxii. had said of these Annals, "they are written with an accuracy and information hitherto unknown in our history. 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