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 A\^EUNI
 
 JHE 
 
 LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ- 
 
 VOL. 1.
 
 
 //■
 
 THE 
 
 LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. 
 
 NOW FIRST PRINTED 
 
 FROM THE ORIGINALS IN THE -.POSSESSION OF 
 
 DAWSON TURNER, ESQ., M.A., F.R.S. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL, I. 
 
 ' > O O -J J 
 
 "> , > J ) ■} i 
 
 ., o.> '^ -, '■"■' ''' i'i i-.ii ^' 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1830.   
 
 D ;j '^ ^ :.)
 
 C I I < t I 
 
 C C l 
 
 ' . « « 
 
 ■> < 't' t^ 
 
 
 
 IMUNTED IIY A. J, VALPY, RED flON COURT, FIIET STHFTiT.
 
 I I \ 
 
 Pt5 
 
 
 N 
 
 > PREFACE. 
 
 
 l\ 
 
 The Letters which form the greater part of the 
 
 present Volumes were selected by Mr. Pinkerton 
 
 himself for the purpose of publication. They 
 
 "^ include, among others from personages known 
 
 5 to fame, epistles by Lord Buchan, Gibbon the 
 
 3 historian, and Horace Walpole, besides a copious 
 ft 
 
 ^ store of curious anecdotes, exhibiting the history 
 of a literary man from the beginning to the end 
 of his career ; a man of a capacious mind, great 
 acuteness, strong memory, restless activity, and 
 extraordinary perseverance. These anecdotes 
 afford a striking proof of the power of talents 
 and industry to raise their possessor in the scale 
 of society, as well as in the opinion of the 
 world. Unfortunately, they are also calculated to 
 read us another and not less instructive lesson, 
 that somewhat more is required to turn such
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 advantages to their full account ; and that the 
 endowments of the mind, unless accompanied 
 by sound and consistent principles, can tend 
 but little to the happiness of the individual, .or to 
 the good of society. The close of Mr. Pinker- 
 ton's life was sadly dissimilar to what was pro- 
 mised at its outset. Destitute as he was of the 
 adventitious advantages of birth or fortune, he 
 saw himself, while yet scarcely more than a 
 boy, caressed and courted by men of rank and 
 literary fame : he sank into the grave chilled by 
 neglect, and oppressed by want. In youth he 
 wrote for his pleasure and reputation ; in age for 
 his daily bread. One of the most eminent of our 
 contemporaries,* in drawing a comparison between 
 him and a very kindred spirit, Ritson, observes, 
 with no less truth than sadness, that *' the sun set 
 " heavily on both ; for Joseph Ritson's whimsicali- 
 ** ties terminated in mental alienation, and the 
 *' career of Pinkerton, which in its commence- 
 " ment attracted the notice of Gibbon, who de- 
 " sired to adopt him as an associate in the pro- 
 *' posed task of editing the British historians, 
 *' ended in exile, in obscurity, and, we fear, in 
 " indigence. His studious and laborious dispo- 
 
 * See Quarterly Revieiv, XLI. p. 138, an article so generally 
 attributed to Sir AValter Scott, that 1 do not hesitate to quote 
 it under his name.
 
 PREFACE. Vli 
 
 '* sition deserves praise ; and the defects we have 
 ** had to notice with pain arose in youth from 
 " the arrogance of inexperience, and in his latter 
 *' years from mortification at the failure of a long 
 " series of literary attempts, some of which merited 
 " another fate." 
 
 The life of Mr. Pinkerton was so entirely and 
 exclusively that of a literary man, so utterly un- 
 marked by any other occurrences than those 
 arising from his publications, that little is to be 
 added on this subject to the information con- 
 tained in the following letters. 
 
 Pinkerton was born on the 17th February, 
 1758, at Edinburgh, where his father was a mer- 
 chant. The only school education he received 
 was for six years at Lanark, under the care of a 
 Mr. Thomson, who married the sister of the poet 
 of that name. At an early age he was articled 
 to Mr. Aytoun, a writer at Edinburgh ; but, his 
 father dying just at the expiration of his clerk- 
 ship, he determined, in an evil hour, to abandon 
 the law, and to enter into life as an " author by 
 profession." With this view he fixed his resi- 
 dence in London, and steadily pursued his pur- 
 pose, first as a diligent inquirer into the ancient 
 poetry of his country, and then successively as 
 a numismatist, an historian, a geographer, and a 
 geologist; occasionally indulging himself with 
 excursions into various departments of antiquity.
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 His writings, arising out of these diversified branches 
 of inquiry, and his eccentric, but very clever. 
 Letters on Litei^atiire, under the fictitious name of 
 Robert Heron, are mentioned in his correspond- 
 ence. He married a lady of great respectability ; 
 but the irregularities of his conduct diminished 
 the comfort of his union, and tended greatly to 
 cause him to lose his rank in society. In the 
 latter part of his life he removed for a short period 
 to Edinburgh, and on two several occasions re- 
 sided for some years at Paris, where he died on 
 the 10th of May, 1826. 
 
 The foregoing particulars are extracted from the 
 excellent obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 which contains a detailed memoir of Mr. Pinker- 
 ton and his works, in great measure the same as had 
 previously been published in a book entitled Public 
 Characters for the year 1800, and has since been 
 repeated with some additions in the 5th volume of 
 Mr. Nichols's Illustrations of the Literary History 
 of the ISth century. The memoir just alluded to 
 finishes by stating, upon the subject of Mr. Pinker- 
 ton's personal appearance, that '* it was that of a 
 very little and very thin old man, with a very 
 small, sharp, yellow face, thickly pitted with 
 the small pox, and decked with a pair of green 
 spectacles." 
 
 To the merits of Mr. Pinkerton as a writer, and 
 especially as an historian, honorable testimony has
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 been borne by those whose testimony will be 
 readily allowed to be honorable. Mr. Beattic 
 eulogized his poetical talents : Mr. Cooper 
 Walker gave him the praise of " deep and exten- 
 sive erudition, assiduous research, and luminous 
 arrangement," and pronounced his productions 
 " inestimable to the lovers of historic truth:" 
 Horace Walpole declared his understanding to be 
 " one of the strongest, most manly, and clearest 
 he ever knew ;" and Gibbon did not scruple to tell 
 him " that the best judges had acknowledged his 
 merit, and that his rising fame would not fail 
 gradually to extinguish the early prejudices and 
 personal animosities which he had perhaps been 
 too careless of provoking." More decisive still, 
 and still more flattering than all, was the character 
 of him pronounced by the historian of the Decline 
 and Fall of Rome, in the address intended to have 
 been prefixed to his edition of the early English 
 historians — a character full and luminous, kind and 
 judicious, traced evidently by the hand of a friend, 
 but of a friend, who was too wise, and too well dis- 
 posed, and too sensible of his own importance, to 
 condescend to flatter. Nor have there been want- 
 ing those, who, since his death, have been willing 
 to pay their tribute to his merits : among them 
 the writer in the periodical work above mentioned, 
 admits him to have been the first who " sounded 
 the depths of Scottish History," and allows his
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 claim to learning and ability, and a useful di- 
 rection of both, at the same time that he is severe 
 upon the failings of his temper. To these failings 
 it is only doing Mr. Pinkerton justice to acknow- 
 ledge that he was himself by no means blind : 
 " were I revising my books," he tells Mr. Laing, 
 " I should dash out all such passages, which I 
 never see without disgust ; and I can only say 
 that they are the products of infirmity, not of na- 
 ture." Careful, however, as he might wish to be 
 on this point, such failings do certainly appear in 
 some of his letters to Lord Buchan, and sadly so 
 in those to Mr. Paton. 
 
 With regard to the Editor, little or nothing was 
 left for him, in a work like the present, but to 
 make a due selection from the letters before him, 
 and to illustrate with notes whatever might ap- 
 pear to require elucidation. Both these tasks 
 he has endeavored to discharge to the best of his 
 abilities : had he published the whole of the let- 
 ters reserved for that purpose by Mr. Pinkerton, 
 the bulk of these volumes would have been at 
 least doubled. He is conscious that he has been 
 tempted to admit some few letters of little inter- 
 est in themselves, yet tending to throw light upon 
 Mr. Pinkerton's pursuits ; and one or two have 
 been inserted from men of rank and eminence, 
 merely to show his connexion with them. In a 
 very few instances indeed will be found the let-
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 ters of individuals still living ; but, aware of the 
 delicate ground he w^as here treading, the Editor 
 trusts he has not given place to a single docu- 
 ment that could cause the slightest feeling of 
 vex:ation to the writer. In one instance only he 
 saw room for hesitation, — in the case of Mr. God- 
 win's; — and, this gentleman having most kindly 
 permitted the publication of his letter, all objec- 
 tion was removed. 
 
 The Editor has reason to regret that Mr. Pinker- 
 ton was very little in the habit of preserving copies 
 of his own letters, and that he has himself not been 
 so fortunate as to succeed in obtaining the loan of 
 any from Mr. Pinkerton's numerous correspondents, 
 excepting those addressed to Lord Buchan and Mr. 
 Malcolm Laing, and a very few of those to Mr. 
 Walker. For the last of these he has to express 
 his obligations to Sir William Betham, and for the 
 others to Thomas Thomson, Esq., of Edinburgh. 
 
 In conclusion, looking to the names and cha- 
 racters of those by whom the greater part of the 
 letters in these volumes are written, he flatters 
 himself that the public will derive, from the perusal 
 of this Correspondence, a portion of the gratification 
 which it has afforded to himself; and he begs to 
 be excused for indulging in the following quotation 
 from the diary of Edmund Calamy :* " From my 
 
 * Hislorical Account of his own Life, Vol, i. p. 1.
 
 Xii PREFACE. 
 
 younger years, and ever since I have had a capa- 
 city of making remarks, or of passing judgment on 
 persons or things, I have taken a particular plea- 
 sure in reading the pubHshed epistles and lives of 
 such as came into the world either before or since 
 my own appearing in it ; and I have, in both of 
 them, observed many things, and some of them 
 curious and instructive, that do not occur else- 
 where. 
 
 "As to epistles, I have found that many of them 
 discover secrets, and contain facts and passages, 
 that would, in all likelihood, have been buried in 
 oblivion, if not this way preserved. The writers 
 of them very often draw their own native charac- 
 ters, without at all designing it, and generally 
 touch, and sometimes dilate upon,, a variety of 
 things out of the common road." 
 
 
 •&" 
 
 DAWSON TURNER.
 
 CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Pflge 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 1 
 
 On his poem of Craigmillar Castle. — Dec. 13, 1775. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 2 
 
 Criticism on his poems. — Mar. 9, 1776. 
 
 MR. DODSLEY TO MR. PINKERTON. 5 
 
 Declining to publish his ballads. — Feb. 14, 1778. 
 
 DR. PERCY, BISHOP OF DROMORE, TO MR. PINKERTON. 5 
 Thanking him for some manuscript poems. — Mar. 25, 1778. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 7 
 
 On Dr. Percy's poems : opinions on Scotch poetry, and on 
 The Vision,— im\Q 20, 1778. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 9 
 
 Thanking him for his poems, and mentioning his own collec- 
 tions for an additional vol. of Reliques of Ancient Poetry, 
 and his intention of leaving them for his son. — July 20, 1778. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO IMR. PINKERTON. 11 
 
 On the Sapphic rhythm.— Aug. 20, 1778. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 13 
 
 On Drumniond of Hawthornden's poems, and on modern Latin 
 poetry. — Nov. 27, 1778. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 15 
 
 Declining the publication of Hardyhnute, and recommending 
 Mr. Pinkerton to print it himself.— July 2, 1779.
 
 XIV   CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 im. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTOX. 10 
 
 Apolofjics for not willing:, and atlvi.sins liini lo apply to Mr. 
 Dodsley to publish liis poems.— March 17, 1780. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 18 
 
 Exprrssins ])lcasnre at his having agreed vvilli Mr. Nichols 
 lor the publication of his poems.— Jan. 11, 1781. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 19 
 
 'J he first notice of Heron s Letters of Literature. — Dec. 28, 1781. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 21 
 
 Account of iiis Dissertations in llie press, and his honorable 
 mention of Mr. Pinkerton in them.— Feb. 7, 1782. 
 
 ]MR. PORDEN TO MR. PINKERTON. 23 
 
 Criticism and enlogiums on his Tales, and on Hardi/Jcnitte, and 
 on his Rimes. — April 5, 1782. 
 
 MR. KNIGHT TO MR. PINKERTON. 20 
 
 Expressive of liis gratification at Mr. Pinkerton's commenda- 
 tion of his Elegies.— Oct. 10, 1782. 
 
 MR, NICHOLS TO MR. PINKERTON. 27 
 
 Terms and agreement for printing his Tragic and Comic Bal- 
 lads.— Dec. 9, 1782. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 30 
 
 Enclosing King James's poem of Pehlis to the Plai/ for his pub- 
 lication, «ilh advice on the subject. — Jan. 3, 1783. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 32 
 
 Wishing to revise his notes on Scottish Poems, before their pub- 
 lication by Mr. Pinkerton : on the Scottish Songs in Queen 
 Mary's time, and on the comparative progress of language in 
 England and Scotland. — Jan. 14, 1783. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 34 
 
 Thanks for his letter, and for his Tragic Ballads.— Feb. 3, 1783. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO LORD HAILES. 30 
 
 Remarks on the ballad oi Kirhconnel Lea, on Rymcr's Prophe- 
 cies, and on the song oi Flodden Field — I'eply to his objec- 
 tions as lo the anti(juily oi Hardijhmdc, and slating his own 
 intention of examining the Maitland manuscript. — June 10, 
 1783. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 39 
 
 Apologies for not writing before, and enclosing a letter from 
 Mr. Warton,— Oct. 29, 1783. 
 
 MR. THOxMAS WARTON TO MR. PINKERTON. 40 
 
 Thanks for his Scotch ballads.— Nov. 24, 1783.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 MR. W. TVILRR TO MR. PINKERTON. 40 
 
 SKnalion of Clirisl's Kirk : remarks on his late publication of 
 Peblis to the Phi/, and on Tlie Evergreen by Allan Ramsay. 
 —Dec. 27, 1783.' 
 
 MR. NICHOLS TO MR. PINKERTON. 42 
 
 Terms for printing his Treatise on Medals.— Jan. 22, 1784. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 44 
 
 His inability to grant liim permission for the removal of books 
 from the Fepysian Library, but pointing out means for his 
 copying them there.— July 18, 1784. 
 
 PION. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. DODSLEY. 46 
 
 Declining Mr. Pinkerton's offer of dedicating to him his Trea- 
 tise on Medals.— Aug. 8, 1784. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 40 
 
 Thanking him for his poems, and inviting Iiim to Strawberry 
 Hill.— Aug. 24, 1784. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 47 
 
 A second refusal of permission for the removal of books from 
 the Pepysian Library, and a statement of his reasons for the 
 refusal.— Sept. 14, 1784. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 50 
 
 Criticism on his Comedy. — Sept. 27,"1784. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 52 
 
 J'lulher criticism on his Comedy ; remarks on English poetry, 
 on poetry in general, and on the drama.— Oct. G, 1784. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 57 
 
 On his own publications, on his literary career, and remarks on 
 Mr. Pinkerton's intended History of the reign of George II. 
 —Oct. 27, 1784. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. C2 
 
 Offering him facilities for copying the MaitJand manuscript. — 
 Nov. 10, 1784. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 63 
 
 Accepting his recent edition of Sir D. Lindsay's Satire, and 
 mentioning Mr. Nichols's Supplement to Swift's works. — 
 Mar. 12, 1785. 
 
 MR. KNIGHT TO MR. PINKERTON. C5 
 
 Enclosing his Sonnet to Dr. Heberden. — April 1, 178.5.
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. C7 
 
 Observations on Heron's Letters of Literature, on Mr. iMnkcr- 
 ton's proposed amendment of the English language, on Lady 
 M. W. Montague and on Mr. Hume.— June 22, 1785, 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 71 
 
 Further criticism on Heron's Letters : definition and exempli- 
 fication of grace : remarks on Waller, Milton, Cowley, 
 Boileau, Pope, and Madame dc Sevigne. — June 26, 1785. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 77 
 
 Declining printing Greek authors at Strawberry Hill. — July 27, 
 1785. 
 
 HON. HOR.-iCE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 79 
 
 Declining printing an edition of the Life of St. Nicholas. — Aug. 
 
 18, 1785. 
 
 DR, BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 81 
 
 Concerning Barbour, and his manuscripts. — Aug. 24, 1785. 
 
 REV. W. TREMAYNE TO MR. PINKERTON. 83 
 
 On his proposed amendment of the English language. — Sept. 
 16, 1785. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 87 
 
 Advising him not to answer the critiques of anonymous adver- 
 saries, with some particulars respecting Dr. Lort and the 
 Abbe Barthelemi.— Sept. 17, 1785. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 90 
 
 Advice on his intended publication of Ijives of the Scottish 
 Saints ; opinion of Bishop Hoadley, and reflections on his o\\ n 
 life.— Sept. 30, 1785. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 93 
 
 Declining to purchase pictures. — Oct. 2, 1785. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 93 
 
 Remarks on Winton's Chronicle.— Noy. 4, 1785. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN, 95 
 
 Enclosing a copy of his Ancient Scottish Poems, with remarks 
 upon them, and mentioning his intention of publishing Win- 
 ton's C/trowJc/c, and Lives of the Scottish Saints.— Nov. 24, 
 1785. 
 
 MR. KNIGHT TO MR. PINKERTON. 99 
 
 Remarks on Heron's Letters.— Nov. 29, 1785. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR, PINKERTON 102 
 
 On the manuscripts in llio Advocates' Library; on XhcP (dice of 
 Honour, the ComplunUi- of Scotland, Wvnions Chroinclf, &c. 
 remarks on the authors of Hnrdyhmiic.—Hec. 2, 1785.
 
 CONTENTS. XYU 
 
 Page 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 105 
 
 Thanking liim for his Ancient Scottish Poems, and mentioning 
 an Elegy supposed to have been written by Smollett. — Dec. 
 9, 1785. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 107 
 
 Remarks on his Lives of Scottish Saints, and declining his 
 friendship on account of the infidel opinions expressed in his 
 works.— Dec. 26, 1785. 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON. 108 
 
 Remarks on some old French Romances, and on the early 
 French language. — 1786. 
 
 GENERAL VALLANCEY TO MR. PINKERTON. 110 
 
 On his list of the Piclish kings, and on the Irish language. — 
 Feb. 1, 1786. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 112 
 
 Respecting Gen. Vallancey and his pursuits: offering a copy of 
 Bishoji Douglas' Palis of Honour. — Feb. 11, 1786. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 118 
 
 On the ancient history of the Danes and Norwegians, and on 
 their charters.— March 23, 1786. 
 
 MR. DAVIDSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 121 
 
 On Gaelic etymologies : description of a manuscript of Sir. D. 
 Lindsay's Plays; and request for fac-similes of manuscripts 
 and charters. — April 2, 1786. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 124 
 
 Answering and refuting his charge of inaccuracy and haste in 
 the publication of \\\% Ancient Scottish Poems. — April 3,1786. 
 
 DR. C. O'CONOR TO ME. PINKERTON, 12G 
 
 Particulars relative to early Irish and Scottish history. — April 
 4, 1786. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO DR. C. O'CONOR. 132 
 
 Answer to the preceding. — July 22, 1786. 
 
 MR. JOHNSON TO MR. MORISON. 134 
 
 Enclosing a catalogue of the portraits in Taymouth House. — 
 Aug. 13, 1786. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 139 
 
 Sending a letter from General Vallancey.— Sept. 2, 1786. 
 
 GENERAL VALLANCEY TO MR. PINKERTON. 141 
 
 Account of a poem enlillcd The Duain, and remarks on Gene- 
 ral Vallanccy's Vindication of the Ancient Irish History. — 
 Sept. 1786. 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 XViii CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 DR. THOMAS CAMPBELL TO DR. PERCY. 144 
 
 Remarks on the Annals of Tigernac and Ulster. — Feb. 27, 
 1787. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 14G 
 
 Enclosing the preceding letter, and requesting him to read Dr. 
 Priestley's Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion. — 
 Feb. 28, 1787. 
 
 MR. A. DE CARDONNEL TO MR. PINKERTOX. 147 
 
 Respecting Sir D. Lindsay's Satire.— March 5, 1787. 
 
 MR, A. DE CARDONNEL TO MR. PINKERTON. 150 
 
 On his Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland. — April 21, 1787. 
 
 MR. BERKELEY TO MR. PINKERTON. 151 
 
 On the translation of an Italian Tragedy. — June 25, 1787. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 152 
 
 Inquiring concerning Lord Elibank, and mentioning his in- 
 tended additions to his catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors. 
 —June 29, 1787. 
 
 DR. C. O'CONOR TO MR, PINKERTON. 155 
 
 Respecting the ancient Kings of Ireland.— June 30, 1787. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 157 
 
 Respecting Messrs. Morison's proposed edition of Barbour's 
 poem.— July 30, 1787. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 160 
 
 Account of his tour in the Hebrides ; with remarks on the Pic- 
 tisb houses and on vitrified forts. — Sept. 19, 1787. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 102 
 
 On the proposed edition of Barbour, and hints for the establish- 
 ment of a society in Scotland for publishing old pieces of 
 history, &o.— Sept. 20, 1787. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 1C4 
 
 On their differences of opinion concerning Ossian and Mary 
 Queen of Scots : requesting a transcript of Sir D. Lindsay's 
 Plays, and mentioning the increase of expense in his pro- 
 posed work on the Lives of Scottish Saints. — Oct. 15, 1787. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO MR. PINKERTON. IGG 
 
 Respecting his intended Lives of the Scottish Saints, with part 
 of the prospectus annexed. — Nov. 1, 1787. 
 
 GENERAL STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 170 
 
 Requesting information on the genealogy of his ancestor, the 
 Constable John Stuart of Darnley. — Dec. 4, 1787.
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 Page 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 172 
 
 Respecting his disagreement with Lord Hailes'and with Messrs. 
 Morison.— Dec. 5, 1787. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 173 
 
 Complaining of Mr. Tytler, and requesting a transcript of Sir D. 
 Lindsay's Play.— Dec. 15, 1787. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 175 
 
 Requesting him to abstain from disrespectful mention of the 
 Old Testament.— Jan. 16, 1788. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 176 
 
 Respecting the subscription to his Lives of Scottish Sai7its. — 
 Feb. 2, 1788. 
 
 DR. T. CAMPBELL TO MR. PINKERTON. 178 
 
 With part of his Sketch of the Ecclesiastical and Literary His- 
 tory of Ireland, and his reasons for publishing it.^ — Feb. 6, 
 1788. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 180 
 
 On the ill success of his endeavors to obtain for Mr. Pinker- 
 ton the situation of Librarian at the British Museum.— Feb. 
 11, 1788. 
 
 DR. LORIMER TO BIR. PINKERTON. 180 
 
 Respecting the Chronicon Rylhmicum and the Register of St. 
 Andretv's.—Veh. 25, 1788. 
 
 MR. MACAULEY TO DR. LORIMER. 183 
 
 On the original name of the island of Egg, Ethica. — March 24, 
 1788. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. G. PATON. 181 
 
 Opinion of Mr. Herd.— March 31, 1788. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. G. PATON. 187 
 
 Declining further intercourse with him.— April 8, 1788. 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 188 
 
 Anccdotesof Cromwell.— May 15, 1788. 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PARKER. 193 
 
 Enclosing Ihe preceding letter: with remarks on Sir John 
 Dalrymple's Memoirs : detection of IJruce's watch : olTor of 
 notes to a new edition of Mr. Pinkerlon's Ancient Scottish 
 Poems, and requesting a song for ihc anniversary dinner of 
 the Revolution Club.— May 24, 1788. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 197 
 
 Respecting Lindsay's Play, and requesting a map oflcolm- 
 kill— May 20, 1788,
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 DR. J0[1N AXDERSON TO MR. riNKERTON. 198 
 
 Account of (he Articles of <l)e Revoliiliou Club, and a list of 
 the Toasts for the anniversary dinner. — Aug. 5, 1788. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 20.? 
 
 Crilieism on Mr. Pinkerton's Ode for the Scottish Revolution 
 Club.— Aug. 14, 1788. 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 205 
 
 Criticisms on his Hymn to Liberty.— Sept. 4, 1788. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. ' 208 
 On the medals of his ffxther, &c.— Oct. 15, 1788. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON, 2L0 
 
 Letter of civility.— Oct. 22, 1788. 
 
 GENERAL STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 211 
 
 Respecting the pedigree of Stuart of Darnley. — Jan. 9, 1789. 
 
 GENERAL MELVILLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 213 
 
 Kcquesting information on Agricola's camp in Scotland. — Feb. 
 20, 1789. 
 
 MR, PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 214 
 
 Respecting his intended publications. — March 16, 1789. 
 
 GENERAL STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 215 
 
 On tlie genealogy and history of bis ancestors, Sir William 
 Stuart, and Constable Stuart of Darnley.— March 17, 1789. 
 
 GEORGE DEMPSTER, ESQ. M.P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 218 
 Elucidation of a passage in Aristophanes. — July 18, 1789. 
 
 GEORGE DEMPSTER, ESQ. M.P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 219 
 On the Scotch Fisheries and the Celts.— July 22, 1789. 
 
 GEORGE DEMPSTER, ESQ. M. P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 222 
 Praise of his History.— July 28, 1789. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 223 
 
 l\en)ark son liis Inquiry into the early History of Scotland. — 
 July 31, 1789. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 225 
 
 Complaints of his impaired faculties, and remarks on difl'ercnt 
 modes of treating antiquities. — Aug. 14, 1789. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 228 
 
 RcHeclions on his own studies. — Aug. 19, 1789. 
 
 GEORGE DEMPSTER, ESQ. M.P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 230 
 On the kilt worn by the Gauls.— Aug. 20, 1789.
 
 CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 Pnoe 
 
 GEORGE DEMPSTER, ESQ. M.P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 230 
 
 Oil the dress of Ihc Hifrlilanders : vvidi remarks on the feudal 
 system, on the Swedish language, &c. — Sept. 27, 1789. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. -231 
 
 Thanks for his, Inquiry into the early History of Scotland. — Oct. 
 G, 1789. 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 235 
 
 Thanking him for his Incjuiry into the Scotlisii History previous 
 to the reign of Malcolm III.— Oct. 23, 1789. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 230 
 
 Remarkson hisown Scottish History, and advising the publica- 
 tion of Wallace and Nennius. — Nov. 10, 1789. 
 
 MR. GEORGE DEMPSTER, M.P. TO MR. PINKERTON. 238 
 
 On the comparative expense of living in England and Switzer- 
 land : witli remarks on the present state of the latter coun- 
 try and of the parties in England. — Nov. 25, 1789. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 211 
 
 On family affairs. — Dec. 1.5, 1789. 
 
 MR. GEORGE CHALMERS TO MR. PINKERTON. 242 
 Respecting some manuscripts. — Feb. 22, 1790. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. WM. HERBERT. 213 
 
 On his volume upon Scotch Typography. — Feb. 22, 1790. 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 216 
 
 On the Metrical History of Wallace by Henry the Minstrel, 
 and on a portrait of that hero. — March 5, 1790. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 247 
 
 Remarks on the portrait of Wallace, and mentioning his in- 
 tended editions of Barbour, Lindsay, Winton, &c. — JMarch 
 27, 1790. 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 219 
 
 Enclosing a list of papers in the Cloisters at Westminster: with 
 remarks on the portraits at Kielberg. — April 9, 1790. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 2.52 
 
 On his bad success in an application to the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury in favor of Mr. Pinkerton. — May 26, 1790. 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 252 
 
 Offering to assist him in his History of Scotland by the loan of 
 drawings or manuscripts. — July 16, 1790. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 254 
 
 On the Memoirs of Lockhart of Lee, on his own History of 
 Scotland, &e.— July 19, 1790.
 
 xxii CONTENTS. 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 257 
 
 licply to liim respecting the Memoirs of Lockliart of Lee, and 
 relative to the Scotch College at Paris.— Aug. 6, 1790. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 259 
 
 Has no intention of continuing his Annals, but meditates fur- 
 ther publications on Scottish History.— Sept. 28, 1790. 
 
 MR, PINKERTON TO LORD HAILES. 200 
 
 Requesting information on the old laws of Scotland.— Feb. 1, 
 1791. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 203 
 
 On the ancient Scottish laws and statutes.— Feb. 28, 1791. 
 
 DR. JOSEPH WARTON TO MR. PINKERTON. 204 
 
 Pointing out his mistake in attributing the Ode on Summer to 
 Mr. Seton.— April 28, 1791. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 205 
 
 On the state of affairs in Denmark ; and on the abolition of feu- 
 dal slavery there. — Aug. 29, 1791. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 208 
 
 Informing him of his election into the Royal Icelandic Society 
 of Sciences, and on the favorable reception of his Essay on 
 Coins in Denmark, and requesting him to forward the repub- 
 lication of Dr. Thorkelin's Sketch of the Character of the 
 Prince Royal of Denmark. — Nov. 1, 1791. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 271 
 
 Thanks for drawings sent for his Iconographia Scotica. — Nov. 
 21, 1791. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 273 
 
 Requesting him to take steps for the publication of his Sketch 
 of the Character of the Prince Royal in London : remarks 
 on the conduct of the Prince Royal, and on the treaty 
 between Russia and Sweden. — Dec. 1791. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 275 
 
 On the seals of the Kings of Scotland in the Chapter-House. — 
 Dec. 14, 1791. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 276 
 
 Expressing his desire to become a member of the Antiquarian 
 Society at Edinburgh.— Dec. 19, 1791. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 278 
 
 His feelings and situation on his accession to the title of Earl 
 of Orford.— Dec. 26, 1791. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 280 
 
 On his own intended publication of the Ancient Laws of 
 Norway and Iceland. — Jan. 18, 1792.
 
 CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 Page 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 283 
 
 On his reasons for publishing The Bee, and on the character of 
 the Scotch. — Jan, 25, 1792. 
 
 MR. W. G. BROWNE TO MR. PINKERTON. 288 
 
 Acconnt of his voyage from England to Alexandria: discovery 
 of Greek letters on Ponipey's pillar, &c.— Jan, 30, 1792. 
 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 291 
 
 Respecting his plan for establishing a universal repository for 
 all printed papers, with the prospectus annexed. — Feb. 12, 
 1792. 
 
 MR, PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN, 29G 
 
 Complaining of the defective accounts given by all Scotch His- 
 torians of the reign of James II,, and requesting Lord 
 Buchan to procure him authentic original information on 
 that period.— Feb. 20, 1792. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 299 
 
 On the abolition of the slave-trade in Denmark : character and 
 anecdote of the Prince Royal; and scheme for paying olf the 
 National Debt.— Feb. 23, 1792. 
 
 ANDREW STUART, ESQ. M, P, TO MR. ASTLE. 302 
 
 Respecting Sinclair's History of Scotland. — March 16, 1792. 
 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 303 
 
 On the freedom of the press: offering to copy papers from the 
 Advocates' Library : observations on Horace VValpole and 
 others: and remarks on the rearing of the silk-worm. — 
 March 24, 1792. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 308 
 
 Acquainting him of his being elected a member of the Royal 
 Norwegian Society of Sciences. — April 6, 1792. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 309 
 
 On the Rolls in the Tower.— April 6, 1792, 
 
 MR. W. G, BROWNE TO MR. PINKERTON. 310 
 
 Account of his expedition to the temple of Jupiter near Siwa, 
 and of the state and characters of the Egyptians. — July 28, 
 1792. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 318 
 
 Expressive of his great vexation at the gross attacks of Mr. 
 Ritson.— July 28, 1792. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR, PINKERTON. 319 
 
 Thanking him for his attention to Miss Berry. — Aug. 27, 1792.
 
 XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 320 
 
 That his three volumes of Scottish poetry are published, and 
 respectiug Mr. de Cardonnel. — Jan. 29, 1793. 
 
 MR. DAVIDSON TO MR. PIXKERTON. 321 
 
 On the ancient Scottish laws and statutes. — Feb. 13, 1793. 
 
 MR. W. G. BROWNE TO MR. PINKERTON. 323 
 
 Account of his expedition to Lake Moeris, the report of his 
 being murdered at Kous, his proposed tour to India, and the 
 ravages of the plague in Egjpt. — April 18, 1793. 
 
 BIR. PINKERTON TO MR. GIBBON. 328 
 
 On his proposed scheme for publishing the Ancient English 
 Historians.— July 23, 1793. 
 
 MR. GIBBON TO MR. PINKERTON. 330 
 
 Pressing him to become <he editor of the above work, and 
 offering his assistance. — July 25, 1793. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 333 
 
 Acquainting him wilh liis ninrriage, with (he progress made in 
 his History of Scotland, and the favorable opinions of it ex- 
 pressed by Dr. Percy and Lord Orford. — Sept. 23, 1793. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 335 
 
 On his age and infirmifies. — Sept. 25, 1793. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO MR. PINKERTON. 33G 
 
 Encouraging his plan of editing the old English Historians, and 
 asking information respecting Mr. Browne. — Dec. 8, 1793. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 337 
 
 On his infenlion of publishing the old English Historians. — 
 Dee. 10, 1793. 
 
 MR. JAMES SIBBALD TO MR. PINKERTON. 338 
 
 Account of Forbes's collection of Songs : on the inaccuracies in 
 Mr. Tytler's edition of Christ's Kiik, and on the author of 
 King's Quail- . — Dec. 1793. 
 
 MR. C. BUTLER TO MR. PINKERTON. 341 
 
 Advice on his intended publication of (he old English Histo- 
 rians, and remarks on the greater comparative facilities 
 given in France to such a work. — Dec. 23, 1793. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. NICHOLS. 343 
 
 On the death of Mr. Gibbon.— Jan. 20, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 345 
 
 Requesting his assistance for Mr. Sibbald, in his intended 
 reprint of T/ic Evergreen. — Jan. 30, 1794.
 
 CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 Page 
 MR. PIXKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 345 
 
 On (lie defeclive nature of former liistorios of Scotland: on 
 the death of Gibbon, and expressions of his gratitude to Lord 
 Buchan and Mr. Millar.— April 5, 1794. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 340 
 
 Thanking him for the perusal of some manuscripts. — April 11, 
 1794. 
 
 MR. PARK TO MR. PINKERTON. 349 
 
 Respecting the poems of X)rummond of Hawthornden. — 
 April 20, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 350 
 
 On his own circumstances and temper, and mentioning the 
 revival of his proposed publication of the Iconogiaplda 
 Scotica.—hTpxW 21, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 352 
 
 Enclosing the prospectus of the Iconographia Scutica. — May 19, 
 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 353 
 
 Dissuading him from his intention of removing to America. — 
 July 30, 1794. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 355 
 
 With a sketch of a note in answer to the Critical Review. — 
 Aug. 20, 1794. 
 
 MR. A. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 357 
 
 With an extract from the Poem of Bosworth Field, and 
 answering queries. — Oct. 28, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 359 
 
 Respecting drawings for the Iconographia, and historical 
 doubts.— Nov. 4, 1794. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 303 
 
 On his own early publications and on those of Mr. Ledwich. — 
 Nov. 16, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 364 
 
 Various queries connected with Scotch portraits.— Dec. 10, 
 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 3G7 
 
 On the same subject as the preceding.— Dec. 10, 1794. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 369 
 
 Still farther on the same subject.~Dcc. 27, 1794.
 
 XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 MR. PINKEIITON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 372 
 
 Remonstrating on what he had written to Herbert: satisfactory 
 progress of tlie Iconographia Scotica : thanks for Ijord 
 Ruchan's drawings, and euiogiums on them ; and historical 
 and other queries. — Jan. 10, 1795. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. S79 
 
 Respecting a portrait of James IV., and the IconograpJda 
 Scotica, and some portraits falsely named in GrammonCs 
 Memoirs. — Jan. 25, 1795. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO MR. PINKERTON. 380 
 
 Regrets his inability to forward iiis views respecting the British 
 Museum.— Feb. I, 1795. 
 
 EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 382 
 
 On the same subject as the preceding. — Feb. 5, 179.5. 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON. 383 
 
 Pointing out some Scotch portraits, and putting two historical 
 queries. — April 6, 1795. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 384 
 
 On the Iconographia Scotica, and the prejudices of the Scotch 
 against him. — June 15, 1795. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 38.5 
 
 Farther particulars respecting the Iconographia Scotica. — 
 July 6, 1795. 
 
 MR. JAMES SCOTT TO MR. JAMES WRIGHT, JUN. 387 
 
 Respecting a portrait of the first Earl of Kinnoul and a series 
 of portraits at Scone Palace. — Aug. 3, T795. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 390 
 
 On some portraits of the Grammont family; the death of Dr. 
 Campbell ; and his own intention of publishing a tour 
 tiirough the British Isles in 1635.— Aug. 7, 1795. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 392 
 
 On the progress of the Iconographia Scotica. — Sept. 25, 1795. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 392 
 
 Discovery of a portrait of James IV. with a falcon on his 
 fist —Oct. 19, 1795. 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON. 393 
 
 With much curious antiquarian information. — Dec. 15, 1795. 
 
 MR. DILLY TO MR. PINKERTON. 395 
 
 Terms ofl'crcd for the copy-right of the History of Scotland. — 
 Jan. 11, 1790.
 
 CONTENTS. xxvn 
 
 Page 
 MR. SHAW TO MR. PINKERTON. 397 
 
 Particulars of a manuscrii)t of Fordun's Scotichronicon in 
 C. C. C. Library, Cambridge.— Jan. 25, 1796, 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 398 
 
 Full of complaints and irritability about the Iconographia 
 Scotica.—Teh. 28, 1796. 
 
 MR. CONSTABLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 400 
 
 Respecting books printed in Scotland between 1650 and 1660, 
 and artists at Edinburgh.— March 20, 1796. 
 
 MR. PENNANT TO MR. PINKERTON. 401 
 
 Allows of his copying the monument of Earl Douglas in his 
 Tour, and acknowledges that his portrait of Cardinal Beaton 
 is not genuine. — April 30, 1796. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 402 
 
 Respecting portraits of Sir Robert Murray and other eminent 
 Scotchmen.— April 16, 1796. 
 
 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR TO MR. PINKERTON. 404 
 
 Enclosing the following letter from Mr. Pinkerton. — May 15, 
 1796. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 405 
 
 On the Highland dress.— Feb. 23, 1795. 
 
 EARL OF BREADALBANE TO MR. PINKERTON. 410 
 
 Respecting the portraits by Jameson at Tayraouth. — May 28, 
 1796. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 412 
 
 Upon the subject of the Iconographia Scotica. — May 30, 1796. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM OUSELEY TO MR. PINKERTON. 41C 
 
 Respecting his projected translation of Sadi's Bostan, and Ne- 
 zami's History of Alexander and his Persian Miscellanies. — 
 July 7, 1796. 
 
 MR. OGILVIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 417 
 
 Respecting portraits of Morison the botanist, and others at 
 Aberdeen.- July 19, 1796. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 419 
 
 With various literary information. — Aug. 30, 1796. 
 
 MR. II. JOHNSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 421 
 
 Remarks on the style of engraving best suited for portraits. — 
 Sept. 17, 1796. 
 
 MESSRS. MORISON & SON TO MR. PINKERTON. 42.^ 
 On the death of Mr. Johnson.— Nov. 18, 1796.
 
 xxviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 425 
 
 His increasing fondness for Italian literature, and his opinion 
 ofGiObon's Memoirs. — Nov. 21, 1790. 
 
 MR. A. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 428 
 
 Respecting a charier granted by Sir John Stuart to the Abbot 
 o» Melross.— Nov. 30, 1796. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 430 
 
 Sending a translation of some Irish romances, and criticising 
 Farmer's Essay on the Learning of Shahspeare. — Jan. 14, 1797. 
 
 MR. M. LAING TO MR. PINKERTON. 433 
 
 On the Gowrie conspiracy. — Jan. 17, 1797. 
 
 MR. DILLY TO MR. PINKERTON. 437 
 
 Announces the publication of his History of Scotland. — Jan. 
 26, 1797. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. M. LAING. 439 
 
 His own intention of publishing a tract on the Gowrie Conspi- 
 racy, and recommcndalions to Mr. Laing to write a History of 
 Scotland under the Commonwealth, and oflering him anec- 
 dotes of Cromwell.— Jan. 28, 1797. 
 
 MR. M. LAING TO MR. PINKERTON. 442 
 
 Anecdotes concerning the Gowrie Conspiracy : a history of 
 Scotland during the Commonwealth would be uninteresting: 
 impression made on him by Piukerton's Inquiry. — I'eb. 9,1797. 
 
 DR. GILLIES TO MR. PINKERTON. 447 
 
 Acknowledging the receipt of his History. — Feb. 16, 1797.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 Aberdeen, December 13th, 1775. 
 
 I HAVE been so much engrossed with business 
 and bad health, that till this day I could not find 
 leisure to answer your very obliging letter. Your 
 intention of inscribing to me your poem on Craig- 
 millar Castle, does me much more honor than I 
 have any title to. Please to accept of my best 
 thanks for this instance of your kind partiality, 
 and for the obhging manner in which you speak of 
 what I have attempted in poetry. 
 
 There are many good lines in your poem ; but, 
 
 * At the time of writing the letter to which this is an answer, 
 Mr. Pinkerton was in his clerkship to Mr. Aytoun of Edin- 
 burgh, and was only seventeen years old. The Elegy on Craig- 
 millar Castle was published in 1776, with a dedication to Dr. 
 Beattie, who acknowledges the favor and the receipt of four 
 copies, in a letter dated 20th July, 1776, but not published 
 here. 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 2 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 when you have kept it by you a week or two, I 
 fancy you will not think it correct enough as yet 
 to appear in public. Young- poets are very apt 
 to publish their pieces immediately on writing 
 them out ; but they ought always to keep them 
 for a year, or at least for several months, and re- 
 vise them from time to time. I have erred in this 
 way myself, and therefore can warn them from 
 my own experience. 
 
 You will see I have been very free in my re- 
 marks, which I hope you will excuse ; for I did 
 it with a most friendly intention. On these occa- 
 sions, I think it is the duty of a friend to be as 
 critical as possible. 
 
 I heartily wish you success in your studies, and 
 am with much regard and esteem. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PIXKERTON.* 
 
 Aberdeen, March 9th, 177G. 
 
 I thank you for taking in so good part the free- 
 dom of my former criticism : I hope the pre- 
 sent will not offend you. I have been for some 
 time past in a very bad state of health ; afflicted 
 
 * To this letter I have annexed the critical annotations of 
 Dr. Beattie, to show at once some of the most striking errors of 
 a young author, and the remarks of so able a critic and so dis- 
 tinguished a poet as the author of The Minstrel. Many other 
 of the letters are accompanied with even longer series of re- 
 marks, but I have not felt it to be desirable to introduce 
 them.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 3 
 
 with head-aches and vertigo and other nervous 
 symptoms, which disqualify me almost entirely for 
 reading and writing. I have at the same time the 
 duties of a laborious employment to attend to ; 
 and I have, besides, some private concerns to look 
 after, which have engrossed me very much of 
 late. This must plead my excuse for my long 
 silence, as well as for the shortness of what I now 
 write. I believe I shall be obliged to give up the 
 writing of letters altogether ; at least for some 
 time, and till I have more health and leisure. I 
 am greatly obliged to you for your favorable opi- 
 nion of me, and heartily wish you success in poe- 
 try, and in all your other studies. 
 
 Stanza I. Could you not alter the last line of the 
 stanza? If the poet is led bi/ Coutemphition in the 
 beginning, what occasion is there to introduce that 
 Being afterwards ? Besides, led by Contemplation, a 
 source, looks like a mixture of figures. 
 
 VII. 4. " Till all his form engaged my pensive 
 mind," seems to be put in to make out the verse. 
 In the case supposed, we cannot imagine that the 
 poet would take notice of a part only of Contempla- 
 tion s form. It is therefore superfluous to say that 
 he took notice of the whole of it. 
 
 XI. " When from its fall thou rather should\H 
 to gain Instruction learn.'' This order is harsh. 
 
 XIII. Now (first line) and knoiv (third line) is a 
 false rhyme. 
 
 XXI. " And taught ev'n cold reserve how to be
 
 4 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 freer The conclusion of the line should have 
 more energy. 
 
 New stanza. — '' High-soarmgXyvQ.'''' This figure, 
 I think, is harsh and unnecessary. — Lute and shout 
 is a false rhyme. Is not thej^;//ethe instrument 
 here alluded to? A lute is a stringed instrument re- 
 sembling a guitar. 
 
 XXVIII. *' Save those which virtue firm deigns 
 to support." Is not this line heavy and somewhat 
 harsh ? I approve of your inserting the two stanzas 
 marked XXXIII. and XXXIV. instead of XXIX. 
 XXX. XXXI. Only " now lies drowned in silence" 
 is not so elegant as I could wish. The two lines 
 on the curfew are excellent. Do not expunge 
 the sleeping moonliglit. It is, as you justly ob- 
 serve, extremely poetical and elegant. Shak- 
 speare's authority will justify its boldness. 
 
 XXXIX. Does not the word nature occur rather 
 too frequently in this stanza ? And is not the se- 
 cond line harsh in the sound — Joys ivhich natures 
 scenes 1 Too much hissing. The frequency of s 
 and ch is very troublesome to an English writer 
 who attends to harmony. 
 
 XL. " I gain'd my way." I do not like this 
 phrase. I suppose the meaning is, I resumed my 
 journey or my ivalk. But the phrase is not ex- 
 plicit. The two last lines of the poem, " The 
 pleasures of the good," &c. are very prosaic. The 
 conclusion of a poem ought to be particularly 
 energetic. " Dread fall their tottering basis seems 
 to lour" — is a line which I do not understand.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. ^ 
 
 MR. DODSLEY TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 London, Feb. 14tli, 1778. 
 
 I am sorry you have had the trouble to send up 
 your MS. ; but, though your copies of these ballads 
 may be more correct and perfect than those which 
 are already printed, yet there are so many of them 
 in Dr. Percy's and other collections, that I fear 
 the public would not be likely to give that degree 
 of encouragement which would be requisite, espe- 
 cially as the collection is not general, but con- 
 fined to Scottish pieces only. 
 
 I will take care of the MS. till I receive your 
 further orders ; and, if I can be of any use or 
 service to you in this or any other affair, you may 
 . command me. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Northumberland House, March 25th, 1778. 
 
 Nothing but a very dangerous illness in a person 
 
 * This is not the first letter which had passed between Mr. 
 Dodsley and Mr. Pinkerton. There is in my collection 
 another from Mr. Dodsley, dated 10th January 1778, in which 
 he thanks him for the offer of Hardyknute, with other ancient 
 Scottish Poems, Sfc. but declines to give any consideration for 
 the copy, though he thinks that the addition of Mr. Pinkerton's 
 Dissertation, and the fact of their being more perfect tran- 
 scripts than had previously appeared, might warrant their pub- 
 lication.
 
 6 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 with whom I am nearly connected, and for whose 
 fate I am exceedingly anxious, could have made 
 me guilty of such apparent incivility as to remain 
 silent so long after having received the honor of 
 your very genteel letter, and been favored with 
 the communication of pieces so truly acceptable 
 as are contained in your valuable manuscript. I 
 have hardly leisure, or a disposition of mind suffi- 
 ciently disengaged from anxiety, to relish so much 
 as I shall do hereafter, the songs, the critical 
 pieces, and your learned and ingenious notes. In 
 my last edition of the Reliques, I had inserted a 
 passage from Archbishop Spotswood's History of 
 the Church of Scotland, which much illustrates the 
 Ballad of Edom or Adam O'Gordon, {vide Spots- 
 wood, p. 259.) ; but your quotation from Craw- 
 ford\s Memoii^s is still more satisfactory, as it 
 accounts for the name of Captain Carr, which 
 occurs in some copies. Pray can you account for 
 Carr being styled the " Lord of WestertonTown ;" 
 the Lady's Castle being called *' Bitton's Bo- 
 rough," or *' Diactone's Borough," as I find them 
 in an old Ms. ? 
 
 I must be so ingenuous as to confess that I think 
 the second part of Hardyknute hardly equal to 
 the first : perhaps a further inquiry among the 
 reciters in Lanarkshire may produce some im- 
 provements. However, with your permission, I 
 shall certainly insert it and the other new pieces, 
 whenever I give an additional volume; and, in 
 the mean time, must be allowed to acknowledge 
 myself. Sir, &c.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 7 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Aberdeen, June 20th, 1778. 
 
 I am to blame for not acknowledging sooner the 
 receipt of your last favor. Since it came to hand 
 I have been ill, and out of town, and employed in 
 a variety of little matters, which, though not im- 
 portant, did however require a good deal of time. 
 
 It gives me pleasure to hear that Dr. Percy is 
 to oblige the world with a fourth volume of an- 
 cient poems.* We are much indebted to him for 
 the former three, which display at once a good 
 taste and great knowledge of antiquity. You 
 may believe that, if I had had any thing worthy 
 of a place in his collection, I would have sent it 
 before this time ; but the truth is, I have nothing 
 of that sort. I sent a little song to Dr. Percy 
 some years ago, merely because it was Scotch, 
 and because I thought it had merit, though I 
 plainly saw, that it was modern. 
 
 All the Scotch poems of merit that I have seen 
 are already in print ; and many are imputed to 
 us, which do us no honor; which you must be 
 sensible of, if ever you looked into that collection 
 which is called the Evergreen. To say the truth, 
 I believe all the poetry in the Scotch dialect that 
 
 * Such was evidently Dr. Percy's intention by the clusi;i'^ 
 paragraph, and indeed the whole tenor, of the last letter; and 
 every lover of our early literature must sincerely lament, 
 that this very acute, ingenious, learned, and excellent man, did 
 not carry his intention into execution.
 
 8 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 deserves to be handed down to posterity, might be 
 comprised in two or three small volumes. For- 
 merly, our men of genius wrote in Latin ; and 
 of late they have written in English Those who 
 now write Scotch, use an affected, mixed, barba- 
 rous dialect, which is neither Scotch nor English, 
 but a strange jumble of both. 
 
 The best Scotch poem of modern times that I 
 have seen, (for though the title pretends that it 
 was written four hundred years ago, I have reason 
 to think that it was produced in this century,) is 
 called The Vision, compykd, as the title bears, hy a 
 most karnit clerk in t/ie time of our hairship and 
 oppression, and subscribed A Scot. You must have 
 seen it. It is, I think, in the Evergreen. Dr. 
 Percy may, perhaps, think it worth notice ; but he 
 will see that it is modern. I am inclined to think 
 that the author of it, whoever he was, must have 
 read Arbuthnot's History of John Bull. But there 
 are noble images in it, and a harmony of versifi- 
 cation superior to every thing I have seen of the 
 kind. I suspect that it is the work of some friend 
 of the family of Stuart, and that it must have been 
 composed about the year 1715. 
 
 When you write to Dr. Percy, I beg you will 
 offer my best respects to him, and assure him, that 
 if any thing comes in my way that deserves his 
 notice, I will certainly send it to him. I thank 
 you for your concern about my health : it is still 
 very broken, and disqualifies me for every kind of 
 study.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Easton Mauduit in Nortliamptonsbire, 
 July 20th, 1778. 
 
 I cannot express how much I think myself 
 obhged to you for your goodness in favoring me 
 with a second letter, though you had so much 
 apparent cause to be offended with me for having 
 delayed thus long to acknowledge the favor of 
 your former ; especially as you in so obliging a 
 manner made me a present of the curious Volume 
 of Poems,* the bare loan of which had laid me 
 under a great obligation. But, Sir, I had the mis- 
 fortune to mislay your kind letter above-men- 
 tioned ; and, as it contained some curious parti- 
 culars which I wished to discuss, I delayed writing 
 in hopes of recovering it, till, ere I was aware, this 
 shameful interval had elapsed, for which I can 
 only intreat your pardon. 
 
 And now let me again and again thank you for 
 your most obliging present, which was extremely 
 acceptable, both for the ancient poems, and the 
 learned and ingenious illustrations which accom- 
 
 * I cannot find by any list of Mr. Pinkerton's writings, which 
 is the work here alluded to. It does not appear, from Ni- 
 chols' Illnstrutions of Literature, or Watts' Bihliotheca Bri~ 
 tannica, that previously to his Rimes, in 1781, he had pub- 
 lished any thing, except the Elegy on Craigmillar Castle, men- 
 tioned in the first letter. This I never saw ; but its very title 
 seems to show that it could not be what Dr. Percy acknow- 
 ledges.
 
 10 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 panied them. I shall not fail to avail myself of 
 both, as well as of the curious remarks in your 
 letters, whenever I give the additional volumes to 
 the world. The contents of these have long since 
 been collected and arranged ; and I flatter myself, 
 in point of merit, are no whit inferior to what the 
 public accepted with so much indulgence in the 
 three former volumes. But the truth is, I have 
 not so much leisure, and perhaps not quite so 
 keen an appetite for amusements of this kind as 
 when I was younger.* It is near twenty years 
 since I first began to form the preceding collection. 
 I only considered these things as pardonable, at 
 best, among the levities (I had almost said follies) 
 of my youth. However, as I must confess that I 
 have always had a relish for the poetic eff'usions 
 (even the most sportive and unelaborate) of our 
 ancestors, I have commonly taken up these trifles, 
 as other grave men have done cards, to unbend 
 and amuse the mind when fatigued with graver 
 studies, till they have insensibly grown into a 
 regular series ready for the press. And now I 
 keep them by me, in order to make a present of 
 them to my son, a tall youth of fifteen, who is at 
 present a King's scholar at Westminster. And, 
 as he has a strong relish and considerable taste for 
 these compositions, I think to give him the merit of 
 being editor of them, as soon as he removes to the 
 University ; by way of introducing him into the 
 literary world, and of filling up the vacuities of his 
 
 * At the time of writing this letter, Dr. Percy was fifty 
 years old.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 11 
 
 academical studies. In the mean time I neglect 
 no opportunity of amending and enlarging the 
 series, and shall certainly much improve them for 
 him by this delay. 
 
 And now. Sir, that I have imparted to you, 
 w^hat is almost a secret to all my most intimate 
 friends, I must intreat the favor of you that it 
 may continue so, except to Dr. Beattie, (or one or 
 two like him) for whom I have ever had the 
 greatest respect. I am very much obliged to him 
 for thinking of me, and for pointing out to me 
 the merits of the poem entitled The Vision, which 
 I have read over again with particular pleasure, 
 and think it deserving of every thing Dr. Beat- 
 tie says of it. I am also quite of opinion with 
 him, that it was written in favor of the Stuart 
 family, about the year 1715. I hope you-and he 
 will continue to favor me with whatever commu- 
 nications occur to you on these subjects. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Aberdeen, August 20th, 1778. 
 
 On my return from a little excursion, I received 
 your very obliging letter. For the honor you 
 have done me, in prefixing my name to the Sap- 
 phic ode, and for the genteel compliment paid 
 me, and the affectionate good wishes expressed in 
 the end of it, be pleased, Sir, to accept of my best 
 thanks. I am also greatly indebted to you for 
 giving me so particular an account of Dr. Percy's
 
 12 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 intended publication, which I shall be very im- 
 patient to see. If it be equal in size and in merit 
 to the former one, it will be a valuable addition to 
 English literature. I am glad to hear that Tht 
 Vision is to make a part of it. That poem has 
 long been a favorite of mine. It has a great deal 
 of the old spirit ; and yet I am of opinion that it is 
 entirely modern, and even of the present century. 
 
 I am happy to hear that your poetical studies 
 go on so briskly, and that you pay your court to 
 the ancient as well as to the modern muses. The 
 decline of classical learning in this country I have 
 long beheld with regret, and endeavored, though 
 ineffectually, to prevent. I hope your example 
 shall have more weight than my precepts have 
 had. Scotland did formerly produce many men 
 of eminence in the classical way ; but, since we 
 began to imitate the French, we seem inclinable 
 to forget our Latin and Greek. They have a 
 better taste of literature in England. 
 
 As we have totally lost the true pronunciation 
 of Latin, the prosody of that language is to us a 
 matter of very difficult acquisition. But every 
 person who would write Latin verses, must make 
 himself master of it. We must not trust to that 
 rhythm with which we hear Latin verses pro- 
 nounced, for it is almost always false ; but we 
 must thoroughly understand the structure of each 
 particular form of verse, and the quantity of each 
 syllable. The Sapphic rhythm, as we pronounce 
 it, runs thus : — 
 
 [-WW II- -||v-^-'Ww||- -]
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 or to express it in musical characters, thus 
 
 13 
 
 O Q 
 
 dLJUtM 
 
 12:5 
 
 Even the learned Dr. Watts has so far mistaken 
 the nature of this verse, as to compose what he 
 calls a Sapphic ode on the Last Day, in this very- 
 rhythm : yet the true Sapphic rhythm is : — 
 
 that is, a trochee, a spondee, a dactyl, and two 
 trochees ; or musically, 
 
 I suspect. Sir, (you will pardon me if I am wrong) 
 that you have fallen into a mistake similar to that 
 of Dr. Watts ; and that, in composing your ode, 
 your ear has been directed rather by the former 
 rhythm than the latter ; the consequence of which 
 is, that there are actually several false quantities 
 in your numbers. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Carlisle (the Deanery,) Nov. 27tli, 1778. 
 
 I hope you will pardon my suffering your obli- 
 ging letter of last month, to remain so long unan- 
 swered, in consideration of the very interesting 
 avocations, which, since I received it, have taken 
 off my attention from all literary subjects. Indeed,
 
 14 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I have such a multiplicity of business come upon 
 me in consequence of my new preferment, that I 
 cannot foresee when I shall be sufficiently released 
 from it, to be able to return to those agreeable 
 studies, which I always loved, and which have 
 afforded me so much delightful amusement. I 
 could not, however, allow myself to come so near 
 Edinburgh, (though but for a short time,) and re- 
 turn back to the south, without stealing a few mo- 
 ments to acknowledge the favor of your very 
 agreeable letter, and to thank you for the trouble 
 you have been so good as to take, in pointing out 
 to my notice those charming poems of Drummond 
 of Hawthornden. He has always been a favorite 
 with me, and I have long since been possessed of 
 the thin folio edition of his works, printed about the 
 beginning of this century, which you seem not to 
 have seen ; as you say the only impression you 
 know, is that of London, 165G. This thin folio 
 contains both his poems and his histories of 
 the five James's, &c., with some very curious 
 anecdotes of Ben Jonson, who once made him a 
 visit, and spent some time at Hawthornden. 
 
 Your intended selection of the best modern La- 
 tin poems will be a pleasing work : we have 
 lately had a collection made by a Mr. Popham of 
 the best modern Latin poems by English writers, 
 published by subscription in 3 vols. ]2mo. which, 
 together with the ]\Iusce Anglicaiice, 3\o\s,. 12mo. 
 tho Carm'ina Quadrigesimalia, 2 vols. 8vo., and the 
 Lusus Westmonastejienses , 1 vol. 12mo., take in the 
 chief of what this country has produced, excepting 
 what may be found scattered among many puerile
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 15 
 
 poems in the congratulatory and condoling verses 
 of our two Universities, on the births, marriages, 
 deaths, &c. of our kings. I am not likely to see Dr. 
 Warton soon, and shall be for some time w^holly 
 immersed in business ; but, whenever I can, I 
 will endeavor to execute your commands with 
 regard to him or any other subject. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Carlisle, July 2nd, 1779. 
 
 I hope you will excuse my delay in answering 
 your very obliging letter, when I inform you that, 
 since I received it, I have been extremely ill, even 
 at the point of death; and the place, whence I date 
 this, will satisfy you that I have moreover been 
 obliged to travel through a great part of this 
 island. 
 
 I return you many thanks for the Scot's song, 
 with which you have been so kind as to favor me ; 
 but, from what I have already mentioned, you will 
 readily conceive, that I have hardly had it in my 
 power to relish pleasures of this kind. And, in- 
 deed, I find this inability so far increasing upon 
 me by new duties and new avocations, that I hard- 
 ly foresee when it will give room to the intentions, 
 which some time since I hinted to you ; so that I 
 think it would be far better, if you would resume 
 your original design of printing your second part 
 of Hardyknute, with such other poems as have 
 occurred to you of that kind, in a little elegant
 
 16 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 miscellany of your own ; and then, if my son, at 
 any future time, takes up the subject, he can (with 
 your leave,) quote or make extracts from your 
 work, with all proper acknowledgments to its 
 editor. 
 
 I am sorry to say, that, since the death of Mr. 
 Garrick, I have not any interest among the dra- 
 matic people, nor do I know one person particu- 
 larly skilful in that branch of writing, whom I 
 could prevail upon to examine a tragedy,*^ with 
 critical attention and proper candor : otherwise 
 I should with the greatest pleasure have per- 
 formed any commands you should have wished to 
 have executed. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTOX. 
 
 Easton Mauduit, March 17th, 1780. 
 
 I was upon the point of writing, when last 
 night, and not before, I received your obliging 
 letter of the 4th inst., which had lain several days 
 at Carlisle. Indeed I have, for some time, in- 
 tended myself the pleasure of writing to you, to 
 inform you that I have never once been in London 
 since last June ; and, as all your papers were 
 locked up in my escritoire, in Northumberland 
 House, I could not tell how to proceed in the in- 
 
 * It appears clearly from this passage, that, young as Mr. 
 Pinkerton then was, he had already written one at least of the 
 two tragedies, which it is stated in his Life that he composed, 
 but never published.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 17 
 
 tended business, till I could produce them, to have 
 them shown to any bookseller ; even if I had 
 applied to any one by letter, previous to my going 
 to town. This has really been the case ; nor have 
 I ever lost sight a moment of the intended busi- 
 ness, which you had intrusted to me. Nor, in- 
 deed, should I have delayed writing to you so long, 
 but that I, from time to time, thought I should have 
 finished my aifairs at Carlisle (where I was just 
 before Christmas) and here, so as to remove to 
 London with my family before this time. 
 
 We have now fixed for our removal thither 
 about the middle of April ; and then I shall with 
 pleasure undertake the printing of your poems. 
 Previous to which, I think it would not be amiss, 
 if you yourself wrote to Mr. Dodsley, to give 
 him the offer of having it published in his shop, 
 upon the terms I mentioned ;* viz., that if he 
 will take upon himself all the expenses of print- 
 ing and publishing, you will be glad to divide the 
 profits with him, if there should be any, after all 
 those expenses are defrayed out of the first re- 
 turns. — -At the same time you may mention, that 
 my present avocations having caused me to delay 
 any intended additions to my former three volumes, 
 you are inclined to print your pieces in a separate 
 publication, with my entire approbation ; that you 
 understand I shall be in town about the middle of 
 April; that I shall be then ready to deliver up 
 
 * This is stated in a letter dated 27th .Inly, 1779, and not 
 published here. 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 18 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 your manuscript,* and shall be very willing to 
 correct the press. 
 
 Beg his immediate answer to you ; and then, 
 if he declines it, I will try to connect you with 
 another bookseller : as soon as you are apprised of 
 Mr. Dodsley's intentions, 1 shall be glad to be 
 favoured with your commands. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Easton Manduit, Jan. 11th, 1781. 
 
 I was last night favoured with yours of the 9th 
 January, and am extremely glad that you have 
 come to an agreement with Mr. Nichols, and can 
 now superintend your own publication yourself.t 
 
 * The manuscript very narrowly escaped being destroyed. 
 But a few days after the date of this letter, a fire happened in 
 Dr. Percy's apartments in Northumberland House, and he wrote 
 to inform Mr. Pinkerton of the subject on the 10th April. 
 " You will doubtless have been alarmed," he says, '* lest your 
 papers should have perished; but I have the pleasure to inform 
 you that you have sustained no injury : nor have I suffered the 
 tenth part of the loss I might have expected, considering the 
 extent and violence of the flames. Almost all my most valued 
 books and papers were rescued by the firemen, who snatched 
 most of them unhurt out of the fire ; among the rest, the cabinet 
 that contained your manuscript." 
 
 t Mr. Pinkerton, having finished his clerkship, had at this 
 time removed to London, and was now residing at No. 2, 
 White Horse Court, Southwark. Dr. Percy had, in a previ- 
 ous unpublished letter, recommended his applying to his printer 
 and relation Mr. Nichols, who would be willing to bring out
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 19 
 
 For, except a very short time that I was in Lon- 
 don with the Duke of Northumberland, on his first 
 return from Ahiwick Castle in the autumn, 1 have 
 never been in London since I received your letter 
 in June, assenting to the proposals which I had 
 then made : this I mention, as an apology for not 
 having myself committed your collections to the 
 press before. However, I shall now be happy to 
 observe the progress of the press, and will with 
 great pleasure obey any commands of yours re- 
 specting it. Herewith I transmit, not only the bal- 
 lad you desire, but your former extracts from 
 Drummond, &c., as perhaps you may have some 
 use for the latter. 
 
 DR. PERCY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Carlisle, Dec. 28th, 17B1. 
 
 I received your very obliging favor, and thank 
 you for the corrected leaf, which I shall insert in 
 
 the work upon the terms he had mentioned, in case Mr. Dodsley 
 and Mr. Cadell declined it. By the same letter, it appears 
 that Mr. Pinkerton even then gave indications of that irritabi- 
 lity of temper and impatience of contradiction, which was so 
 great a source of his unhappiness in after life. " You will 
 find," says Dr. Percy, " that I have not presumed to make 
 any alterations in your manuscript collections ; but, if you have 
 no objection, you may drop whatever appears in any degree hos- 
 tile or too sharply controversial respecting myself or my own 
 slight publications, merely to prevent the necessity of answers, 
 &c."
 
 20 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 your volume, when I return into the south ; for, 
 unluckily, in the hurry of business, in which I 
 was involved last summer at my removal here, I 
 left behind me your elegant volumes, which would 
 have been the agfreeable amusements of such mo- 
 ments of leisure, as I could have been able to 
 snatch from the cares and interruptions of a public 
 situation ; and then I should have been happy to 
 have communicated any remarks that had occurred 
 to me ; though, indeed, they could at best only 
 have been slight and trivial, and therefore hardly 
 worth the attention of one who had considered 
 the subjects so much more maturely as you have 
 done. 
 
 I shall be very glad to see any future publica- 
 tion of yours, and especially the Letters of Litera- 
 ture* which you propose. You are truly obliging 
 in offering to admit any thing of mine into such 
 good company. But, unfortunately, I have no- 
 thing here to offer worth your acceptance. What- 
 
 * These Letters, though then in embryo, were not pubhshed 
 till the year 1783 : it had been well for Mr. Pinkerton's repu- 
 tation had they never been published at all. In a copy now 
 before me, lately the property of one of our most eminent cri- 
 tics, Mr. Park, I read the following very just quotation, in his 
 handwriting, " multa venuste, multa tenuiter, multa cum bile." 
 Mr. Pinkerton himself, in his WalpoUana, p. 78, admits that 
 Heron's Letters was " a book written in early youth, and con- 
 tained many juvenile crude ideas long since abandoned by its 
 author." Would that the crudeness of maiiy of the ideas were 
 the worst that was to be said of it ! but we shall find, in the 
 course of this correspondence, far heavier and not less just 
 complaints. The name of [leron here assumed by Mr. Pin- 
 kerton, was that of his mother.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 21 
 
 have 
 
 ever slight attempts in the Belles Lettres, &c. 
 have escaped the fire and pastry-cook, are peace- 
 ably slumbering in my closet in Northampton- 
 shire, the sequestered retreat that gave them 
 birth, and where for many years I led a life of 
 rural leisure, most agreeably devoted to literary 
 amusements, now^ obliged to be exchanged for a 
 life of business, and those constant demands of 
 my time and attention which my present duties 
 require from me. Were I disposed to yield to 
 envy and regret, I need only look back on my 
 younger years, spent, like yours, with agreeable 
 leisure in literary pursuits ; but I shall turn 
 aside from whatever is mortifying in the compari- 
 son, to offer my sincere wishes for your success in 
 all your elegant and refined labours. 
 
 iiiW 
   (Ti- 
 ll ilH 
 
 . weii' 
 :!itlie 
 
 ,; J Hit 
 
 pin- 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Aberdeen, February 7th, 1782. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your hint. Be 
 assured that, if the public could be prevailed on 
 to judge of your poems as I do, (which will in 
 time be the case,) you would have no reason to 
 complain. I know not what the reviewers may 
 have said of them ; for I seldom see any review. 
 I have been exceedingly busy since I had the 
 pleasure to see you at Edinburgh, in preparing 
 for the press nothing less (I assure you) than a
 
 22 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 quarto volume.* My bad health and bad eyes 
 (I am sorry that yours should resemble mine) 
 make me proceed but slowly : however, I have 
 now finished about 500 quarto pages, and shall 
 be in a condition to go to press soon. In one of 
 my discourses, having occasion to speak of the 
 revival of letters, and of the Provenj^al Trouba- 
 dours, I have a note at the foot of the page, in 
 the following words. — "Richard I., King of 
 England, and Count of Poitou, was a generous 
 patron of the Troubadours, and at length came to 
 imitate them with no bad success. Two of his 
 poems, with some other Provencal pieces, are 
 very well versified in a volume, intitled Rimes, 
 (printed for Mr. Dilly, 1781.) in which volume 
 there is great store of poetical ideas, expressed 
 with strength, elegance, and harmony." 
 
 This can be of no use to you ; but it will do me 
 honor to be known to have read and to approve 
 your work. I had thoughts of giving your name, 
 and calling you my friend ; but, as your book is 
 anonymous, I would not take that liberty without 
 your consent. Besides, I am not sure, whether 
 what is said will not look better, if it appear to be 
 accidental. However, I will do in this exactly 
 as you are pleased to order. 
 
 * Dissertations, moral and critical, on Memory and Ima- 
 gination ; on Dreaming ; on the Theory of Language ; on 
 Fable and Romance; on the Attachment of Kindred; and 
 Illustrations on Sublimity. London. 1783. 4to.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 23 
 
 MR. W. PORDEN* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 April 5th, 1782. 
 
 I was hurried out of town without having time 
 to look about me, or to take leave of any of my 
 friends : such is the slavery of every appendage 
 to the army. The bearer of this, I expect, will 
 deliver, along with it, the Tales, Dr. Warton's 
 Pamphlet, The History of the Troubadours, and 
 half a dozen franks. Your tragedy shall come to 
 your hands in very few days. 
 
 I read your Tales t with that pleasure which I 
 have always found in reading your works. The 
 lighter tales are told in a manner quite sprightly 
 and original. The easy irregularity of the verse 
 will not soon be imitated with equal spirit, though 
 I think in some places the rhymes are too far 
 asunder. Your Translation of Belphegor has 
 more vivacity and humour, and is less circumstan- 
 tial than that which I told you of, translated by 
 I know not who. 
 
 It is impossible to speak too well of the Serious 
 Tales. We have nothing of the kind in the language 
 that can be placed beside the Castle of Argan. 
 The Knighfs Adventure would be improved, if the 
 
 * William Porden, Esq., one of the most eminent architects 
 of the present day, witness the princely mansion which he built 
 for Lord Grosvenor at Eaton in Cheshire, was a man of very 
 general information and considerable genius, extremely fond of 
 poetry, and of historical literature, lie died in 1823. 
 
 t Tales in Verse. 4to. 1782.
 
 24 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Sorceress had a name. In order to spread your 
 fame as much as lay in my power, I read that 
 story to several of my friends ; and I remarked that 
 all of them at first mistook the Lady for an allegori- 
 cal personage, hight Pleasure. The Talisman is 
 an excellent tale, and displays more contrivance 
 than any of the rest. Perhaps it w^ould be made 
 more pleasing to the ladies, if Alcazor did not so 
 directly express that nothing but hypocrisy was 
 to be expected from woman. This harshness 
 takes from the general amiableness of his charac- 
 ter. I think the thought might be insinuated ; 
 or such being the general opinion of the world 
 might be made a reason for doubt, and for the 
 consequent resolution. It is no small addition to 
 the other merits of these tales, that the conclusions 
 can never be divined from the antecedent circum- 
 stances ; and yet they are far from being forced, 
 or unnatural, upon the supposition and systems 
 of the respective stories. The conclusion of the 
 Kniglifs Adventure is beautiful and pathetic : it is 
 a flower of Italian fragrance. That of the Castle 
 of Af'gan, my favourite tale, is moral and pathetic, 
 with a simplicity which contrasts finely with the 
 bold fictions that precede. The comparison, 
 made or suggested, of the cottage with the 
 castle, charmed every one who read the tale. 
 
 I am less ardent in my admiration of the last 
 story ; because its plan and catastrophe are too 
 much like the legendary ballads we have been 
 sickened with for some years past ; but it is told 
 with an elegance peculiar to yourself. 
 
 May I hope that you will excuse my freedom
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 25 
 
 in thus forcing my criticisms upon you? You will 
 probably look at this letter by the fire, and, read 
 or unread, can easily deliver yourself from its im- 
 pertinence. 
 
 I am, however, going to be more impertinent 
 still. When I had read the tales, I read over 
 again the second part of Ilanlijknute ; and I must 
 inform you that I have made up my mind with 
 respect to the author of it. I know not whether 
 you will value a compliment paid to your genius 
 at the expense of your imitative art ; but certainly 
 that genius sheds a splendor upon some pas- 
 sages which betrays you. I have neither the tales 
 nor the ballads with me ; or I should have been 
 tempted to illustrate my opinions by quotations. 
 You will put up a prayer of gratitude for your de- 
 liverance. 
 
 I took the liberty of lending the Tales to Lady 
 Sheffield, and had not time to get them back 
 before I left London. Her Ladyship has got the 
 Rimes at my recommendation. I regret that my 
 journey must for some days deprive me of the 
 pleasure of reading your comedy. I am impatient 
 to see you in a new character. If there be such 
 a place as Elysium, and if I am to have the 
 honor and happiness of meeting you there, I will 
 not swear that I shall not at first mistake you for an 
 American chief; such a crown of variegated plumes 
 must ornament your head. I think it a scanda- 
 lous thing that nature should be so lavish of her 
 good gifts to one, and so niggardly to others : it 
 is not treating us like brethren. Should you do 
 me the favour to answer this hasty rambling
 
 26 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 scrawl, direct to me. Paymaster, 22nd Dragoons, 
 Canterbury. 
 
 MR. S. KNIGHT* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Oct. 10th, 1782. 
 
 I received the favor of your kind letter of the 
 25th Inst, on my return out of Northamptonshire. 
 I will not pretend to describe the pleasure it af- 
 forded me. I know your praise was never cheap, 
 and value it accordingly ; but it has brought me 
 into a very singular situation. Should I think 
 my elegies worthy of the praise you are pleased to 
 bestow upon them, I might perhaps justly incur 
 the censure of unpardonable vanity ; and, should 
 I not, I am well aware I should be still more 
 vain ; for then I should prefer my own judgment 
 to yours. Vain therefore at all events must I be ; 
 and, to add to all this, you tell me you mean to 
 do me the honour of addressing an ode to me on 
 elegiac poetry. Then the triumph of vanity over 
 me must be complete. Be it so ; but, mind, you 
 shall bear all the blame : also, I protest, I will 
 still continue modest, aye, as modest as a virgin of 
 six years old. I do think you ought to be punished 
 for what you have done. I therefore have sent 
 you the enclosed, but I beg you will not punish 
 
 * Samuel Knight, Esq., " Auditor of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, and author of Elegies and Sonmts, originally published 
 anonymously in 4to, 1783, and again with his name the year 
 following."— Z>i67io/iff;3/ oj Living Authors.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. • 27 
 
 me in return by withholding either your promised 
 ode, or your criticism on my trifles. The glory 
 of being the first elegiac poet in our language, 
 though too great for me to attain, is not too great 
 for me to attempt, since you advise it ; but, even 
 attained, hoM^ inferior is it to that line of poetry in 
 w^hich you so eminently excel.* I can hardly 
 endure the very thought. You see the pride of 
 my heart : your pen, however employed, cannot 
 be idly employed ; yet, in the comedy you men- 
 tion, I could wish you not to sacrifice your own 
 judgment too much to the taste of the town, as 
 you hinted you should do in some degree. That 
 indeed may be necessary. I shall be happy to 
 be favored with a sight of it when we meet. 
 
 I will not any longer intrude on your time, 
 which will otherwise, I am sure, be much better 
 employed ; for I hope you have by this time 
 finished the troublesome unpoetical business of 
 your removal. 
 
 MR. J. NICHOLS t TO MR. PINKERTON, 
 
 Dec. 0th, 1782. 
 
 The politeness of your letter would sooner have 
 
 * • Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis ? 
 Quis nisi Callimachus ; si plus adposcere visus. 
 Fit Mimnermus, et optivo cognoniine crescit.' 
 Was ever the observation of Horace more completely exem- 
 |)liHed? 
 
 t The Letter to which this is an answer has been recently
 
 28 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 been acknowledged, but that I have been this last 
 week much hurried in business. 
 
 printed in Nichols' Illustrations of Literature, vol. iii. p. 673; 
 and, as it is necessary for rightly understanding the present, I 
 here subjoin a copy of it. 
 
 " Knightsbridge, 'Nov. 28, 1782. 
 
 " Mr. Pinkerton's compliments wait on Mr. Nichols ; he 
 mentioned to Mr. Nichols his intention of giving a second 
 volume of Scottish Ballads, consisting of a selection of those of 
 the comic kind, to be published along w^ith the second edition 
 of the Tragic Ballads, w^hich will form a complete work in its 
 way. But, upon considering the matter, he perceives it will be 
 attended with very considerable labor and loss of time, which 
 might, perhaps, be employed to much greater advantage, even 
 if he does receive some little pecuniary recompence for his 
 trouble. Without a previous agreement therefore, upon a 
 reasonable value being given for the manuscript, he cannot think 
 of undergoing the fatigue of putting his materials in order, and 
 of carrying on a correspondence in various parts of Scotland, 
 which must be done to procure every necessary assistance. 
 
 To give Mr. Nichols some slight idea of the plan, he will 
 please to be informed, that the volume will commence with a 
 dissertation on the Comic Ballads, in which it is hoped some 
 new lights will be thrown on pastoral, amatorial, and humourous 
 poetry, all which heads fall properly under the general subject. 
 Then will follow a selection of ballads in this style, all which 
 will be given with a correctness not yet known in any collection 
 of the kind ; and among them will appear about a dozen never 
 published. The work will conclude with notes and a glossary. 
 Such will be the proposed volume, which shall be of the same 
 size with the other ; and Mr. Pinkerton imagines, that, if a 
 thousand copies are printed, the half of the profits of the last 
 volume will be a fair price. A thousand copies at 24'. Gd. will 
 be 12-5/., of which allow 25A for expence, the half of the resi- 
 due will be 50/., which Mr. Pinkerton would look upon as at 
 least some little compensation for his trouble, Mr. Nichols 
 may let him know in answer his own sentiments ; but, whether 
 this is agreed on or not, Mr. Pinkerton will, with very great
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 29 
 
 Such a collection as you speak of I should be 
 glad to see published, and would with much 
 pleasure be the instrument of handing- it to the 
 world. Your proposals, Sir, are very fair; but, 
 unluckily, they are founded on a wrong calcu- 
 lation. Half the profit of an impression of 1000 
 copies you are fairly entitled to; and I should 
 think this on both sides an equitable stipulation. 
 But you will please to recollect that the 1000 
 copies are not sold by the printer at 2^. Qd. but 
 with large deductions to the booksellers, who 
 retail them, and also for sewing up, advertis- 
 ing, &c. In short, if I printed 1000 copies, I 
 should be glad to dispose of them all at ^s. 6d. 
 each ; nor (expenses deducted) can they be set at 
 more. 
 
 1000 copies will then produce . . 75/. 
 
 Paper, printing, and a plate . . 25/. 
 
 Whole profit 50/. 
 You have now. Sir, the fair calculation ; and, 
 if you think it worth embarking in, I am ready to 
 print the book, and put the copies in the hands 
 of any third person, to sell them on our joint 
 account, and account to us justly for profit. Or, if 
 you choose them to be mine at a certainty, I will 
 pay you ticenty guineas in a month after the book is 
 completed at the press. I am sensible this offer 
 is inadequate to what the performance will in- 
 trinsically deserve ; yet am certain it is as much 
 
 pleasure, revise the second edition of the Tragic Ballads, and 
 do every thing else in his power for Mr. Nichols' interest."
 
 30 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 as can be afforded. I am much obliged by your 
 kind offer to superintend the Tragic Ballads, and 
 shall take the liberty to trouble you with them 
 when they pass again through the press. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Carlisle, Jan. 3rd, 1783. 
 
 I received your very obliging letter, but un- 
 luckily mislaid it, as soon as it was perused, so 
 that I only answer it from what I remember of 
 the contents. I am exceedingly glad that I have 
 it in my power to oblige you, on the subject of 
 the old poem of King James I. of Scotland, in- 
 titled Peblis to the Play ; of which, by good luck, 
 I have the transcript here ; for, in general, I have 
 left in Northamptonshire whatever collections I 
 had formerly made of this sort. And, indeed, my 
 studies and attention have so long been directed 
 to other objects, that I should not easily have 
 come at this, if I had not had this copy with me. 
 I formerly told you, that I had laid it by for my 
 son (in case he chose to be editor of some supple- 
 mental volumes of the Reliques), or, if he should 
 decline it, for a very poetical nephew of mine. 
 You will, I hope, excuse it, therefore, if, when- 
 ever either of them undertakes a work of that sort, 
 they should reprint this old poem, which in the 
 interim is at your service to be inserted in any 
 publication of yours.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 31 
 
 I send you the copy I made myself from the 
 old manuscript, wherein alone it is preserved. 
 The transcript is faithfully and correctly made. I 
 hope, therefore, you will print it without any con- 
 jectural emendations, at least in the text ; and, if 
 you propose any, you will confine them to the 
 margin or your notes. Confronting my manuscript 
 with the text, you will see notes Variorum, viz. of 
 myself and also my friends, out of which, I believe, 
 such a commentary may be gathered as will ex- 
 plain every obsolete phrase and obscure passaoe. 
 When you have made such use of it as is necessary 
 for your intended work, I will beg you to deliver 
 safely to me, whenever demanded for the use 
 above mentioned, this old transcript and notes. 
 If you think it necessary to mention in print, that 
 you received this old piece from me, I will beg 
 you only to quote me by the name of Dr. Percy, 
 or rather the Editor of the Re Uques of ancient Poetry, 
 in 3 vols. ; omitting Rev., much more all mention 
 of my present title, &c. And, if necessary, you 
 may speak of my slight poetical pursuits, as what 
 had been the amusement of my younger years 
 and hours of relaxation from severer studies, 
 which, in truth, they were, as it is more than 
 twenty years since the three volumes of Reliques, 
 &c. were collected for the press, and even nine- 
 teen years since they were printed. And I have 
 been so entirely drawn off from this subject by 
 other unavoidable and necessary avocations, that 
 Dodsley is, I believe, reprinting the book, with- 
 out my being able to peruse or look at a single
 
 32 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 sheet or page in it. I am very glad your former 
 volume has been so w^ell received. 
 
 LORD HAILES* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Newhailes in Edinburgh, Jan. 14th, 1783. 
 
 All men engaged in literary pursuits ought to 
 consider themselves as acquainted ; so you need 
 not have made any apology for your letter, be- 
 cause I have not the pleasure of being personally 
 known to you. I cannot recollect what you 
 mention, of my having given some notes to 
 Bishop Percy on the subject of Scottish poems : 
 it must have happened many years ago ; and a 
 great variety of family disasters, that have inter- 
 vened, has, no doubt, made me forget it. 
 
 To publish any notes with my name, which I 
 have forgotten, would be disagreeable : in the 
 common intercourse of life one is apt to make an 
 extempore answer to a friend ; and queries hastily 
 
 * Sir David Dahyraple of Hailes, Bart., one of the senators 
 of the College of Justice at Edinburgh. This very eminent 
 lawyer and historian is generally known by his official name of 
 Lord Hailes, a title he assumed, according to a custom of the 
 Scotch court, upon being appointed one of the judges. His 
 father was Sir James Dalrymple of Hailes, his mother a daugh- 
 ter of the Earl of Haddington. His Annals of Scotland, and 
 Disquisitions concerning the antiquity of the Christian era, 
 are works most deservedly esteemed ; and few men have left 
 behind them a more enviable character. He died in 1808.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 33 
 
 put and hastily answered are not fit for the public 
 eye. But, if you will transmit to me what you 
 understand to be my notes, I shall tell you whe- 
 ther I still remain of the same opinion ; and, with 
 my recollected amendments, you may make what 
 use of them you will. 
 
 I suppose you have seen my collection of Anci- 
 ent Scottish Poems* with large notes. Mr. Warton 
 did me the honor of inserting a considerable part 
 of the notes into his History of English Poetry ; 
 and unluckily he has made some of my mistakes 
 more conspicuous than if they had continued to 
 lurk in an obscure duodecimo. If I am not mis- 
 taken, I once pointed out to Mr. Sibbald, booksel- 
 ler in Edinburgh, soQie things which I considered 
 to be errors in your work that you mention. Let me 
 have a copy, on which I might make corrections ; 
 and you shall have them on the margin ; for I have 
 no leisure to refer to pages and lines. 
 
 There is a list of the fashionable Scottish songs 
 in the Life of Sir John Inglis, published by Dr. 
 M'Kenziet J" liis lives of Scottish writers. The 
 book to which Dr. M'Kenzie alludes, is exceed- 
 ingly rare : I have seen it, but cannot command 
 it. Inglis wrote in the minority of Queen Mary ; 
 and there is scarcely one of those fashionable 
 songs that I can point out as existing at present. 
 
 * Ancient Scottish Poems, published from the numusciipt of 
 George Banantijrie, 150!$. l^.liii. 1770. l'2mo. 
 
 t M'Ki:nzie, (iKORGE, iM.D. Lives and i haracters of the 
 most eminent ivrifers of the Scots Nation. Ediii. 1708— 11— 22, 
 3 vols. fol. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 34 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 This and many other circumstances lead me to 
 suspect that many songs that are called old with 
 us, are comparatively modern. We must always, 
 in such inquiries, suppose that the English lan- 
 guage was, at any given time, more perfect in 
 England than with us ; and, consequently, if we 
 find the English language more advanced in a 
 Scottish poem than in an English of the same era, 
 that the Scottish is a forgery. Any poem under 
 the name of James I. must be tried by this crite- 
 rion. King James 1. was in education an English- 
 man ; but his language must have been the lan- 
 guage of Henry V. of England : language and 
 metre more polished than in the days of Henry V. 
 cannot be his. 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Aberdeen, Feb. 3rd, 1783. 
 
 My very infirm state of health, and a great 
 variety of indispensable business, must be my ex- 
 cuse for not sooner acknowledging the receipt of 
 your obliging letter, and of your elegant volume 
 of Scotch Tragic Ballads. I am happy to hear 
 that these have succeeded so well as to encourage 
 another edition, with a second volume of Comic 
 Ballads. You do me much honor in the preface, 
 by quoting with so flattering a compliment my 
 account of the pibroch, for which please to accept 
 of my best thanks. 
 
 If I could contribute any thing to your second
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 35 
 
 volume, you might freely command me. But I 
 have never seen any comic ballads in the Scotch 
 dialect, but those which may be met w^ith in every 
 collection ; and I never attempted to write any 
 thing in that way. 
 
 My new Dissertations are in the press ; and 
 about one fifth part of the volume is printed. The 
 bookseller thinks they will be ready for publica- 
 tion in the spring. It will be a quarto book of 
 about 650 pages. 
 
 I heartily wish you success in all your literary 
 labors.* 
 
 * It is impossible to say what were the literary labors here 
 particularly referred to, Mr. Pinkerton's mind and hand were 
 always so full of objects of this description ; but it is probable 
 he alluded to a new edition of Chaucer, which it appears, from 
 the following letter to Mr. John Nichols, that he about this time 
 meditated. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Oct. 3rd, 1783. 
 
 * You know well that there was no edition of Cowley for 
 fifty years, till your friend, Dr. Hurd, published his select works, 
 which have passed through four editions already. I hope the 
 like success would attend the select works of GeoftVey Chaucer, 
 and submit this to you, that you may consider if it is worth 
 your while to try. Lose you cannot, in my opinion ; for every 
 purchaser of Johnson's Poets would buy the book, to complete 
 their sets ; and I am much mistaken, if the work would not be 
 very popular, and your gain very considerable ; but you are the 
 only judge. 
 
 ' My love of Chaucer has induced me to dwell on the subject 
 con amove ; and 1 doubt not but you will ponder well ere you 
 pronounce on a design so important to English literature and 
 antiquity, of which you are no mean proficient.' Nichols' Illus- 
 trations of Literature, Vol. v. p. (574.
 
 3G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO LORD HAILES. 
 
 June 10th, 1783. 
 
 I must beg leave to embrace this opportunity of 
 returning your lordship my best thanks for your 
 two last letters, ^'^ and for the trouble you have 
 therein taken of communicating to me your re- 
 marks upon the first volume of my little publica- 
 tion. Your lordship will see, from the second 
 edition now almost completed, how I have pro- 
 fited by them. Some of these observations I 
 must, however, dissent from, and beg leave to sub- 
 mit my reasons. 
 
 Your lordship observes that the song, " I wish 
 I were where Helen lyes," is all modern but the 
 Jirst line. Had your lordship said the three first 
 lines, you would have been right. The song be- 
 ginning with the two lines your lordship men- - 
 tions,t cannot be that to the melancholy tune of 
 this name ; as that runs to the sexain stanza used 
 in the song I have published, repeating the second 
 
 * The second of these letters, dated May, 20th, I have not 
 printed ; as it is little more than a long list of observations upon 
 Mr. Pinkerton's work, the nature and substance of the most 
 important of which will be sufficiently evident from this 
 letter. 
 
 f " I wish [ were where Helen lies 
 On fair Kirkconnel lea." 
 Of this song Lord Hailes says in his letter, " the tune is very 
 sweet, the story exceedingly melancholy ; but I doubt much 
 whether it can be recovered : the lady whom I have heard sing 
 it died many years ago."
 
 MR. PINKERTON, 37 
 
 and the fifth line, as your lordship may see from 
 Ramsay's Collection, in which is a song to the 
 tune of " I wish I were where Helen lyes." 
 
 The question of Rymer's Prophecies I shall 
 not enter upon ; but shall abide by my first opi- 
 nion, influenced chiefly by the Saxon rhythm in 
 which they are written, and which no Scotsman 
 of later time would have dreamt of imitating. I 
 have read all your lordship's works as they ap- 
 peared, but diff"ered from your sentiments on this 
 head in your Remarks on the History of Scotland. 
 
 Your lordship will perceive that the notion of 
 M*Pherson being the elected chief of the Clan 
 Chattan does not rest with me, but with my au- 
 thority, Mr. Buchanan, whom your lordship will 
 no doubt allow a better judge of clanish matters 
 than either your lordship or me. 
 
 Why should the song of Flodden Field be more 
 ancient than the reformation of religion in Scot- 
 land ? If it is so old, it is certainly no chicken. 
 Your lordship's observation, that I know not the 
 tune of the ballad, is strange; as my emendations 
 leave the same syllables they found. 
 
 How can your lordship assert that my censure of 
 the king's style in the Dsemonologie Ms. is too 
 severe ? Did your lordship ever see this Ms. ? 
 
 Your lordship observes, in the last place, that 
 the additions to Hardyknute are modern, because 
 no writer near the feudal times could show him- 
 self so ignorant of the form of their castles &c. as 
 the author seems to be. Permit me to inform your 
 lordship, that some of the first antiquaries in Eng- 
 land are of a very diff'erent opinion, and have 
 asserted the antiquity of the whole poem as pub- 
 
 ""■^ '\ J,-H '\
 
 38 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 lished by me, from the vast knowledge of feudal 
 times that appears in it. I may safely say, for my 
 own part, that I have studied the feudal manners 
 and those of chivalry as much as any man in 
 Europe, and can perceive no anachronism in the 
 poem. The manners of the Scots of that time I am 
 well versant in, if your lordship and other eminent 
 historians have represented them faithfully; and 
 I still abide by my opinion, expressed in the notes, 
 of the author's skill in feudal manners ; which 
 opinion I thought myself called upon to vindicate, 
 as your lordship is so entirely opposite ; and, in- 
 deed, to vindicate an opinion, of which the proofs 
 are given from an unsupported assertion, is no 
 difficult matter. Before I conclude this point, I 
 must likewise observe that the study of antiquity 
 is the most uncertain in the world, and that 
 those most versant in it are the least apt to pro- 
 nounce rashly ; for, to conclude, for instance, from 
 the remains of a few castles or from descriptions of 
 a battle or two in old chronicles, that every battle 
 and every castle in that period were like these, 
 were extravagance itself; for fashion, caprice, and 
 accident, are as ancient as any antiquities in the 
 world. 
 
 Your lordship will perceive I write with the 
 freedom that one gentleman of independent for- 
 tune should use with another, when disputing 
 about trifles. 
 
 I have been at Cambridge, as I was invited to 
 spend a few weeks with a friend in its neigh- 
 bourhood, and took occasion to inspect the Mait- 
 land manuscript. There are a number of things in 
 it well worthy of publication. Application will be
 
 . MR. PINKERTON. 39 
 
 made in form to the Society of Magdalen College 
 for that purpose ; and I shall proceed in the same 
 way as your lordship has done with the Banna- 
 tyne Ms. I wish to prefix to my work an History 
 of Scotish Poetry ; or, if it is swelled too much, 
 to publish it by itself; for Dr. Warton's side-view 
 of it is by no means satisfactory. I have desired 
 Mr. Wm. Buchan, writer to the signet, my factor, 
 to send me a list of Scotish poems in the Advo- 
 cates' library. If your lordship would afford him 
 your protection and assistance, no acknowledg- 
 ments should be wanting on my part that grati- 
 tude can inspire. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromorc, Oct. 2ath, 1783. 
 
 I hope you will pardon the delay of my answer 
 to your obliging letter, when I inform you it was 
 owing to great interruptions of business, in which 
 I have been involved in consequence of the death 
 of Mrs. Percy's only brother, who dying intestate 
 and without issue, the management of his affairs 
 hath very much employed me ever since you 
 wrote. I hope, however, that the inclosed will 
 answer your wishes ; though you must not be sur- 
 prised if Mr. Warton, fatigued with (though fond 
 of) literary researches, should be but a slow and 
 desultory correspondent, even when he is most 
 desirous of your acquaintance. I am glad to hear
 
 40 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of your intended Letters of Literature, and wish 
 you success in all your learned labors. 
 
 I am glad you are about to sift the Maitland 
 manuscript at Cambridge, which you will find 
 worth your search. 
 
 REV. THOMAS WARTON * TO MR. 
 PINKERTON.t 
 
 Trin. Coll. Oxon. Nov. 24th, 17B3. 
 
 I should have acknowledged your favor before, 
 but am but just returned to this place. I have re- 
 ceived much pleasure from your Scotch Ballads, 
 both text and notes, and shall be happy to see 
 the curious pieces you mention. I shall be soon in 
 London, and will not fail to tell you where I am to 
 be found. With the expectation of the pleasure of 
 seeing you, I am, &c. 
 
 MR. W. TYTLERt TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Dec. 27th, 1783. 
 I acknowledge myself obliged to you for the 
 
 * Rev. Thomas Warton, B.D., the author of the History of 
 English Poetry, and himself a distinguished poet, held for ten 
 years the office of Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and after- 
 wards that of Poet Laurcat. lie was brother of Dr. Jos. War- 
 ton, master of Winchester School, and died in 17J)0, aged 01. 
 
 t Addressed to Mr. Pinkerton, but inclosed in the preceding 
 from the Bishop of Dromore. 
 
 X A memoir of Mr. Tytler, who, to use (he words of Dr.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 41 
 
 favorable opinion which you express of my late 
 pubHcation.* The sentiments of men of taste and 
 genius are always liberal ; and by these, I ima- 
 gine every attempt to rescue from oblivion the 
 works of such a genius as our James I. must be 
 candidly and favorably received. 
 
 Although I had often heard that the scene of 
 Christ's Kirk was said to be near Lesly, the seat 
 of the Earl of Rothes in Fife, yet I never with cer- 
 tainty could hear of any village of that name near 
 Lesly. Your information, if authenticated, is 
 strong ; and I agree that the scene must probably 
 have been in the neighborhood of one of the royal 
 houses. The village of Christ's Kirk in the Gar- 
 rioch is accordingly situated within a mile or two 
 of the castle of Dunidoer, a hunting-seat of our 
 kings, and where King James I. often resorted 
 to. It is likewise within eight or ten miles of the 
 castle of Kildrummie, one of the royal residences. 
 It is, in my opinion, of very little importance, this 
 matter : however, I shall be pleased to hear that, 
 by your inquiry, you may be able to establish this 
 point. 
 
 Watt, in his Bihliothtca Britannka, was " an able writer on 
 historical and miscellaneous subjects," is given by Mr. M'Ken- 
 zie in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 
 iv. His publications in general bore a considerable resem- 
 blance, in point of subject, to those of Mr. Pinkerton, being on 
 ancient Scotch poetry, and Scotch history and geography. 
 
 * The Poetical Remains of James I. of Scotland, consisting 
 oj The King's Quair, in six Cantos, and Christ^s Kirk on the 
 Green, to ivhich is prejijctd a Dissertation on the Life and 
 Writings of King James. Edin. 17U3. Bvo,
 
 42 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Your late publication of Peeblis to the Play is a 
 curiosity ; I am convinced it is coeval with Christ" s 
 Kirk. But I own, on considering it with atten- 
 tion, I have some doubts of its being the poem 
 alluded to by John Major, beginning in the same 
 words, ''At Bdtai/n.'" I dare say you'll agree 
 with me that there is not in it the same arch 
 irony and humor, that we find in Christ's Kirk, 
 and that it is, on the whole, deficient in design. 
 I submit to you a conjecture, that it may be one 
 of the parodies of the king's poem, beginning with 
 the words, "At Beltayn," which, in the words of 
 Major, Alii de Dalkeith et Gargeil mutare studue- 
 7'unt. 
 
 There is no occasion for a fac-simile of James's 
 signature (or rather Banantyne's) at the end of 
 Christ's Kirk. It is written, not numerically by a 
 figure, but in words thus, " Quod King James the 
 Fyrstr 
 
 As the two volumes of The Evergreen collected 
 by Allan Ramsay, chiefly from Banantyne's manu- 
 scripts and Sir David Dalrymple's volume of Scots 
 Poems, have left you only the gleaning of Banan- 
 tyne, I am afraid you will find very few behind 
 equal to the .poems in the above collections. For 
 the honor of our country, I dare say you will not 
 think that antiquity alone is sufficient, without 
 some other degree of merit, for publishing the 
 poems of our old bard.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 43 
 
 MU. JOHN NICHOLS TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Jan. 22nd, 1784. 
 
 • 
 
 The plan you have pointed ont for a little 
 volume on Medals,* I think excellent ; and, if you 
 think proper to pursue it, I will undertake it, on 
 the condition of printing 750 or 1000 copies, (to 
 
 • This is the first notice I find in Pinkerton's Correspon- 
 dence of this popular work, which was published in the course 
 of the year 1704, and in a considerably larger form than ap- 
 pears to have been at first contemplated. It is a most agreeable 
 and useful manual, and has gone through three editions ; the 
 first two of which were anonymous. 
 
 It appears by a letter from Mr. Pinkerton, dated April 2nd, 
 1784, printed in the 5th Vol. of Nichols' Literary Illustra- 
 tions, p. 674, that he was much pleased with the liberality 
 of Mr. Nichols' proposals regarding this book ; and I subjoin 
 the following extract, as an honorable testimony to the feelings 
 of the one, and the conduct of the other, upon the occasion : 
 
 *' As in your proposal to me you mentioned that but one- 
 third of the profits should be allotted to your share, which I 
 confess 1 thought rather liberal than otherwise, I must insist 
 that your third be paid in the very first instance, and 1 shall not 
 touch a farthing till that is done : nay, should only as much 
 arise as will clear your third, I shall certainly impute the fault 
 to myself, where alone it can lie, and think the loss of my labor 
 but a proper punishment for the defects of my work. — I 
 mentioned to you that I looked upon myself as completely 
 paid for the Scotch Ballads, that the work was now complete, 
 and that in any future edition my assistance should be much at 
 your service gratis. This I now repeat ; as I wish you to be 
 satisfied that 1 have your interest at heart as much as my own, 
 and would always hope that you should be no loser but a 
 gainer (though such gains are nothing to either of us) by any 
 trifles of mine."
 
 44 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 sell for 2^'. 6d. sewed,) and putting the books in 
 the hands of Mr. Dodsley or Mr. Dilly, or any 
 bookseller i/ou shall choose, the profit to be di- 
 vided in three shares ; ttvo-thirch for you and one 
 for me. This is the mode which appears to me 
 both equitable and eligible : if you differ in opi- 
 nion, I shall be glad to hear your proposal. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 Fletton, near Peterborough, 
 July 18th, 1784. 
 
 I have but this moment received your letter, 
 (dated the 9th of this month) sent to me from 
 Cambridge, What has occasioned the delay I 
 know not. I am also this moment going upon a 
 journey into the north, and stop only to write this 
 hasty note to you ; lest, from hearing nothing, 
 you should have reason to charge me with neglect 
 or incivility. So far as the nature of the trust re- 
 posed in me will permit me to gratify your wishes, 
 I shall be ready to do so ; but indeed there are 
 many circumstances of which you are not in the 
 least aware, that lay me under very great difficul- 
 
 * Peckard, Dr. Peter, Dean of Peterborough and Master of 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge, died at a very advanced age, in 
 1797. He was the author of many theological works, among 
 others, of a Dissertation on the Revelations, Chapter X/f. 
 published A.D. 17o5, in which he attempted to prove that the 
 prophecy contained in that passage of Scripture was accom- 
 plished by the great eartlupuike at Lisbon.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 45 
 
 ties. So many abuses have been committed, even 
 to the taking- away, and the defacing books of 
 value, by the admission of persons into the Pe- 
 pysian library, that I have been, much against my 
 inclination, driven to the necessity of not permit- 
 ting any stranger to copy any thing in the library, 
 except in the presence of a Fellow of the College. 
 And, this being the time of vacation, the Fellows, 
 I believe, are all absent; and there is not a possi- 
 bility of procuring any one to attend you. Two 
 gentlemen, on different accounts, have just now 
 had permission to transcribe ; and they did their 
 business in a Fellow's room near at hand. When 
 the gentlemen shall return to college, which will 
 be in the beginning of the Term, I will endeavor to 
 procure the same convenience for you, if that will 
 suit your purpose. But I can only ask it as a favor ; 
 and, if it is not granted, and I should be in college 
 myself, I will endeavor to accommodate you at 
 the Lodge, to which place I have the power, by 
 the Deed of Donation, to remove a limited number 
 of books ; but, with respect to taking books out of 
 the college, I have not the power to grant any 
 such permission. When you see Dr. Beattie, I 
 beg you will present my sincere and most affec- 
 tionate respects to him, with my hopes that some 
 favorable event may procure me the happiness of 
 seeing him during his stay in England.
 
 4G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE HON. IIOTIACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 DODSLEY. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 8th, 1784. 
 
 I must beg, Sir, that you will tell Mr. Pinker- 
 ton that I am much obliged to him for the honor 
 he is willing to do me, though I must desire his 
 leave to decline it. His book deserves an eminent 
 patron : I am too inconsiderable to give any relief 
 to it, and even in its own line am unworthy to be 
 distinguished. One of my first pursuits was a 
 collection of medals ; but 1 early gave it over, as I 
 could not aiford many branches of virtu, and have 
 since changed or given away several of my best 
 Greek and Roman medals. What remain, I shall 
 be glad to show Mr. Pinkerton ; and, if it would 
 not be inconvenient to him to come hither any 
 morning by eleven o'clock, after next Thursday, 
 that he will appoint, he shall not only see my 
 medals, but any other baubles here that can amuse 
 him. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 24th, 1784. 
 
 I am much obliged to you. Sir, for the pieces 
 you have sent me of your own composition. There 
 is great poetic beauty and merit in them, with 
 great knowledge of the ancient masters and of
 
 MR, PINKERTON. 47 
 
 the best of the modern. You have talents that 
 will succeed in whatever you pursue, and industry 
 to neglect nothing that will improve them. De- 
 spise petty critics, and confute them by making 
 your works as perfect as you can. 
 
 I am sorry you sent me the old manuscript ; 
 because, as I told you, I have so little time left 
 to enjoy any thing, that I should think myself a 
 miser if I coveted for a moment what I must leave 
 so soon. 
 
 I shall be very glad. Sir, to see you here again, 
 whenever it is convenient to you. Lest I should 
 forget the time, be so good as to acquaint me 
 three or four days beforehand when you wish to 
 come, that I may not be out of the way, and I 
 will fix a day for expecting you. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Southwell, Nottinghamshire, 
 Sept. 14th, 1784. 
 
 Your favor, dated 16th of last month, after 
 passing and repassing six or seven different post- 
 offices, and various delays, has at length reached 
 me at this place. The Term commences early in 
 October; I believe upon the 10th. I will write to 
 the librarian, as soon as I know that he is in col- 
 lege, that you may have access to the manuscript, 
 and that you may have accommodation for tran- 
 scribing what you want. And this is as far as I 
 can go. I am a trustee, bound by oath ; and I will
 
 48 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 neither betray my trust, nor play with my oatli, 
 for any man or any consideration whatsoever. 
 
 And therefore, if what I have already said is 
 not satisfactory, I must say with Hamlet " I'll go 
 no farther." It is very painful to me to be so re- 
 peatedly pressed to do what is not in my power. 
 What the Scotch societies may have done, is no 
 sort of rule to me : they, perhaps, may not be 
 bound as I am by an oath ; or they may have a 
 different idea of its obligation. Dr. Percy too 
 may have written a very strong letter to Dr. Far- 
 mer, to he shoivn to me ;* but I am not that sort of 
 man to be intimidated by the strongest letter 
 that any lord, either spiritual or temporal, can in- 
 dite. And I must take the liberty to add, that T 
 do not want Dr. Percy or any one else to teach 
 me what is a favor received, or what the degree 
 of gratitude due for it. Nor can I conceive how 
 the college will be under obligation to you, by 
 granting you a favor which you have requested. 
 There has, doubtless, been before my time some 
 relaxation of proper care by too liberal and indul- 
 gent a permission of access ; and great mischief 
 has arisen from it: it is therefore become more 
 immediately necessary for me to attend to my 
 duty in that point, which I hope I shall be able to 
 
 * Mr. T. Warton, in a letter which 1 have not printed, had 
 suggested to Mr. Pinkerton that it would be advisable that the 
 Bishop of Droiijore should do so ; and he adds, " I am 
 amazed at this illiberal behaviour from the Head of a College." 
 He, most assuredly, would not have expressed himself so, had 
 he known the real state of the case.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 4^ 
 
 do without giving real cause of dishonor to the 
 English, on a comparison with the Scotch literary 
 societies. If not, may the disgrace fall on myself 
 alone ! I am willing to submit to any that may 
 arise from my reverence for an oath, and my re- 
 solution to do what appears to be my duty. 
 
 With respect to the extraordinary difficulties, 
 which you insinuate, in the work of transcribing, 
 and which, according to Dr. Percy, you are the 
 only person in the kingdom qualified to under- 
 stand, I wish you to set your heart at rest ; for it 
 seems to me a mere ideal terror. Many besides 
 yourself, I dare say, are well qualified to under- 
 stand, and decipher ; for I am sure that a very 
 moderate share of abilities with industry is all 
 that is wanted. If glossaries are necessary, they, 
 you know, are few in number, and may probably 
 be found in the public library at Cambridge as 
 well as in your library at home ; and, if I shall be 
 there at the time they will be wanted, I will en- 
 deavor to procure you the use of them in the room 
 where you shall transcribe, and do you any other 
 service in my power. The similar manuscript of 
 which you speak, can occupy but a very small 
 space in a corner of your chaise. 
 
 I shall be obliged to you, if you will inform Dr. 
 Beattie that I shall probably remain in this place 
 till the latter end of October ; and, if it suits with 
 his convenience, should be very happy to see him 
 here. 
 
 VOL. r. D
 
 50 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Sept. 27tli, 1784. 
 
 I have read your piece, Sir, very attentively ; 
 and, as I promised, will give you my opinion of it 
 fairly. There is much wit in it, especially in the 
 part of Nebuchadnezer ; and the dialogue is very 
 easy, and the dhiouement in favor of Barbara in- 
 teresting. There are, however, I think, some ob- 
 jections to be made, which, having written so 
 well, you may easily remove, as they are rather 
 faults in the mechanism than in the writing. 
 
 Several scenes seem to me to finish too ab- 
 ruptly, and not to be enough connected. Juliana 
 is not enough distinguished, as of an age capable 
 of more elevated sentiments : her desire of playing 
 at Hotcockles and Blindman's Buff sounds more 
 childish than vulgar. 
 
 There is another defect, which is in the conduct 
 of the plot: surely there is much too long an inter- 
 val between the discovery of the marriage of Juliana 
 and Philip, and the anger of her parents. The 
 audience must expect immediate effect from it ; 
 and yet the noise it is to make arrives so late, that 
 it would have been forgotten in the course of the 
 intermediate scenes. 
 
 I doubt a little, whether it would not be dan- 
 gerous to open the piece with a song that must be 
 totally incomprehensible to at least almost all the 
 audience. It is safer to engage their prejudices 
 by something captivating. I have the same ob-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 51 
 
 jection to Juliana's mistaking deposit for posset, 
 which may give an ill turn : besides, those mis- 
 takes have been too often produced on the stage : 
 so has the character of Mrs. Winter, a romantic 
 old maid ; nor does she contribute to the plot or 
 catastrophe. I am afraid that even Mrs. Vernon's 
 aversion to the country is far from novel ; and Mr. 
 Colman, more accustomed to the stage than I am, 
 would certainly think so. Nebuchadnezer's re- 
 partees of ** very well, thank you," and bringing 
 in Philip, when bidden to go for a j^ascal, are 
 printed in the TerrcB Films, and, I believe, in 
 other jest-books ; and therefore had better be 
 omitted. 
 
 I flatter myself. Sir, you will excuse these re- 
 marks ; as they are intended kindly, both for your 
 reputation and interest, and to prevent their being 
 made by the manager, or audience, or your friends 
 the reviewers. I am ready to propose your piece 
 to Mr. Colman at any time ; but, as I have sin- 
 cerely an opinion of your parts and talents, it is 
 the part of a friend to wish you to be very correct, 
 especially in a first piece ; for, such is the ill- 
 nature of mankind, and their want of judgment 
 too, that, if a new author does not succeed in a 
 first attempt on the stage, a prejudice is contracted 
 against him, and may be fatal to others of his pro- 
 ductions, which might have prospered, had that 
 bias not been taken. An established writer for 
 the stage may venture almost any idleness ; but a 
 first essay is very different. 
 
 Shall I send you your piece, Sir, and how ? — 
 As Mr. Colman's theatre will not open till next
 
 52 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 summer, you will have full time to make any alter- 
 ations you please. I mean, if you should think any 
 of my observations well founded, and which per- 
 haps are very trifling. I have little opinion of my 
 own sagacity as a critic, nor love to make objec- 
 tions ; nor should have taken so much liberty with 
 you, if you had not pressed it. I am sure in me 
 it is a mark of regard, and which I never pay to an 
 indifferent author : my admiration of your essay 
 on medals was natural, uninvited, and certainly 
 unaffected. My acquaintance with you since. Sir, 
 has confirmed my opinion of your good sense, and 
 interested me in behalf of your works ; and, hav- 
 ing lived so long in the world myself, if my expe- 
 rience can be of any service to you, I cannot with- 
 hold it when you ask it; at the same time leaving 
 you perfectly at liberty to reject it, if not adopted 
 by your own judgment. The experience of old 
 age is very likely to be balanced by the weak- 
 nesses incident to that age. I have not, however, 
 its positiveness yet, and willingly abandon my cri- 
 ticism to the vigor of your judgment. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Oct. 6th, 1784. 
 
 You have accepted my remarks with great good 
 humor. Sir: I wish you may not have paid too 
 much regard to them ; and I should be glad that 
 you did not rest any alterations on my single judg-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 53 
 
 ment, to which I have but little respect myself. I 
 have not thought often on theatric performances, 
 and of late not at all. A chief ground of my ob- 
 servations on your piece proceeded from having 
 taken notice that an English audience is apt to 
 be struck with some familiar sound, though there 
 is nothing ridiculous in the passage, and fall into a 
 foolish laugh, that often proves fatal to the author. 
 Such was my objection to hot -cockles. You have 
 indeed convinced me that I did not enough attend 
 to your piece, as a farce ; and, you must excuse 
 me, my regard for you and your wit made me con- 
 sider it rather as a short comedy. Very probably 
 too, I have retained the pedantic impressions of 
 the French, and demanded more observance of their 
 rules than is necessary or just : yet I myself have 
 often condemned their too delicate rigor. Nay, I 
 have wished that farce and speaking harlequins 
 were more encouraged ; in order to leave open a 
 wider field of invention to writers for the stag-e. 
 Of late I have amply had my wish : Mr. O'Keefe 
 has brought our audiences to bear with every ex- 
 travagance ; and, were there not such irresistible 
 humor in his utmost daring, it would be impossible 
 to deny that he has passed even beyond the limits 
 of nonsense. But I confine this approbation to 
 his Agreeable Surprise. In his other pieces there 
 is much more untempered nonsense than humor. 
 Even that favorite performance, I wondered that 
 Mr. Colman dared to produce. 
 
 Your remark, that a piece full of marked charac- 
 ters would be void of nature, is most just. This 
 is so strongly my opinion, that 1 thought it a great
 
 54 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 fault in Miss Burney's Cecilia, though it has a 
 thousand other beauties, that she has labored far 
 too much to make all her personages talk always 
 in character ; whereas, in the present refined or 
 depraved state of human nature, most people 
 endeavor to conceal their real character, not 
 to display it. A professional man, as a pedantic 
 fellow of a college or a seaman, has a charac- 
 teristic dialect ; but that is very different from 
 continually letting out his ruling passion. 
 
 This brings me. Sir, to the alteration you offer 
 in the personage of Mrs. Winter, whom you wit- 
 tily propose to turn into a mermaid. I approve 
 the idea much : I like too the restoration of Mrs. 
 Vernon to a plain reasonable woman. She will 
 be a contrast to the bad characters, and but a gra- 
 dation to produce Barbara, without making her 
 too glaringly bright without any intermediate 
 shade. In truth, as you certainly may write ex- 
 cellently if you please, I wish you to bestow your 
 utmost abilities on whatever you give to the pub- 
 lic. I am wrong when I would have a farce as 
 chaste and sober as a comedy ; but I would have 
 a farce made as good as it can be. I do not know 
 hoiu that is to be accomplished ; but I believe you 
 do. You are so obliging as to offer to accept a 
 song of mine, if I have one by me. Dear Sir, I 
 have no more talent for writing a song than for 
 writing an ode like Dryden's or Gray's. It is a 
 talent joer se, and given, like every other branch of 
 genius, by nature alone. Poor Shenstone was 
 laboring through his whole life to write a perfect 
 song, and, in my opinion at least, never once sue-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 55 
 
 ceeded ; not better than Pope did in a St. Ceci- 
 lian ode. I doubt whether we have not gone a 
 long, long way beyond the possibility of writing a 
 good song. All the words in the language have 
 been so often employed on simple images (with- 
 out which a song cannot be good), and such reams 
 of bad verses have been produced in that kind, 
 that I question whether true simplicity itself could 
 please now. At least we are not likely to have 
 any such thing. Our present choir of poetic vir- 
 gins write in the other extreme. They color their 
 compositions so highly with choice and dainty 
 phrases, that their own dresses are not more fan- 
 tastic and romantic. Their nightingales make as 
 many divisions as Italian singers. But this is 
 wandering from the subject ; and, while I only 
 meant to tell you what I could not do myself, I 
 am telling you what others do ill. I will yet 
 hazard one other opinion, though relative to com- 
 position in general. There are two periods favor- 
 able to poets : a rude age, when a genius may 
 hazard any thing, and when nothing has been 
 forestalled : the other is, when, after ages of bar- 
 barism and incorrection, a master or two produces 
 models formed by purity and taste : Virgil, Ho- 
 race, Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Pope, exploded 
 the licentiousness that reigned before them. What 
 happened ? Nobody dared to write in contradic- 
 tion to the severity established ; and very few 
 had abilities to rival their masters. Insipidity 
 ensues, novelty is dangerous, and bombast usurps 
 the throne which had been debased by a race of 
 fa'imanU. This rhapsody will probably convince
 
 56 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 you, Sir, how much you was mistaken in setting" 
 any value on my judgment. 
 
 February will certainly be time enough for your 
 piece to be finished. 1 again beg you. Sir, to 
 pay no deference to my criticisms against your 
 own cool reflections. It is prudent to consult 
 others before one ventures on publication ; but 
 every single person is as liable to be erroneous 
 as an author. An elderly man, as he gains ex- 
 perience, acquires prejudices too: nay, old age 
 has generally two faults ; it is too quick- sighted 
 into the faults of the time being, and too blind 
 to the faults that reigned in his own youth, 
 which, having partaken of or having admired, 
 though injudiciously, he recollects with complai- 
 sance. 
 
 I confess too that there must be two distinct 
 views in writers for the stage, one of which is 
 more allowable to them than to other authors. 
 The one is durable fame ; the other, peculiar to 
 dramatic authors, the view of writing to the pre- 
 sent taste (and, perhaps, as you say, to the level 
 of the audience). I do not mean for the sake of 
 profit ; but even high comedy must risk a little 
 of its immortality by consulting the ruling taste ; 
 and thence comedy always loses some of its beau- 
 ties, the transient, and some of its intelligibility. 
 Like its harsher sister, satire, many of its allusions 
 must vanish, as the objects it aims at correcting 
 cease to be in vogue ; and, perhaps, that cessa- 
 tion, the natural death of fashion, is often ascribed 
 by an author to his own reproofs. Ladies would 
 liavc left off" patching on the Whig or Tory side of
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 57 
 
 their face,* though Mr. Aciclison had not written 
 his excellent Spectator. Probably even they who 
 might be corrected by his reprimand, adopted 
 some new distinction as ridiculous ; not discover- 
 ing that his satire was levelled at their partial ani- 
 mosity, and not at the mode of placing their 
 patches ; for, unfortunately, as the world cannot 
 be cured of being foolish, a preacher who eradi- 
 cates one folly, does but make room for some 
 other. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE, WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON.t 
 
 Oct, 27th, 1784. 
 
 I would not answer your letter. Sir, till I could 
 tell you that I had put your play into Mr. Col- 
 man's hands, which I have done. He desired my 
 consent to his carrying it into the country to read 
 it deliberately : you shall know as soon as I receive 
 his determination. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the many civil 
 and kind expressions in your letter, and for the 
 friendly information you give me. Partiality, I 
 fear, dictated the former ; but the last I can only 
 ascribe to the goodness of your heart. 
 
 * The singularly clever and witty paper here alluded to was 
 written by Mr. Addison himself: it is No. 81, and was published 
 June 2nd, 1711. 
 
 f This letter is printed, but not accurately, in the 4th Vol. of 
 the Private Correspondence of The Hon. Horace Walpole, p. 
 384, under date of March 17th, 1785.
 
 58 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I have published nothing of any size but the 
 pieces you mention, and one or two small tracts, 
 now out of print and forgotten. The rest have been 
 prefaces to some of my Strawberry editions, and 
 to a few other publications, and some fugitive 
 pieces which I reprinted some years ago in a 
 small volume, and which shall be at your service, 
 with the catalogue of noble authors. 
 
 With regard to the bookseller who has taken 
 the pains of collecting my writings for an edition, 
 (amongst which I do not doubt he will generously 
 bestow on me many that I did not write, accord- 
 ing to the liberal practice of such compilers,) and 
 who also intends to write my life, to which (as 
 I never did any thing worthy of the notice of the 
 public, he must likewise be a volunteer contri- 
 butor,) it would be vain for me to endeavor to 
 prevent such a design. "Whoever has been so 
 imadvised as to throw himself on the public, must 
 pay such a tax in a pamphlet or magazine when 
 he dies ; but, happily, the insects that prey on 
 carrion are still more short-lived than the carcases 
 were, from which they draw their nutriment. 
 Those momentary abortions live but a day, and 
 are thrust aside by like embrios. Literary cha- 
 racters, when not illustrious, are known only to a 
 few literary men ; and, amidst the world of books, 
 few readers can come to my share. Printing that 
 secures existence (in libraries) to indifferent 
 authors of any bulk, is like those cases of Egyp- 
 tian mummies which in catacombs preserve bodies 
 of one knows not whom, and which are scribbled 
 over with characters that nobody attempts to
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 59 
 
 read, till nobody understands the language in 
 which they were written. 
 
 I believe therefore it will be most wise to swim 
 for a moment on the passing current, secure that 
 it will soon hurry me into the ocean where all 
 things are forgotten. To appoint a biographer is 
 to bespeak a panegyric ; and I doubt whether they 
 who collect their works for the public, and, like 
 me, are conscious of no intrinsic worth, do but beg 
 mankind to accept of talents (whatever they were) 
 in lieu of virtues. To anticipate spurious publi- 
 cations by a comprehensive and authentic one, is 
 almost as great an evil ; it is giving a body to 
 scattered atoms ; and such an act in one's old age 
 is declaring a fondness for the indiscretions of 
 youth, or for the trifles of an age, which, though 
 more mature, is only the less excusable. It is 
 most true. Sir, that, so far from being prejudiced 
 in favor of my own writings, I am persuaded that, 
 had I thought early as I think now, I should 
 never have appeared as an author. Age, frequent 
 illness and pain, have given me as many hours of 
 reflection in the intervals of the two latter, as the 
 two latter have disabled from reflection ; and, be- 
 sides their showing me the inutility of all our little 
 views, they have suggested an observation that I 
 love to encourage in myself from the rationality of 
 it. I have learnt and have practised the humi- 
 liating task of comparing myself with great au- 
 thors; and that comparison has annihilated all the 
 flattery that self-love could suggest. I know how 
 trifling my own writings are, and how far below 
 the standard that constitutes excellence : as for
 
 60 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the shades that distinguish the degrees of medio- 
 crity, they are not worth discrimination ; and he 
 must be very modest, or easily satisfied, who can 
 be content to glimmer for an instant a little more 
 than his brethren glow-worms. Mine therefore, 
 you find. Sir, is not humility, but pride. When 
 young, I wished for fame, not examining whether 
 I was capable of attaining it, nor considering in 
 what lights fame was desirable. There are two 
 sorts of honest fame, that attendant on the truly 
 great, and that better sort that is due to the good. 
 I fear I did not aim at the latter, nor discovered, 
 till too late, that I could not compass the former. 
 Having neglected the best road, and having, in- 
 stead of the other, strolled into a narrow path 
 that led to no good worth seeking, I see the idle- 
 ness of my journey, and hold it more graceful to 
 abandon my wanderings to chance or oblivion, 
 than to mark solicitude for trifles, which I think 
 so myself. 
 
 I beg your pardon for talking so much of my- 
 self; but an answer was due to the unmerited 
 attention which you have paid to my writings. I 
 turn with more pleasure to speak on yours. For- 
 give me if I shall blame you, whether you either 
 abandon your intention,* or are too impatient to 
 execute it. Your preface proves that you are capa- 
 ble of treating the subject ably ; but allow me to 
 repeat, that it is a work that ought not to be 
 performed impetuously. A mere recapitulation 
 of authenticated facts would be dry; a more 
 
 * Of writing a history of the reign of George II.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 61 
 
 enlarged plan would demand much acquaintance 
 with the characters of the actors, and with the 
 probable sources of measures. The present time 
 is accustomed to details and anecdotes ; and the 
 age immediately preceding one's own is less 
 known to any man than the history of any other 
 period. You are young enough, Sir, to collect 
 information on many particulars that will occur 
 in your progress, from living actors, at least from 
 their cotemporaries ; and great as your ardor may 
 be, you will find yourself delayed by the want of 
 materials, and by farther necessary inquiries. As 
 you have variety of talents, why should not you 
 exercise them on works that will admit of more 
 rapidity; and at the same time, in leisure mo- 
 ments, commence, digest, and enrich your plan 
 by collecting new matter for it ? 
 
 In one word, I have too much zeal for your 
 credit, not to dissuade you from precipitation in 
 a work of the kind you meditate. That I speak 
 sincerely you are sure, as accident, not design, 
 made you acquainted with my admiration of your 
 tract on medals. If I wish to delay your history, 
 it must be from wishing that it may appear with 
 more advantages ; and I must speak disinterest- 
 edly, as my age will not allow me to hope to see 
 it, if not finished soon. I should not forgive 
 myself if I turned you from prosecution of your 
 work ; but, as I am certain that my writings can 
 have given you no opinion of my having sound 
 and deep judgment, pray follow your own.
 
 62 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge, Nov. 10th, 1784. 
 
 I arrived here a few days since, and being imme- 
 diately elected into the office of Vice Chancellor, 
 was thrown into such a hurry of public business, 
 for which I was not prepared, that I had not time 
 to look out and provide a proper place where 
 you might make your extracts from Maitland's 
 manuscript. The first moment I could command, 
 I did this, and now inform you that I have pro- 
 cured a room with good light, near the library, 
 where you may have a fire. 
 
 My being put into this office has made a neces- 
 sary alteration in my domestic economy ; so that 
 I could not give you a room in my lodge, as I at 
 first intended. The librarian was going to write 
 to you some time since, but I prevented him, and 
 took that office upon myself, and therefore hope 
 you will excuse in him the appearance of negli- 
 gence, which I have occasioned. Whenever it 
 suits your convenience to come, the room and 
 the manuscript will be ready ; but we desire you 
 will be so good as to give notice a day or two be- 
 fore, by a line directed to the Rev. Mr. Bywater, 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 63 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromore House, March 12th, 1785. 
 
 I ought long since to have acknowledged the 
 favor of your most obliging letter ; but a sore 
 finger has lately disabled me from writing. Ac- 
 cept my very sincere thanks both for the compli- 
 ment you intend to make me, and for your so 
 judiciously withholding it from the subject you 
 have mentioned. Though it would be indecorous to 
 have set the name of a grave man at the head of 
 any work of levity, yet as I am sure you will 
 never be concerned in any publication that has a 
 tendency to corrupt the heart, so I shall not carry 
 the austerity so far as to refuse to peruse many 
 curious and ingenious pages of your book, because 
 a few lines may retain the indelicacy of a coarse 
 unpolished age ; and therefore I cannot reject 
 your obliging offer of a present of your work, 
 which may be left with Mr. Hook, at No. 56, in 
 Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and, 
 at the same time, I should be glad if Mr. Nichols 
 would be so kind as to send thither any other 
 parcels he may have had for me. 
 
 I wrote to Mr. Nichols a pretty long letter last 
 autumn; but, having never heard from him since, 
 fear that either my letter or his answer miscarried ; 
 and the same, I fear, has been the fate of many a 
 letter both to and from this remote corner of the 
 world. Otherwise I cannot believe that my good 
 friend above mentioned would not before this time
 
 G2 CORRESPONDENXE OF 
 
 have informed me, that the Tatlers* were nearly 
 finished, as I hear they are, but would have in- 
 dulged me with one line on the subject, in which 
 1 cannot but be interested. Indeed if I could have 
 seen the volumes before publication, I could pro- 
 bably have furnished some supplemental notes, as 
 I have been making inquiries with a view to them. 
 I am exceedingly glad that you have taken up the 
 subject of the Old Romances, and will contribute 
 all I can to it ; but I think the Green K?nght is 
 rather fit for a supplemental volume of the Old 
 Ballads, which I mean to deliver over to my 
 poetical nephew in due time. Your kind inten- 
 tion of honoring me with the above work merits 
 my best thanks. 
 
 * As early as the year 1764, Dr. Percy had undertaken to 
 publish, through Mr. Tonson, an edition of the Spectator, Tat- 
 ler, &;c. with notes ; and the plan, as far as the Tatler was 
 concerned, was finally completed in 1786. To use the words 
 of Mr. Nichols, in \ns Literari/ Anecdotes, iii. 161, "The 
 Tatler then appeared in six octavo volumes, with illustrations 
 and notes, historical, biographical, and critical, for which the 
 public was indebted to Dr. Percy, though the work was finished 
 and edited by the Ilev. Dr. John Calder." Nor in a book which 
 contains so much from the pen of the learned, acute, and excel- 
 lent prelate as the present, can it be amiss to s.tate from the 
 same source, that, in farther addition to what he actually pub- 
 lished, he "soon after the year 1760 proceeded very far at the 
 press with an admirable edition of Surrey's Poems, and also 
 with a good edition of the works of Villiers, Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, both which, from a variety of causes, remained many 
 years unfinished in the warehouse of Mr. Tonson, in the Savoy, 
 but were resumed in 1705, and nearly brought to a conclusion, 
 when the whole impression of both works was unfortunately 
 consumed by the fire in Red Lion Passage, in 1808."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 65 
 
 P.S. If you see Mr. Nichols, you may mention, 
 that, as a proof I have not been unmindful of him, 
 I have got a genuine letter written by Partridge 
 to a person in this kingdom, on the diverting 
 freedoms taken with him by Swift ; which I pro- 
 cured purposely for his Supplement,* &c. And I 
 am also in full scent of some curious anecdotes of 
 the Dean of St. Patrick, very unlike those strange 
 things of Sheridan's. 
 
 MR. KNIGHT TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 PeUits, April 1st, 1785. 
 
 I am greatly obliged to you for the favor of 
 your last, and so indeed for your advice as to 
 the publication of my Elegies, which I have fol- 
 lowed precisely. They do not go on quite so 
 speedily as I could wish ; but I shall call upon 
 Mr. Nichols in the course of a few days, and hope 
 to jog him on a little. I omitted the imitative 
 elegy, as you hinted ; as 1 think with you that it 
 will be much better they should all be originals. 
 
 I take this opportunity of sending you a sonnet 
 lately composed, and shall be thankful to you for 
 your opinion and animadversions on it. Perhaps 
 you might advise the publication of it now : it would 
 not bear equal objections with the elegy to Mrs. 
 Siddons, as you know Dr. Heberden's is a respect- 
 
 * Mr. Nichols first published a Supplement to Swift's works, 
 and afterwards a complete edition of his works. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 able character among the literati. The circum- 
 stance to M^iich I allude, 1 know to be fact ; and 
 I have also private reasons for wishing to pay him 
 a compliment. Tell me your opinion without re- 
 serve, and whether you think it might or might 
 not be the means of introducing the whole to 
 notice. I fear it wants much correction ; being so 
 lately written, I am no judge of it : your kind 
 criticisms therefore are the more necessary. 
 
 SONNET. TO DR. HEBERDEN. 
 
 As oft, when summer heats too long prevail, 
 Or blighting winds their baleful influence shed. 
 The smiling honors of the season fail. 
 And not a floweret lifts her languid head ; 
 If chance, when night extends her sable veil. 
 Soft clouds drop moisture o'er the purfled bed, 
 Earth's balmy breath is felt in every gale. 
 And new-born verdure o'er the fields is spread. 
 Thus on the bed of want, when Virtue lies, 
 O Ileberden, thy boimteous aid is given ; 
 Thy hand unseen the secret boon supplies, 
 (Refreshing as the silent dews of even,) 
 Whose ever-during fragrance mounts the skies — 
 Incense, how grateful to the throne of Heaven !
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 67 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE 
 TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 * June 22nd, 1785. 
 
 Since I received your book,* Sir, I scarce 
 ceased from reading till I had finished it; so ad- 
 mirable I found it, and so full of good sense, 
 brightly delivered. Nay, I am pleased with my- 
 self too for having formed the same opinions with 
 you on several points, in which we do not agree 
 with the generality of men. On some topics, I 
 confess frankly, I do not concur with you: con- 
 sidering how many you have touched, it would 
 be wonderful if we agreed on all, or I should not 
 be sincere if I said I did. There are others on 
 which I have formed no opinion ; for I should give 
 myself an impertinent air, with no truth, if I pre- 
 tended to have any knowledge of many subjects, 
 of which, young as you are, you seem to have 
 made yourself master. Indeed, I have gone deeply 
 into nothing, and therefore shall not discuss those 
 heads on which we differ most ; as probably I 
 should not defend my own opinions well. There 
 is but one part of your work to which I will ven- 
 ture any objection, though you have considered it 
 much, and I little, very little indeed, with regard 
 to your proposal, which to me is but two days 
 old : — I mean your plan for the improvement of 
 our language, which I allow has some defects, and 
 
 * Heron's Letters of Literature, published this year. See p. 20.
 
 6S CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which wants correction in several particulars. The 
 specific amendment which you propose, and to 
 which I object, is the addition of as and V to our 
 terminations. To change s for a in the plural 
 number of our substantives and adjectives would 
 be so violent an alteration, that I believe neither 
 the power of Power, nor the power of Genius would 
 be able to effect it. In most cases I am convinced 
 that very strong innovations are more likely to 
 make impression than small and almost impercep- 
 tible differences, as in religion, medicine, politics, 
 &c. ; but I do not think that language can be 
 treated in the same manner, especially in a refined 
 aoe. When a nation first emerges from barbarism, 
 two or three masterly writers may operate won- 
 ders; and the fewer the number of writers, as the 
 number is small at such a period, the more abso- 
 lute is their authority. But when a country has 
 been polishing itself for two or three centuries, 
 and when consequently authors are innumerable, 
 the most supereminent genius (or whoever is 
 esteemed so, though without foundation,) pos- 
 sesses very limited empire, and is far from meeting 
 implicit obedience. Every petty writer will con- 
 test very novel institutions ; every inch of change 
 in any language will be disputed ; and the lan- 
 guage will remain as it was, longer than the tri- 
 bunal which should dictate very heterogeneous 
 alterations. With regard to adding a or o to final 
 consonants, consider. Sir, should the usage be 
 adopted, what havoc would it make ! All our 
 poetry would be defective in metre, or would 
 become at once as obsolete as Chaucer ; and could
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 69 
 
 we promise ourselves, that, though we should ac- 
 quire better harmony and more rhymes, we should 
 have a new crop of poets, to replace Milton, 
 Dryden, Gray, and, I am sorry you will not allow 
 me to add. Pope ! You might enjoin our prose to 
 be reformed as you have done by the Spectator in 
 your letter XXXIV, but try Dryden's Ode by 
 your new institution. 
 
 I beg your pardon for these trivial observations : 
 I assure you I could write a letter ten times as 
 long, if I were to specify all I like in your work. 
 I more than like most of it ; and I am charmed 
 with your glorious love of liberty, and your other 
 humane and noble sentiments. Your book I shall 
 with great pleasure send to Mr. Colman : may 1 
 tell him, without naming you, that it is written 
 by the author of the Comedy I offered to him ? 
 He must be struck with your very handsome and 
 generous conduct in printing your Encomiums on 
 him, after his rejecting your piece. It is as great 
 as uncommon, and gives me as good an opinion of 
 your heart. Sir, as your book does of your great 
 sense. Both assure me that you vv'ill not take ill 
 the liberty I have used in expressing my doubts 
 on your plan for amending our language, or for 
 any I may use in dissenting from a few other sen- 
 timents in your work — as I shall in what I think 
 your too low opinion of some of the French 
 writers, of your preferring Lady Mary Wortley to 
 Madame de Sevign6, and of your esteeming Mr. 
 Hume a man of a deeper and more solid under- 
 standing than Mr. Gray. In the two last articles 
 it is impossible to think more differently than we
 
 70 CORRESPONDENXE OF 
 
 do. In Lady Mary's Letters, which I never could 
 read but once, T discovered no merit of any sort ; 
 yet I have seen others by her (unpublished,) that 
 have a good deal of wit; and for Mr. Hume, give 
 me leave to say that I think your opinion, that he 
 might have ruled a state, ought to be qualified a 
 little; as in the very next page you say, his History 
 is a mere apology for Prerogative, and a very weak 
 one. If he could have ruled a state, one must 
 presume, at best, that he would have been an able 
 tyrant ; and yet I should suspect that a man, who, 
 sitting coolly in his chamber, could forge but a weak 
 apology for the prerogative, would not have exer- 
 cised it very wisely. I knew personally and well 
 both Mr. Hume and Mr. Gray, and thought there 
 was no degree of comparison between their under- 
 standings ; and, in fact, Mr. Hume's writings were 
 so superior to his conversation, that I frequently 
 said he understood nothing till he had written 
 upon it. What you say, Sir, of the discord in his 
 history from his love of prerogative and hatred of 
 churchmen, flatters me much; as I have taken 
 notice of that very unnatural discord in a piece I 
 printed some years ago, but did not publish, and 
 which I will show to you when I have the plea- 
 sure of seeing you here ; a satisfaction I shall be 
 glad to taste, whenever you will let me know you 
 are at leisure after the beginning of next week.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 71 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON.* 
 
 June 26th, 1785. 
 
 I have sent your book to Mr. Colman, Sir, and 
 must desire you in return to offer my grateful 
 thanks to Mr. Knight, who has done me an honor, 
 to which I do not know how I am intitled, by the 
 present of his poetry, which is very classic, and 
 beautiful, and tender, and of chaste simplicity. 
 
 To your book. Sir, I am much obliged on many 
 accounts ; particularly for having recalled my mind 
 to subjects of delight, to which it was grown dulled 
 by age and indolence. In consequence of your 
 reclaiming it, T asked myself whence you feel so 
 much disregard for certain authors whose fame is 
 established : you have assigned good reasons for 
 withholding your approbation from some, on the 
 plea of their being imitators : it was natural then, 
 to ask myself again, whence they had obtained so 
 much celebrity. I think I have discovered a cause, 
 which I do not remember to have seen noted ; and 
 that cause I suspect to have been, that certain of 
 those authors possessed grace ; — do not take me 
 for a disciple of Lord Chesterfield, nor imagine 
 that I mean to erect grace into a capital ingredient 
 of writing ; but I do believe that it is a perfume 
 that will preserve from putrefaction, and is dis- 
 tinct even from style, which regards expression. 
 Grace, I think, belongs to manner. It is from the 
 
 * This letter is likewise printed, but not accurately, in the 
 Private Correspondence of the Hon. Horace Walpole, iv. p. 
 391. No other of Walpole's letters to Pinkerton, except No. 
 33 of this series, appears in that publication.
 
 72 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 charm of grace that 1 believe some authors, not in 
 your favor, obtained part of their renown : Virgil 
 in particular ; and yet I am far from disagreeing 
 with you on his subject in general. There is such 
 a dearth of invention in the ^Eneid, (and when he 
 did invent, it was often so foolishly,) so little good 
 sense, so little variety, and so little power over 
 the passions, that I have frequently said, from 
 contempt for his matter, and from the charm of 
 his harmony, that I believe I should like his poem 
 better, if I was to hear it repeated, and did not 
 understand Latin. On the other hand, he has 
 more than harmony : whatever he utters is said 
 gracefully, and he ennobles his images, especially 
 in the Georgics ; or at least it is more sensible 
 there from the humility of the subject. A Roman 
 farmer might not understand his diction in agri- 
 culture ; but he made a Roman courtier under- 
 stand farming, the farming of that age, and could 
 captivate a lord of Augustus' bed-chamber, and 
 tempt him to listen to themes of rusticity. On 
 the contrary. Statins and Claudian, though talking 
 of war, would make a soldier despise them as 
 bullies. That graceful manner of thinking in Vir- 
 gil seems to me to be more than style, if I do not 
 refine too much ; and I admire, I confess, Mr. 
 Addison's phrase, that Virgil "tossed about his 
 dung with an air of majesty." A style may be 
 excellent without grace : for instance. Dr. Swift's. 
 Eloquence may bestow an immortal style, and one 
 of more dignity ; yet eloquence may want that 
 ease, that genteel air that flows from or constitutes 
 grace. Addison himself was master of that grace, 
 even in his pieces of humour, and which do not
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 73 
 
 owe their merit to style ; and from that combined 
 secret he excels all men that ever lived, but Shake- 
 speare, in humour, by never dropping into an ap- 
 proach towards burlesque and buffoonery, when 
 even his humour descended to characters that in 
 any other hands would have been vulgarly low. Is 
 not it clear that Will Wimble was a gentleman, 
 though he always lived at a distance from good 
 company? Fielding had as much humour, perhaps, 
 as Addison ; but, having no idea of grace, is per- 
 petually disgusting. His innkeepers and parsons 
 are the grossest of their profession ; and his 
 gentlemen are awkward, when they should be at 
 their ease. 
 
 The Grecians had grace in every thing ; in poe- 
 try, in oratory, in statuary, in architecture, and, 
 probably, in music and painting. The Romans, 
 it is true, were their imitators, but, having grace 
 too, imparted it to their copies, which gave them 
 a merit, that almost raises them to the rank of 
 originals. Horace's Odes acquired their fame, no 
 doubt, from the graces of his manner and purity 
 of his style, the chief praise of Tibullus and Pro- 
 pertius, who certainly cannot boast of more mean- 
 ing than Horace's Odes. 
 
 Waller, whom you proscribe. Sir, owed his 
 reputation to the graces of his manner, though 
 he frequently stumbled, and even fell flat; but a 
 few of his smaller pieces are as graceful as pos- 
 sible : one might say that he excelled in painting 
 ladies in enamel, but could not succeed in portraits 
 in oil, large as life. Milton had such superior 
 merit, that I will only say, that, if his angels, his 
 Satan, and his Adam, have as much dignity as
 
 74 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the Apollo Belvidere; his Eve has all the delicacy 
 and graces of the Venus of Medicis ; as his descrip- 
 tion of Eden has the coloring of Albano. Milton's 
 tenderness imprints ideas as graceful as Guido's 
 Madonnas ; and the Allegro, Penseroso, and Co- 
 mus, might be denominated from the three Graces, 
 as the Italians gave singular titles to two or three 
 of Petrarch's best sonnets. 
 
 Cowley, I think, would have had grace, (for his 
 mind was graceful,) if he had had any ear, or if 
 his taste had not been vitiated by the pursuit of 
 wit, which, when it does not offer itself naturally, 
 degenerates into tinsel or pertness. Pertness is 
 the mistaken affectation of grace, as pedantry pro- 
 duces erroneous dignity : the familiarity of the 
 one, and the clumsiness of the other, distort or 
 prevent grace. Nature, that furnishes samples of 
 all qualities, and on the scale of gradation exhibits 
 all possible shades, affords us types that are more 
 opposite than words. The eagle is sublime, the 
 lion majestic, the swan graceful, the monkey pert, 
 the bear ridiculously awkward. I mention these, 
 as more expressive and comprehensive than I 
 could make definitions of my meaning ; but I will 
 apply the swan only, under whose wings I will 
 shelter an apology for Racine, whose pieces give 
 me an idea of that bird. The coloring of the swan 
 is pure, his attitudes are graceful ;'Uie never dis- 
 pleases you when sailing on his proper element. 
 His feet may be ugly, his notes hissing, not mu- 
 sical, his walk not natural ; he can soar, but it is 
 with difficulty : — still the impression the swan 
 leaves, is that of grace. So does Racine. 
 
 Boileau may be compared to the dog, whose
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 75 
 
 sagacity is remarkable, as well as its fawning on 
 its master, and its snarling at those it dislikes. If 
 Boileau was too austere to admit the pliability of 
 grace, he compensates by good sense and pro- 
 priety. He is like (for I will drop animals,) an 
 upright magistrate, whom you respect, but whose 
 justice and severity leave an awe that discourages 
 familiarity. His copies of the ancients may be 
 too servile ; but, if a good translator deserves 
 praise, Boileau deserves more : he certainly does 
 not fall below his originals; and, considering at 
 what period he wrote, has greater merit still. By 
 his imitations he held out to his countrymen 
 models of taste, and banished totally the bad taste 
 of his predecessors. For his Lutrin, replete with 
 excellent poetry, wit, humour and satire, he cer- 
 tainly was not obliged to the ancients. Except- 
 ing Horace, how little idea had either Greeks or 
 Romans of wit and humour! Aristophanes and 
 Lucian, compared with moderns, were, the one a 
 blackguard, and the other a buffoon. In my eyes, 
 the Lutrin, the Dispensary, and the Rape of the 
 Lock, are standards of grace and elegance, not to 
 be paralleled by antiquity, and eternal reproaches 
 to Voltaire, whose indelicacy in the Pucelle de- 
 graded him as much, when compared with the 
 three authors I have named, as his Henriade leaves 
 Virgil, and even Lucan, whom he more resembles, 
 by far his superiors. 
 
 The Dunciad is blemished by the offensive 
 images of the games ; but the poetry appears to 
 me admirable ; and, though the fourth book has 
 obscurities, I prefer it to the three others : it has 
 descriptions not surpassed by any poet that ever
 
 76 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 existed, and which surely a writer merely inge- 
 nious * will never equal. The lines on Italy, on 
 Venice, on Convents, have all the grace for which 
 I contend as distinct from poetry, though united 
 with the most beautiful ; and the Rape of the 
 Lock, besides the originality of great part of the 
 invention, is a standard of graceful writing. 
 
 In general, I believe that what I call grace is 
 denominated elegance ; but by grace I mean some- 
 thing higher : I will explain myself by instances —   
 Apollo is graceful, Mercury elegant : Petrarch, 
 perhaps, owed his whole merit to the harmony of 
 his numbers and the graces of his style. They 
 conceal his poverty of meaning, and want of 
 variety. His complaints too may have added an 
 interest, which, had his passion been successful, 
 and had expressed itself with equal sameness, 
 would have made the number of his sonnets in- 
 supportable. Melancholy in poetry, I am inclined 
 to think, contributes to grace, when it is not dis- 
 graced by pitiful lamentations, such as Ovid's and 
 Cicero's in their banishments. We respect melan- 
 choly, because it imparts a similar affection, pity. 
 A gay writer, who should only express satisfac- 
 tion without variety, would soon be nauseous. 
 
 Madame de Sevign^ shines, both in grief and 
 
 * Pinkerton had said of Pope {Herons Letttrs, p. 75.) 
 that " he could only rank with ingenious men ;" and, 11 pages 
 before, that " his works are superabundant with superfluous and 
 unmeaning verbiage ; his translations even replete with tauto- 
 logy, a fault which is to refinement as midnight is to noon-day ; 
 and, what is truly surprising, that the 4th Book of the Dunciad, 
 his last publication, is more full of redundancy and incorrect- 
 ness than his Pastorals, which are his first."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 77 
 
 gaiety. There is too much of sorrow for her 
 daughter's absence ; yet it is always expressed by 
 new terms, by new images, and often by wit, 
 whose tenderness has a melancholy air. When 
 she forgets her concern, and returns to her natural 
 disposition, gaiety, every paragraph has novelty : 
 her allusions, her applications are the happiest 
 possible. She has the art of making you ac- 
 quainted with all her acquaintance, and attaches 
 you even to the spots she inhabited. Her lan- 
 guage is correct, though unstudied ; and, when 
 her mind is full of any great event, she interests 
 you with the warmth of a dramatic writer, not with 
 the chilling impartiality of an historian. Pray 
 read her accounts of the death of Turenne, and of 
 the arrival of King James in France, and tell me 
 whether you do not know their persons as if you 
 had lived at the time. For my part, if you will 
 allow me a word of digression, (not that I have 
 written with any method,) I hate the cold impar- 
 tiality recommended to historians : *' Si vis me 
 flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi :" but, that I 
 may not wander again, nor tire, nor contradict you 
 any more, I will finish now, and shall be glad if 
 you will dine at Strawberry Hill next Sunday and 
 take a bed there, when I will tell you how many 
 more parts of your book have pleased me, than 
 have startled my opinions, or perhaps prejudices. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, July 27th, 1785. 
 
 You thank me much more than the gift deserved,
 
 78 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Sir : my editions of such pieces as I have left, arc 
 waste paper to me. I will not sell them at the 
 ridiculously advanced prices that are given for 
 them : indeed, only such as were published for 
 sale, have I sold at all ; and therefore the dupli- 
 cates that remain with me are to me of no value, 
 but when I can oblige a friend with them. Of a 
 few of my impressions I have no copy but my own 
 set ; and as I could give you only an imperfect 
 collection, the present was really only a parcel of 
 fragments. My memory was in fault about the 
 Royal and Noble authors. I thought I had given 
 them to you. I recollect now that I only lent you 
 my own copy ; but I have others in town, and you 
 shall have them when I go thither. For Vertue's 
 manuscript I am in no manner of haste. I heard 
 on Monday, in London, that the Letters were writ- 
 ten by a Mr. Pilkington, probably from a con- 
 founded information of Maty's Review : my chief 
 reason for calling on you twice this week, was to 
 learn what you had heard, and I shall be much 
 obliged to you for farther information ; as I do not 
 care to be too inquisitive, lest I should be sus- 
 pected of knowing more of the matter. 
 
 There are many reasons. Sir, why I cannot 
 come into your idea of printing Greek. In the 
 first place, I have two or three engagements for 
 my press ; and my time of life does not allow me 
 to look but a little way farther. In the next, I 
 cannot now go into new expenses of purchase : my 
 fortune is very much reduced, both by my brother's 
 death, and by the late plan of reformation. The 
 last reason would weigh with me, had I none of 
 the others. My admiration of the Greeks was a
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 79 
 
 little like that of the mob on other points, not 
 from sound knowledge. I never was a good Greek 
 scholar ; have long forgotten what I knew of the 
 language ; and, as I never disguise my ignorance 
 of any thing, it would look like affectation to 
 print Greek authors. I could not bear to print 
 them, without owning that I do not understand 
 them ; and such a confession would perhaps be 
 as much affectation as unfounded pretensions. I 
 must, therefore, stick to my simplicity, and not 
 go out of my line. It is difficult to divest one's 
 self of vanity, because impossible to divest one's 
 self of self-love. If one runs from one glaring 
 vanity, one is catched by its opposite. Modesty 
 can be as vain-glorious on the ground, as Pride on 
 a triumphal car. Modesty, however, is preferable ; 
 for, should she contradict her professions, still she 
 keeps her own secret, and does not hurt the pride 
 of others. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 18th, 1785. 
 
 I am sorry, dear Sir, that I must give you 
 unanswerable reasons, why I cannot print the 
 work you recommend.* I have been so much 
 
 * It is impossible to say with certainty what is the work here 
 alluded to ; but, most probably, it was Ailred's Life of St. Ni- 
 nian, of which it appears, from a letter from the late Rev.
 
 80 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 solicited since I set up my press to employ it for 
 others, that I was forced to make it a rule to listen 
 to no such applications. I refused Lord Hardwick 
 to print a publication of his ; Lady Mary Forbes, 
 to print letters of her ancestor. Lord Essex ; and 
 the Countess of Aldborough, to print her father's 
 poems, though in a piece as small as what you 
 mention. These I recollect at once, besides 
 others whose recommendations do not immediately 
 occur to my memory ; though I dare to say they 
 do remember them, and would resent my break- 
 ing my rule. I have other reasons which I will 
 not detail now, as the post goes out so early : I 
 will only beg you not to treat me with so much 
 ceremony, nor ever use the word humbly to me, who 
 am no ways intitled to such respect. One private 
 gentleman is not superior to another in essen- 
 tials : I fear the virtues of an untainted young 
 heart are preferable to those of an old man long 
 conversant with the world ; and in the soundness 
 of understanding you have shown, and will show 
 a depth which has not fallen to the lot of. 
 
 Your sincere humble servant. 
 
 Rogers Ruding, dated August 4th, 1785, that Mr. Pinkerton 
 obtained at this time a transcript through him from the manu- 
 script in the Bodleian Library. Pinkerton speaks of this manu- 
 script in the 2nd Vol. of his Early Scottish History, p. 266, 
 as " a meagre piece, containing very little as to Ninian's Pi- 
 kish Mission. The letter alluded to from Mr. Ruding shows 
 Pinkerton to have turned his mind to the antiquities of Scot- 
 land with great earnestness.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 81 
 
 DR. BEATTIE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Aug. 24th, 1785. 
 
 Though my attention has been much engrossed 
 of ] ate by a variety of matters, I have not neg- 
 lected your commission ; but I am sorry to tell 
 you that my inquiries have ended in nothing. Of 
 Barbour, I know that he was Archdeacon of 
 Aberdeen, that he wrote the book you mention, 
 and that he is often quoted with approbation by Sir 
 David Dalrymple in his Annals of Scotland; but I 
 know nothing more. I have applied to the mas- 
 ters of King's College (for Barbour, being an arch- 
 deacon, must have resided in Old Aberdeen, the 
 seat of the bishop, or must at least have been more 
 connected with that city than with the town of 
 New Aberdeen) — I say, I have applied to the pro- 
 fessors of King's College, but can get no account 
 of any of Barbour's manuscripts, nor any trace of a 
 tradition concerning him. All the advice therefore 
 that I can give you is, to read Sir D. Dalrymple's 
 Annals (if you have not already done it), in which 
 you will probably find something that may be of 
 use to you. The Ode on the approach of Summer 
 I remember to have read formerly ; but all I can 
 say of the author is, that his name was Scaton or 
 Seatoun. This I was told by an old gentleman 
 who has been dead these four years, and who, I 
 think, was the only person I ever heard speak of 
 him. 
 
 I do not believe there is any old Scotch poetry 
 in either of the Libraries of Aberdeen, except what 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 82 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 has been published ; and I question whether we 
 have any edition of Barbour, either old or new. 
 The bird you mention I never before heard of. 
 
 I always suspected you to be the author of the 
 second part of Hardyknute ; though I never men- 
 tioned it to you, because you seemed unwilling to 
 be explicit on that subject. I long to see the col- 
 lection of Antient Poems, and shall be much 
 obliged to you for the copy you are so good to 
 promise me. What is become of your little 
 comedy ? Is it likely to make its appearance on 
 the stage ? 
 
 A good edition of Barbour is much wanted ; and 
 I am sure the public will thank you for it. By 
 the by, I wonder it was not attempted sooner. I 
 freely confess I knew nothing of that poet, till I 
 read Sir D. Dalrymple, who not only commends 
 his poetry, but quotes many parts of his narrative 
 as authentic history. 
 
 I am happy to hear that you still go on in your 
 studies, and sincerely wish you success. My 
 health is become so precarious, that I dare not 
 attempt any thing that requires labor. I thank 
 you for what you tell me of Mr. and Mrs. Peckard, 
 and beg to be remembered to them.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 83 
 
 THE REV. W. TREMAYNE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Helston, Sept. IGth, 1785. 
 
 Though a perfect stranger to Mr. Heron's per- 
 son, I have some acquaintance with his Letters of 
 Literature, which have given me much satisfaction, 
 especially where you propose a plan for refining 
 and improving the English tongue, in this scheme 
 my thoughts are so fondly interested, that I can- 
 not forbear addressing you, and begging your 
 indulgence to accept, my cordial acknowledge- 
 ments. I have turned a considerable share of my 
 attention to the English tongue for these five or 
 six years past, but chiefly to the grammatical part, 
 which I have found loose and imperfect in several 
 points. I often, by the way, regretted that our 
 nervous language should be so crowded and set 
 a-jar with harsh superfluous consonants; but never 
 hoped to see a scheme advanced to the public, 
 effectually to refine and harmonise our northern 
 tongue, by substituting throughout, for those gra- 
 ting and hissing finals, melodious vowel termina- 
 tions. This Mr. Heron has done ; and every per- 
 son who hath an ear in the least attuned to har- 
 mony, and hath mastered habitude and prejudice, 
 must be delighted with the improvements illus- 
 trated in the subjoined specimen. But the bless- 
 ing of a good ear is rare ; insomuch that, if all 
 the learned in the kingdom should, according to 
 Mr. Heron's plan, "associate themselves under 
 the name of ' The Academy for Improving the Lan-
 
 84 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 guage,' " it were, I think, to be feared, that the 
 majority, having no ear for musical harmony, 
 would have none for plans to that effect. How- 
 ever, if a good number of men of extensive classi- 
 cal knowledge, possessed of a good ear and of a 
 taste for polite literature, could be brought to meet 
 together for this purpose, these might probably 
 mature such a design, and establish a scientific 
 language among themselves : it will be expedient 
 that the select Academy not only publish a gram- 
 mar and dictionary of the new orthography, &c. 
 but also compose and publish from time to time 
 books of all kinds in the same reformed tongue. 
 This cannot fail of speeding its celebrity. The 
 spirit of vanity, then, I verily believe, would work 
 all the excellent effects of a good ear. The learned 
 fops and literary smatterers would seize with avi- 
 dity the scientific language, as the distinguishing 
 ensign of the polite literati. Many would adopt 
 the improvements from true taste ; infinitely more 
 from mere affectation and love of novelty. It 
 would now become ** quite the thing," ''the ton;" 
 and, by and by descending even to the lower ranks, 
 in half a century it would prevail throughout the 
 kingdom. In these improvements etymology 
 must not be lost sight of, but be paid the utmost 
 respect to, in all material points ; and, in the 
 grammatical construction, the parts of speech 
 must be carefully discriminated, and kept as dis- 
 tinct from one another as possible. These are 
 truths whereof Mr. Heron must be fully sensible. 
 I now beg leave to trouble Mr. Heron with some 
 remarks, which his very enterprising and inge-
 
 ' MR. PINKERTON. 85 
 
 nious scheme has suggested to me. In the first 
 place, the frequency of open vowels is certainly 
 an imperfection ; and I the rather mention it, 
 because it may easily be amended . In this case 
 I would make constant elisions, save in two 
 or three instances of harsh double consonants, 
 agreeably to the most perfect Greek model, as 
 *' the star' appeareth," not " the stars," &c. With 
 the ancient Romans, I would regard the " H " every 
 where, in the beginning of a word, as it really 
 is, a mere aspirate, and no letter; and would 
 always say cm House, an Hat, &c. &c. The better 
 to distinguish some substantives from adjectives 
 like them, I would, for example, say, '* the 
 Soun filled mia Eara," the sound of the '* Drumo," 
 (I see *'soune" in Chaucer,) to distinguish it from 
 " soundo;' " skepoj' &c. &c. &c. I would say ''The 
 Resto," the remainder: " resC (ease,) which, if no 
 vowel or " H " directly follow, may be made Reste. 
 The substantive Quiet may be made Qiiie, and if 
 a vowel or"H" immediately follow, be restored 
 "qiiietj' to distinguish it from 'Ujuieto nyio," &c. 
 In like manner should be managed the accented 
 final E', to discriminate nouns and verbs the bet- 
 ter from one another. After these precautions, 
 there will be yet plenty of open vowels in the 
 plural final "A;" which evil must be tolerated, 
 to prevent the greater, of hissing consonants. I 
 find Tully, in his 4th book of Rhetoric to Heren- 
 nius, reprobates the " crebras vocalium conciirsio- 
 nesy' &c. ; and Quinctilian, book ix. 4th chapter, 
 remarks the same as a great imperfection. The 
 mode peculiar to the ancient Greeks and Latins of
 
 8G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 sundering- their substantives from the adjectives, 
 obviated in a main degree this defect. This 
 defect, so strikingly prevalent in the modern 
 Italian, is the true cause of the excessive and 
 effeminate softness of that language, even to in- 
 sipidity. 
 
 All nouns denoting the human kind, I would 
 distinguish from such as only denote the brute and 
 inanimate creation ; in this manner : Plur. KimU 
 Father/, kind fathers ; a kind mother, a K'nida 
 Mothera ; kind mothers, Kindai Motherai ; Honesti 
 Shepherdi, honest shepherds ; an honest slieplierdess, 
 an Honesta Shepherda, and Shepherdeza : plur. IIo- 
 nestai Shepherdai, and Shepherdezai, S^x. S^r. 
 honest shepherdesses, S^c. 
 
 I deem this form far more elegant than Kindo 
 Mothero, Kinda Fathera, Sec. I have some more 
 notices to make, which, if Mr. Heron approve 
 these, I will do myself the pleasure to send him 
 at a future time.* 
 
 * One only other letter, and that dated three years subse- 
 quently, appears from Mr. Tremayne in this collection. It 
 may therefore fairly be inferred, that Mr. Pinkerton was not 
 desirous to continue the subject, and that seeing by reflection, 
 ' veluti in speculum,' the fruits of his proposed alterations in our 
 orthography, he very wisely considered, that the sooner they 
 were suffered to be forgotten the better. Mr. Tremayne's 
 second letter I have not printed : it refers altogether to his 
 studies in the Italian and Spanish languages, which the read- 
 ing of Ihrons Litters had led him to undertake.
 
 MR, PINKERTON. ' 87 
 
 THE HON. HORACE Wx\LPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Sept. 17th, 1785. 
 
 You are too modest, Sir, in asking my advice on 
 a point on which you could have no better guide 
 than your own judgment. If I presume to give 
 you my opinion, it is from zeal for your honor. 1 
 think it would be below you to make a regular 
 answer to anonymous scribblers in a Magazine : 
 you had better wait to see whether any formal 
 reply is made to your book ; and whether by any 
 avowed writer ; to whom, if he writes sensibly and 
 decently, you may condescend to make an answer. 
 
 Still, as you say you have been misquoted, 1 
 should not wish you to be quite silent, though 1 
 should like better to have you turn such enemies 
 into ridicule. A foe who misquotes you, ought to 
 be a welcome antagonist. He is so humble as to 
 confess, when he censures what you have not said, 
 that he cannot confute what you have said ; and 
 he is so kind as to furnish you with an opportunity 
 of proving him a liar, as you may refer to your 
 book to detect him. 
 
 This is what I would do : — I would specify in 
 the same Magazine, in which he has attacked you, 
 your real words, and those he has imputed to you ; 
 and then appeal to the equity of the reader : you 
 may guess that the shaft comes from somebody 
 whom you have censured ; and thence you may 
 draw a fair conclusion, that you had been in the
 
 88 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 right to laugh at one who was reduced to put his 
 own words into your mouth before he could find 
 fault with them. And, having so done, whatever 
 indignation he has excited in the reader must re- 
 coil on himself; as the offensive passages will 
 come out to have been his own, not yours. You 
 might even begin with loudly condemning the 
 words or thoughts imputed to you, as if you 
 retracted them ; and then, as if you turned to your 
 book, and found that you had said no such tiling 
 there, as what you was ready to retract, the ridi- 
 cule would be doubled on your adversary. 
 
 Something of this kind is the most I would 
 stoop to ; but I would take the utmost care not to 
 betray a grain of more anger than is implied in 
 contempt and ridicule. Fools can only revenge 
 themselves by provoking ; for then they bring you 
 to a level with themselves. The good sense of 
 your work will support it ; and there is scarce a 
 reason for defending it, but, by keeping up a con- 
 troversy, to make it more noticed ; for the age is 
 so idle and indifferent, that few objects strike, un- 
 less parties are formed for or against them. I re- 
 member many years ago advising some acquaint- 
 ance of mine, who were engaged in the direction 
 of the Opera, to raise a competition between 
 two of their singers, and have papers written pro 
 and con ; for then numbers would go to clap and 
 hiss the rivals respectively, who would not go to 
 be pleased with the music. 
 
 Dr. Lort was chaplain to the late Archbi- 
 shop, Sir, but I believe is not to the present ; 
 nor do I know whether at all connected with
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 89 
 
 him :* I do not even know where Dr. Lort is, 
 having seen him but once the whole summer. 
 I am acquainted with another person, who, I 
 believe, has some interest with the present Arch- 
 bishop ; but I conclude that leave must be asked 
 to consult the particular books, as, probably, in- 
 discriminate access would not be granted. 
 
 I have not a single correspondent left at Paris. 
 The Abbe Barthelemi, with whom I was very inti- 
 mate, behaved most unhandsomely to me after 
 Madame du Deffand's death, when I had acted by 
 him in a manner that called for a very different 
 return. He would have been the most proper per- 
 son to apply to ; but I cannot ask a favor of one, 
 to whom I had done one, and who has been very 
 ungrateful. I might have an opportunity per- 
 haps, ere long, of making the inquiry you desire ; 
 though the person to whom I must apply is rather 
 too great to employ ; but, if I can bring it about, 
 I will ; for I should have great pleasure to assist 
 your pursuits, though, from my long acquaintance 
 with the world, I am very diffident of making pro- 
 mises that are to be executed by others. 
 
 * Only a few months after this letter was written, Dr. Lort 
 would have been the person best qualified to assist Mr, Pinker- 
 ton's researches at Lambeth; for he was appointed librarian to 
 the Archbishop, in the course of the year 1785, upon the death 
 of Dr. Ducarel.
 
 90 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Sept. 30th, 1785. 
 
 As soon. Sir, as I can see the lady, my friend,* 
 who is much acquainted with the Archbishop, I 
 will try if she will ask his leave for you to see the 
 books you mention in his library, of which I will 
 give her the list. I did ask Mr. Cambridge where 
 Dr. Lort is: he told me, with the Bishop of Ches- 
 ter, and on an intended tour to the Lakes. 
 
 I do not possess nor ever looked into one of the 
 books you specify, nor Mabillon's Acta Sanctorum, 
 nor O'Flahertys Ogygia. My reading has been 
 very idle, and trifling, and desultory ; not that 
 perhaps it has not been employed on authors as 
 respectable as those you want to consult, nor that 
 I had not rather read the Deeds of Sinners than 
 Acta Sanctorum. I have no reverence but for sen- 
 sible books, and consequently not for a great 
 number ; and had rather have read fewer than I 
 have, than more. The rest may be useful on cer- 
 tain points, as they happen now to be to you ; 
 who, I am sure, would not read them for general 
 use and pleasure, and are a very different kind of 
 author. I shall like, I dare to say, any thing you 
 do write ; but I am not overjoyed at your wading 
 into the history of dark ages, unless you use it as 
 a canvas to be embroidered with your own opi- 
 nions, and episodes, and comparisons with more 
 
 * Lady Diana Beauclerk. See preceding letter.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 9 1 
 
 recent times. That is a most entertaining kind of 
 writing. In general, I have seldom wasted time 
 on the origin of nations ; unless for an opportunity 
 of smiling at the gravity of the author, or at the 
 absurdity of the manners of those ages ; for ab- 
 surdity and bravery compose almost all the anec- 
 dotes we have of them, except the accounts of 
 what they never did, nor thought of doing. 
 
 I have a real affection for Bishop Hoadley : he 
 stands with me in lieu of what are called the 
 Fathers ; and I am much obliged to you for offer- 
 ing to lend me a book of his ; but, as my faith in 
 him and his doctrines has long been settled, I 
 shall not return to such grave studies, when I 
 have so little time left, and desire only to pass it 
 tranquilly, and without thinking of what I can 
 neither propagate nor correct. When youth 
 made me sanguine, I hoped mankind might be set 
 right. Now that I am very old, I sit down with 
 this lazy maxim — that, unless one could cure men 
 of being fools, it is to no purpose to cure them of 
 any folly ; as it is only making room for some 
 other. Self-interest is thought to govern every 
 man ; yet is it possible to be less governed by self- 
 interest than men are in the aggregate ? Do not 
 thousands sacrifice even their lives for single men? 
 Is not it an established rule in France, that every 
 person in that kingdom should love every king 
 they have, in his turn ? What government is 
 formed for general happiness ? Where is not it 
 thought heresy by the majority, to insinuate that 
 the felicity of one man ought not to be preferred 
 to that of millions ? Had not I better, at sixty-
 
 92 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 eight, leave men to these preposterous notions, 
 than return to Bishop Iloadley, and sigh ? Not 
 but I have a heartfelt satisfaction, when I hear 
 that a mind as liberal as his, and who has 
 dared to utter sacred truths, meets with approba- 
 tion and purchasers of his work. You must not 
 however flatter yourself, Sir, that all your pur- 
 chasers are admirers. Some will buy your book, 
 because they have heard of opinions in it that 
 offend them, and because they want to find mat- 
 ter in it for abusing you. Let them : the more it 
 is discussed, the more strongly will your fame be 
 established. I commend you for scorning any 
 artifice to puff your book; but you must allow 
 me to hope it will be attacked. 
 
 I have another satisfaction in the sale of your 
 book : it will occasion a second edition. What 
 if, as you do not approve of confuting misquoters, 
 you simply printed a list of their false quotations, 
 referring to the identical sentences at the end of 
 your second edition ? That will be preserving 
 their infamy, which else would perish where it 
 was born, and perhaps would deter others from 
 similar forgeries. If any rational opponent stag- 
 gers you on any opinion of yours, I would retract 
 it; and that would be a second triumph. I am 
 perhaps too impertinent and forward with advice : 
 it is at best a proof of zeal ; and you are under no 
 obligation to follow my counsel. It is the weak- 
 ness of old age to be apt to give advice ; but I 
 will fairly arm you against myself, by confessing 
 that when I was young I was not apt to take 
 any. 
 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 03 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Oct. 2ntl, 1785. 
 
 I am much obliged to you. Sir, for the notice of 
 the pictures ; but, as I have no place left here for 
 more pictures, and have a bust of Francis 11. and 
 so good a copy of his Queen from the original, I 
 am not inclined to buy them unseen, and would 
 not hinder the proprietor from selling them, if he 
 can, by desiring him to keep them till I come to 
 town, which may be in a week ; but I cannot fix 
 a day, as I am to have company with me this 
 week, and do not know how long they will stay. 
 Should they not be sold, I will let him know 
 when I am in Berkeley Square, if he will bring 
 them to me. 
 
 Sir Lionel Tolmache, who married the famous 
 Countess of Dysart, afterwards Duchess of Lau- 
 derdale, was not, I believe, a parliamentary gene- 
 ral ; nor, as far as I recollect, a general at all ; but 
 there was a former Sir Lionel, in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, of whom Mr. Pennant might see 
 a portrait in Scotland. 
 
 MR. ASTLE* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Battersea, Nov. 4tli, 1785. 
 
 I embraced the first opportunity of examining 
 * Thomas Astle, Esq., predecessor of Mr. Lysous in the
 
 94 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the manuscript you inquire after. I do not find 
 a date in the whole book ; and the relations, as 
 far as I am able to form a judgment, are too fabu- 
 lous to deserve attention. The genealogies are of 
 the same cast. I have long wished that some se- 
 lections had been made from Andrew Wintoun's 
 Chronicle in Verse. The former part is fabulous ; 
 but the three last books are interesting, as well 
 for the matter, as for the genuine specimens of the 
 lanQ:uao:e of North Britain in the 14th and 15th 
 centuries. Wintoun was first a canon of St. An- 
 drew's, and was afterwards prior of Lochleven, 
 from about 1395 to 1413. Several extracts might 
 be made from the two last books : as — 
 
 The battle of Falkirk. The sieges of 
 
 of Roslyne. Striveling. 
 
 ofDuplyne. Lochleven. 
 
 of Halydown Hill. Dunbar. 
 
 of Durham. Perth, &c. 
 
 of Otterbourne, &c. 
 A Description of a Tournament at Berwick, the 
 Gallant Actions of Sir Wm. Wallace ; of Douglas ; 
 and of Sir Pat. de Graham. 
 
 Several transactions, of which Wintoun was an 
 eye-witness in the reigns of our Richard II. and 
 Henry IV., deserve particular attention. I have a 
 
 office of Keeper of the Records in the Tower, and author of 
 the IJislorj/ of the Origin and Progress of Writing, Sfc. Sfc. 
 cS'c, died Dec. 1, 180;i, aged GO. A memoir of liis Life and 
 Writings will be found in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, Vol. 
 iii. p. 202.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. ^5 
 
 fair copy of this Chronicle,* which you may see, 
 if you will do me the favor of calling at the State- 
 Paper Office, Treasury. Mr. Topham will show 
 it you, in case I should not be there. There is a 
 short Chronicle of the Affairs of Scotland at the 
 end. Another copy of this work is in the royal 
 library at the British Museum, 17. D xx. I have 
 not the Paiice of Honor by Gawin Douglas. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF 
 BUCHAN.t 
 
 Knightsbridge, near Loiuloii, 
 Nov. 24th, 1785. 
 
 Though I could with ease have procured a 
 letter from either of my friends Mr. AValpole, Mr. 
 
 * The Chronicle of Andrew Wintoun is quoted by Mr. Pin- 
 kerton in his Ancient Scottish History ; but he does not state 
 whether he made much or any use of it. It was published 
 entire, with notes and a glossary by Mr. David Macpherson, in 
 1795, in 2 vols. 8vo. Dr. Watt, in his Bibliotheca Dritannica, 
 gives the following account of it: " As a history, it throws 
 great light upon Scottish transactions, especially ecclesiastical, 
 which are to be found no where else. As a poem, the versifi- 
 cation is easy, and the style often animated ; and it has the far- 
 ther advantage of being written in the pure language of the 
 country, 
 
 ' Tyl ilke mannys wndyrstandyng ;' 
 a thing of great consequence to our Scottish lexicographers." 
 
 t David, 11th Earl of Buchan, author of the Lives of 
 Thomson the poet, of Fletcher of Sultoun, and of Nnpier of 
 Mirchii'toii, devoted himself, throughout a long life, most zeal- 
 ously and honorably to the pursuit of literature, and was at all
 
 96 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Spottiswoode, or Mr. Nichols, to your lordship, 
 yet, as I believe you are too much a friend to 
 letters to require a formal introduction in literary 
 matters, I hope to be forgiven for saving your lord- 
 ship the trouble of reading more than one epistle 
 upon this occasion. Without further preamble, I 
 beg leave to inform your lordship, that, having with 
 much labor and at considerable expense (for which 
 no return can well be expected) published no less 
 than one hundred Ancient Scottish Poems (never 
 in print) from the Maitland manuscript in the 
 Pepysian library, I have desired Mr. Creacli to 
 send your lordship two copies, one for yourself, 
 and another for the library of the Society of Anti- 
 quaries : these I hope you will honor me by 
 accepting, as a mark of my regard for your lord- 
 ship and the Society. 
 
 From the introductory parts of this work, your 
 lordship will see that I propose publishing legiti- 
 mate editions of many of our old Scotish poets, who, 
 if given in the ancient orthography, and conform- 
 ably to manuscripts, would hold high rank in the 
 list of the ancient poets of Great Britain ; though 
 now, from the slovenly editions, they be considered 
 as mere amusement for the vulo-ar. Of these 
 the first and chief is Barbour, who wrote in 1375. 
 A manuscript of his poem, written 1489, is in the 
 Advocates' Library ; and I shall immediately, at 
 my own expense, give an edition literatim from 
 
 times an active patron of all that referred to the arts or 
 learning, lie died in the month of April 1829, at the age 
 of 86.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 97 
 
 this manuscript, if 1 can procure an exact copy. 
 Now, though I have just written Lord Hailes to 
 this effect, yet, my lord, I most earnestly beg of 
 your lordship that, if necessary, (and of which my 
 factor, Mr. William Buchan, will inform your lord- 
 ship,) you will join your interest to that of Lord 
 Hailes, in order to prevail on the Society of Ad- 
 vocates to permit a literal copy of this manu- 
 script to be taken at my expense. I know, my 
 lord, that, in Scotland, other ideas are often en- 
 tertained about these matters than in England. 
 Here, if a man wishes to publish a manuscript, 
 every body is eager to serve and oblige him in the 
 design ; every library is open to him who can use 
 it; and a librarian would send you a challenge, 
 if you offered him money : he knows the trouble 
 is yours, not his, and that, if dirty gold must in- 
 terfere in literary matters, you ought to be paid 
 by him, not he by you ; as you have the trouble, 
 his library and he the honor. This I mention, 
 my lord, as when Mr. Buchan, writer to the Sig- 
 net, my factor, copied himself the titles of some 
 old poems in the Advocates' Library for me, it was 
 hinted by Brown, the librarian, that a fee was 
 expected ! Now, though I should with pleasure 
 pay 100/., rather than this venerable old poet 
 should remain in his present vulgar condition, yet 
 one grudges to add to the expense necessary, an 
 imposition payable to a greedy librarian, who looks 
 upon literature as a matter of low and paltry 
 gain. 
 
 I should also be happy to learn from your lord- 
 ship, if any person or persons in the Society of 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 •^B CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Antiquaries be sufficiently versed in the oldest 
 Scotish, to compare the copy with the original be- 
 fore it is sent to me for publication. Your lordship 
 knows how very little our old language is studied, 
 so will not think this an improper question ; and, 
 if such person in the Society could be prevailed on 
 formally to collate the copy and vouch its being- 
 literal throughout, no greater favor could be con- 
 ferred on me. This copy of Barbour's manuscript 
 is the greatest wish of my heart ; and, if your 
 lordship will use your great influence in the affair, 
 I shall most gratefully acknowledge the favor in 
 my edition, (which shall be sent to the press as 
 soon as the copy reaches me,) and on every private 
 occasion in my power. 
 
 Did your lordship ever see The Complai/nt of 
 Scotland, printed 1549? I mean to reprint it; but 
 want a fac -simile of the title-page and transcripts 
 of two leaves (marked 39, and 137) which are 
 wanting in the copy in the Museum. Gaivin 
 Douglass Palicc of Honor, London, 1553, and 
 Edinb. 1579, I can find in no library in England, 
 and should wish much to reprint it. 
 
 Such pieces, my lord, almost any bookseller 
 here might reprint without risk ; but other pub- 
 lications I intend, I am forced to have recourse to 
 Tom Hearne's plan of high subscription to accom- 
 plish. For though, were I a little richer, I should 
 with infinite pleasure reprint many curious pieces 
 relating to my country at my own expense, yet I 
 find that with 300/. a year one cannot go far in 
 such matters. Accordingly, your lordship will 
 see, from the end of the second volume of the pre-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 99 
 
 sent work, that I mean to publish by subscription 
 the Vitcs Anthjuce Sanctorum Scotice, from manu- 
 scripts, and from vast collections never seen by 
 one man in ten thousand. As also Andrew Win- 
 ton's Chronicle, from the capital manuscript in the 
 King's Library. Since printing of these proposals, 
 (of which Mr. Creech will send some to the So- 
 ciety,) I have purchased from Mr. Astle, Keeper of 
 the Records in the Tower, a capital copy of Win 
 ton, collated with three manuscripts in Scotland, 
 and prepared for publication by a Mr. Seton in 
 1724. This, compared with two copies in Eng- 
 land, as shall be done, will form the best edition 
 of an ancient writer of Scotland that can well be 
 ever given. He is full of curious matters, totally 
 unknown at present to all our writers. 
 
 I know your lordship's love of literature and 
 antiquities will induce you to encourage these 
 designs. All I wish is to be kept from expense 
 beyond my power. My time, my labor, and 
 such expense as I can aiford, I shall ever think 
 well bestowed in illustrating the neglected anti- 
 quities of my country. 
 
 Requesting pardon for this long letter, I beg 
 leave to subscribe myself with much respect. 
 
 MR. KNIGHT TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Yarmouth, Nov. 20th, 1785. 
 
 Your last letter was dated — ; but I believe I 
 have already said enough on that subject. Suffice
 
 100 CORRESPONDENXE OF 
 
 it to add that, some time previously to the date of 
 it, I had left Essex, and taken up my residence at 
 this place for the benefit of sea-bathing, in which 1 
 have persisted, and continue to persist with great 
 perseverance. 
 
 I am somewhat apprehensive, from your own 
 account of yourself, that you have entirely 
 forsaken the bright and flowery paths of poet- 
 ry, to wander among the dark and barren de- 
 serts of early history. Your country, no doubt, 
 will be greatly indebted to you for the vast labor 
 which must attend the investigation of the long- 
 forgotten events of earlier ages ; and I am ready 
 to allow that the learned will peruse with applause 
 and pleasure what your diligent researches will 
 bring to light ; but, valuable as these acquisitions 
 may be, I shall scarcely prevail upon myself not to 
 lament the time you bestow upon them ; if we are 
 thereby deprived of such works as labor alone can 
 never produce. I flatter myself, however, that the 
 eagle is not continually confined in a gloomy cavern, 
 but that sometimes he basks upon the lofty rocks of 
 s:enlus. Yet it is to be remembered that the strong'est 
 eye, if too much inured to darkness, will shrink from 
 the dazzling brightness of the noontide ray. 
 
 Herons Letters have been much the subject of 
 conversation in several companies where I have 
 already been. The admirers of Virgil will never 
 forgive you. This, I suppose, you expected. 
 Many condemn the whole work by the lump, 
 evidently because their feelings are hurt by the 
 propriety of their old prejudices being called in 
 question. Some, however, (and they, let me tell
 
 iMR. PINKERTON. 101 
 
 you, are of the first abilities,) allow the author to 
 be possessed of uncommon genius and extensive 
 learning. Yet many of the assertions in your book 
 are disapproved of even by them ; and some are even 
 taxed with absurdity. This is indeed the less to 
 be wondered at, as you treat of so many different 
 subjects ; for it surely would be much more extra- 
 ordinary, if any one man could be found in every 
 respect on every subject exactly of the same opi- 
 nion with yourself; especially as you avowedly 
 combat prejudices of long standing. The 24th 
 letter (connexion of literature with political busi- 
 ness) is most particularly admired by Mr. Nicholls,* 
 Gray's friend. George Hardinge, a nephew of Lord 
 Camden, who is an excellent scholar and certainly 
 of the first rate abilities, is one of your admirers. 
 Nicholls, by the way, is not much pleased with 
 your treatment of Gray, in your discussion of his 
 character of Hume. I must indeed freely confess 
 I do not understand in what respect the latter, as 
 
 * The Rev. Norton Nicholls, one of the most elegant scho- 
 lars and accomplished gentlemen of the day, died on the 22d of 
 November, 1809, in the G8th year of his age. It was his sin- 
 gular good fortune to have been distinguished in his early life by 
 the friendship of Mr. Gray, the poet; while the close of his days 
 was cheered and enlivened and dignified by the friendship and 
 almost constant society of a man scarcely inferior to Mr. Gray 
 in talents and acquirements, and inseparably connected with 
 him in name, Mr. Mathias. Mr. Mathias has embalmed the 
 memory of Mr. Nicholls in an Italian Ode and a Biographical 
 Memoir, which latter is a beautiful specimen of that kind of 
 composition : it was intended only for private circulation, but has 
 been lately reprinted, together with the Ode, in the last volume 
 of Nichols' Illustrations of Literature.
 
 102 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 a contemporary lord of fame, is to be considered of 
 far higher rank than the former. 
 
 I shall hope to hear from you soon after my 
 arrival at Milton, if you can spare half an hour for 
 that purpose. I shall (at least it is my present 
 intention,) endeavor to acquire as much knowledge 
 of Italian as I can during the ensuing winter : — 
 for the present therefore I bid adieu to the Muses: 
 they have not indeed paid me a single visit since 
 they favored me with the little Elegy I sent you 
 before I left Pettits. The Reviews have, I think, 
 upon the whole, treated me with tolerable civility. 
 I did not see the Monthly till very lately. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec. 2ncl, 17B5. 
 
 I am favored with your letter, and I am much 
 pleased to hear of your intended publications. 
 Although I am very much hurried at present, I 
 wrote a letter to the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of 
 Advocates, in absence of the Dean, requesting 
 leave to have Barbour's manuscript of 1489 
 collated, and offering, in my own name, to be 
 surety for the restoring of the manuscript : it 
 would have been in vain for me to have asked per- 
 mission to send the manuscript out of the king- 
 dom. As Lord Buchan also interests himself in 
 this business, I hope that the request will be 
 granted. But, in that case, you must find out a 
 collator or copier : should the application prove
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 103 
 
 successful, I think that you ought, in your preface, 
 to confine your thanks to the Faculty of Advocates, 
 
 The Catalogue of manuscripts in the Advocates' 
 Library is to be found in the general catalogue of 
 that library : there has, I believe, been a plan of 
 making an abstract of the contents of letters, &c., 
 but that is no easy work ; and I fancy that, were 
 it performed, it would not communicate much 
 useful information. 
 
 The Palice of Honor, as Lord Buchan informs 
 me, is in the Advocates' Library, and I believe that 
 there are other copies of it : so, as to that particular, 
 you will have no difficulty ; for any member of the 
 Faculty can borrow the tract, and have it tran- 
 scribed. 
 
 I am surprised to hear that the Complainte of 
 Scotland was written by one Wedderburn, and not 
 by Sir James Tnglis, as M'Kenzie says, M'Kenzie 
 had certainly the book before him, when he 
 gave an abstract of it : so Ames and the Har- 
 leian Catalogue ought to be subjected to a farther 
 review. 
 
 The copy which I looked into many years ago 
 belonged to Dr. P. Cuming, one of the Ministers 
 of Edinburgh : what became of it I do not know. 
 I believe that Mr. George Paton, of the Custom- 
 house, Edinburgh, has a copy, and that he once 
 intended to reprint it.* I wish to see it when re- 
 
 * Wedderbunrs, or Vedclerburn's, Complainte of Scotland, 
 vyth ane Exortatione to the thrc Estails, to be vigilante in the 
 Diffens of their Public Veil, was printed at St. Andrews, iu 
 8vo. 1540, and reprinted by Dr. .Tolui Leyden, with a ProlimJ- 
 uai-y Dissertation and Glossary- in Ito,, in 1804.
 
 104 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 printed before publication ; as it possibly may 
 happen that I can furnish some illustrations. Do 
 not let Mr. M'Gowen rest till he sends you the 
 transcript ; for, with the best inclinations possible, 
 he is an unaccountable procrastinator. 
 
 You mistook me if you suppose that I reckoned 
 Sir John Bruce to be the author of Hardyknute : 
 it was his sister, Lady Wardlaw, who is said to 
 have been the author : all that I know on the sub- 
 ject is mentioned in Bishop Percy's Collection : 
 if you wish to have the original edition with the 
 supplementary stanzas in the hand-writing of Dr. 
 John Clerk, the copy is at your service. Sir 
 John Bruce was a steady Whig ; but I will not say 
 any thing as to his sister's opinions : at any rate I 
 should not wish to have my authority quoted as to 
 the supposed political opinions of any one. I shall 
 furnish you with the name of the lady, and of her 
 husband, at full length. I know nothing parti- 
 cular about her, excepting this, that she was the 
 mother of many handsome daughters, and that she 
 had a turn for design in landscape. 
 
 When I wrote to Dr. Birch, I did not know the 
 meaning of Scoto7'um piiltis. * I afterward learnt 
 that it respected the opinions of Pelagius. By 
 the way, how came Pelagius or Morgan to be a 
 Scotiis ? 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your intended 
 present of Maitland's Poems : I suspect it is on 
 shore in Lincolnshire. 
 
 * Scotorum pultis, (Scotch pottage,) is a term applied by 
 St. Jerome to the heresy of Pelagius, and is also used by some 
 councils.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 105 
 
 From your letter, I can form no judgment of the 
 VitcB Sanctorum: I hope you do not depend on 
 Camerarius. I have met with some of Camerarius' 
 Saints in some other low country collection by an 
 Irishman, but have no remembrance of his name, 
 or of the title of his book. 
 
 As to Wintons Chronicle, I wish that the publi- 
 cation of it may answer. I remember, that, on 
 consulting it, I thought it very incorrect and ill- 
 informed, Barbour is an author of a different 
 kind : most of the facts in his metrical Chronicle 
 have been collected from the information of eye- 
 witnesses : this you will see at large in my Annals. 
 
 From this scrawl you will see how much I am 
 hurried. 
 
 P. S. I should advise a publication in quarto : 
 separate tracts will go together that way, which, 
 singly, cannot constitute a duodecimo volume ; 
 but of that you will judge for yourself. 
 
 DR. PECKARD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge, 
 Dec. 9th, 1785. 
 
 I have received your most elegant present of the 
 two volumes of ancient Scottish Poems, * for 
 
 * Anlient Scottish Poems, never before in print, but noiv 
 
 first published from the manuscript collections of Sir Richard 
 
 Maitland, of Lethington, Knight, Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, 
 
 and a Senator of the College of Justice : comprising Pieces IVrit- 
 
 tenfrom about 1420 to 1.58(5, with large Notes and a Glossary,
 
 1<^G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which I return you my sincere thanks. T am 
 much obliged by the honorable notice you have 
 taken of me ; but indeed you far overrate the poor 
 civilities I had it in my power to show you.. I 
 wish I had been able to have made them of greater 
 importance ; but, situated as I then was, nothino- 
 more was at that time in my power. I see you 
 mention an Elegy of Mr. Smollett's with praise. 
 If it is an Elegy in which there is the expression, 
 the sheeted ghosts; it was not written by Mr. 
 Smollett, but by a friend of his, and a most inti- 
 mate and most beloved friend of mine, Mr. Thomas 
 Crawfurd, at that time one of the Scotch exhi- 
 bitioners of Baliol College, Oxford, who after- 
 wards lost his life, most unfortunately, in the East 
 Indies. If on any future occasion it should be in 
 my power to be of service to you, I shall be happy 
 in the opportunity. 
 
 I 
 
 2 vols. Qvo. 1780. In Nichols Illustrations of Literature, 
 iii. p. 609, Mr. Pinkertoii is styled, in relation to these poems, 
 a second Chatterton, and it is stated that all which was said of 
 their connexion with the manuscripts of Sir Kichard Maitland 
 is fictitious. Reference too is made to the Gentleman's Ma<ra- 
 zine, vol. Ivi. p. 147 — 150, which I have now no opportunity 
 of consulting, in support of this opinion. But, surely, the pre- 
 sent letter is a decisive answer to such a charge: Pinkerton was 
 no fool; and it would seem to be an act of consMmniato folly, 
 after having been guilty of such a forgery, to send it to the in- 
 dividual who was best qualified to detect it, and who indeed 
 could scarcely fail to do so.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 107 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec. 20111, 1785. 
 
 I doubt much whether Barbour's manuscript 
 will be allowed to go out of Scotland: perhaps 
 Lord Buchan may procure that permission ; for 
 his brother, Mr. Henry Erskine, is just now elected 
 Dean of the Faculty of Advocates ; and his interest 
 may accomplish what nothing else can. 
 
 I have neither eyes nor leisure to collate manu- 
 scripts : the transcripts made from Bannatine were 
 by myself, before the inflammation of my eyes 
 began to distress me. Your Lives of Scottish 
 Saints is on a good plan : perhaps Turgot's work * 
 is fuller in Papenbroch than in Surius ; | and per- 
 haps, in the same enormous work, there may be a 
 fuller account of David the First, by Ailred, than 
 what Twisden published. 
 
 Your Collection of Poems came to my hands a 
 few days ago : I thank you for it. I have not had 
 leisure to read much of it. I wish that the inde- 
 cent poems had been omitted : the obscurity of the 
 lanofuag'e, however, will make them less offensive. 
 
 It surprised me not a little to see you, in your 
 Essay, declare war against the Old Testament, 
 
 * Turgot, a monk at Durham, and afterwards Primate of 
 Scotland, is said to have been the author of the Hist or ia Eccle- 
 siiE Dunhelmensis, published under the name of Simeon of 
 Durham. 
 
 t Papenbroch is one of the principal writers in the voluminous 
 Acta Sanctorum : Surius published a work in vols, folio, en- 
 titled ' De probatis Sanctorum Uistoriis.'
 
 108 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 but what you say will do little harm ; for it is 
 plain that you have not studied the subject suffi- 
 ciently. What you say of the similarity of style 
 throughout the Old Testament convinces me that 
 you have never read Lowth de Hebraicd Poesi, or his 
 Translation of Isaiah .-—it is not incumbent on me 
 to enter into a discussion of that subject, or of 
 others of the like nature. 
 
 But I would seriously recommend it to you to 
 set down what you have said in the shape of 
 queries, and then subjoin your answers : this will 
 show you that you have been in too great a hurry. 
 The queries to be thus : ivho was Bayle ? who were 
 the wisest Rabbis ? when did they live ? hmu should 
 their authority be the best? 
 
 This is for yourself, and not written with any 
 view of obtaining an answer. 
 
 I have only to beg, that, in your future publica- 
 tions, my name may not be mentioned as a cor- 
 respondent of yours : at least, while you can per- 
 ceive no difference between Jehovah and the De- 
 mons of barbarous nations ; or between the religion 
 of the Jews, and that of the Hottentots. 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 1786. 
 
 I have read over the Preface to Le Grand very 
 attentively : — all that he says relating to your 
 
 * Francis Douce, Esq. author of JUnstrations of Shaksptare, 
 aud Anciinl Manners, a man than whom no one possesses a
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 109 
 
 inquiry, is, that the circumstance of the Saracens 
 being in possession of Spain, some provinces in 
 France, and the Holy Land, gave rise to the pro- 
 ductions of the three earliest " Ouvrages Roma- 
 nesques," in each of which Charlemagne is the 
 hero. — One makes him undertake an expedition 
 into Spain ; another into Languedoc ; and the third 
 into Palestine. He says the authors of these ro- 
 mances were monks ; but he omits to say who they 
 were, or when the romances were written. He 
 afterwards speaks of four devotional romances by 
 the Troubadours, one of which is Philumena, 
 composed by a monk under the name of a pre- 
 tended secretary to Charlemagne. This contains 
 the exploits of the Emperor against the Saracens 
 in Spain, and the miracles of the Abbey of Grasse, 
 of which place the author was a monk. The 
 authors of " rHistoire Litteraire de la France" he 
 says, carry the date of it as high as 1015; the 
 Count de Caylus places it in the reign of Saint 
 Louis ; and, however well founded Mr. Le G. 
 thought this latter opinion, he still meant to refer 
 to the romance as one of the three " Ouvrages 
 Romanesques" before mentioned, for fear of being 
 suspected of an inclination to diminish the glory 
 of the Provencals. 
 
 Althouo-h I do not think the above will answer 
 your purpose, yet I have hazarded the communi- 
 cation of it, lest you might hereafter accuse me 
 
 richer fund of knowledge connected with ancient customs, 
 poetry, and history, and than whom, certainly, no one is more 
 ready and more disinterestedly liberal in offering his treasures 
 to the use of any one disposed to profit by them.
 
 IJO CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of inattention, from a difference in opinion. I 
 should have almost doubted of the existence of 
 any specimen of the French language so early as 
 1100 (for the laws of William are dubious), if I 
 had not recollected something that Massieu,* I 
 think, has said. Massieu misled me, and I had 
 then never seen Otfrid's work,t which is Francic. 
 Will not the writings of WiclifFe, and the Transla- 
 tion of the Polychronicon by Trevisa, fill up the 
 chasm between Maundeville and Caxton ? 
 
 GENERAL CHARLES VALLANCEY TO 
 MR. PINKERTOX.: 
 
 Feb. 1st, 1786. 
 
 I am favored with yours of the 28th ult. 
 with the list of Pictish Kings inclosed, desiring 
 an interpretation of their names. I shall en- 
 deavor to perform the task on my return to Ire- 
 land. At the first view of the list, I cannot avoid 
 
 * Histoire de la Potsie Fran^aise. Paris, 1739. 
 
 t Hickes, in his Grammatica Franco-Theotisca, p. 5, gives 
 a long anol interesting account of Otfrid and liis works, among 
 which he particularly mentions iria magna Volumina of a Com- 
 mentary upon the Psalms, and a Folumen Pseudo-Rythmicum 
 Evangeliorum , divided into five books, both written in the 
 Francic tongue. He also speaks of Otfrid, as the man, ' qui 
 raaxime omnium perpolivit et eliminavit patriam linguam.' 
 
 X AuUior of a Grammar of the Irish Language, the Collec- 
 tanea Hibernica, ^c, one of the most profound scholars, and 
 let me add from ray own experience, one of the most friendly 
 and obliging men of his day.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. IH 
 
 thinking it fabulous, and the work of a modern 
 Scot or Irishman, from the name of the first, 
 viz., Cruidne, written I suppose for Cruitne. 
 Cruitne na Cuann, i tir Tarrcon, fogus na Brut- 
 naoi Mor, is the description of this people in the 
 oldest Irish Chronicles : the English of which is, 
 the Crotoni of the harbors, in the country of 
 Tarcon (Targuin), near the Brutii majores. 
 
 If words can possibly point out a people and 
 country, these were the Crotoni of Italy, an old 
 colony of the Pelasgi, who were Scythi from 
 Greece ; but Cruith, or Cruth, in Irish, signifies 
 form, image, &c., signifying the act of forming ; 
 whence Cruithoir, the Creator : the modern Scots, 
 then, apply the Latin Picti to this name, and will 
 translate the old Crotoni by Picti, and the Picti 
 by Cruitne : they were as distant and distinct a 
 people as the country of Scandinavia is from Italy. 
 In one of my Collectanea I have cleared up this 
 passage : the Brutnaoi being joined in the same 
 sentence, I think has been the cause of their mis- 
 take : these, say they, must be Britons — why not 
 the Britons of Mount Caucasus ? for there exists 
 an ancient people of that name there at this day. 
 All the Brutii or Britani derive their name from 
 refiners of metal or pitch, &c. Bruith-oir is a re- 
 finer of gold in the Gaodhlic at this day. 
 
 You are much mistaken with respect to my 
 researches into history and languages. I have 
 carefully studied all the northern writers; and, 
 finding nothing in the history to my purpose, I 
 turned to the eastern writers, where I was in- 
 stantly at home.
 
 11'2 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 The northern languages contain much of the 
 Asiatic in their obsolete words. In the list you 
 sent me stands Ce, the illustrious — it is Chaldaic, 
 Arabic, Persic, Irish, and enters into many com- 
 pounded proper names. 
 
 Junius, I believe, you would not have me give 
 much attention to ; yet I think you are much 
 mistaken in your opinion of the abilities of that 
 author. 
 
 Ur is a common epithet ; signifying, radiant, 
 more brilliant. See JMajansius de Vocibus in Ur. 
 It may also be corrupted from our Aire — we have 
 both. 
 
 BISHOP OF DROMOllE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromore House, Feb. 11th, 1786. 
 
 Your first very obliging favor of 19th November 
 would not have remained unacknowledged, till 
 your second of January 23d reminded me how 
 long I had been in your debt, had I not been 
 uncertain whether I should be at Dublin this 
 winter or not, in order to execute your first com- 
 mands ; and I delayed writing till that was de- 
 cided, which it is now in the negative. Very 
 important business of this See will keep me here 
 altogether in the country ; and, having sent my 
 proxy to Parliament, my attendance there is ex- 
 cused. On this account, I fear I cannot be of 
 that use to you in your researches, to which the 
 slightest intimation of your wishes and my own
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 113 
 
 desires to aid your valuable labors would suffix 
 ciently incline me. I am truly glad to see the 
 discussion of the early history of Scotland is 
 likely to fall into such good hands as yours ; and 
 I both applaud your resolution, and wish the 
 greatest success to your undertaking. I am afraid 
 it will not be easy to procure any extracts from 
 Irish manuscripts without the aid of Colonel Val- 
 lancey ; who (except an amanuensis of his,) is 
 the only person in this kingdom known to me, 
 who pretends to read an Irish manuscript or to 
 understand the old language. You would be 
 surprised, if you observed, as I do, how little the 
 original language of this country is cultivated or 
 understood by the aboriginal natives of it. 
 
 We last winter began to form a society, in imita- 
 tion of those in London and Edinburgh, for studying 
 and preserving a knowledge of the antiquities of 
 Ireland : then 1 had an opportunity of making the 
 above remark. I believe there is not a Fellow of 
 Dublin College that can read a line in their old 
 Irish manuscripts. Vallancey, as you justly ob- 
 serve, is so hot-headed, that he is a very bad 
 medium through whom to come at any sound, 
 solid information ; and yet I can only refer you 
 to him. If I were in Dublin, I would apply to 
 none but him, and unfortunately I am not upon 
 that footing with him to apply to him by letter ; 
 for he is as hot temi)ered as he is hot headed, and 
 downright quarrelled with me one evening at the 
 Society, for presuming to question some of his 
 wild reveries. Yet I must do him the justice to 
 say, that he, like other warm people, is very good- 
 
 • VOL. I. H
 
 114 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 natured ; and, if you would apply to him by 
 letter, cautiously concealing your incredulity as 
 to his historical tenets, you would find him 
 obligingly active to serve you (I am persuaded) ; 
 and he could do it ; for he keeps an old Irish 
 amanuensis, as I said above, who is continually 
 making transcripts and extracts from the old Irish 
 manuscripts for his use. This man I saw copying 
 an old Irish manuscript for Colonel Vallancey in 
 Archbishop Marsh's Library in Dublin, a public 
 Library founded by Archbishop Marsh, who bought 
 Bishop Stillingfleet's library as the foundation, 
 &c., replete with valuable books both printed and 
 manuscripts. Here, in this northern county of 
 Down, the Irish language is quite worn out 
 among our colonists from Scotland and England ; 
 so that none of the Campbells, Frazers, Hamiltons, 
 &c., who inhabit Dromore, can give any assist- 
 ance in explaining Dal; but, on looking into 
 Lloyd's Archaeologia, folio, Oxford, 1707, (a work 
 you should have always at your elbow), I find 
 in his Irish-English Dictionary he interprets Daly 
 '' a share, part, or portion ;" as Dalaigh'im is " to 
 assign, appoint," &;c. Apply therefore to Colonel 
 Vallancey, either in your own name, or through 
 our friend, Lord Buchan, as a public friend to 
 antiquities ; and I doubt not his enlisting himself 
 and his old Irish amanuensis in your service, for 
 making the extracts you want from the manu- 
 script. If he superadds his own visionary com- 
 ment, this you must silently prune away, when 
 you compose your work. For any critical expla- 
 nation of names or words I could get at O'Conor.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 115 
 
 But he lives remote from Dublin, I believe alto- 
 gether in the country : otherwise, he understands 
 the old Irish, and I believe could examine its 
 manuscripts. If you wish at any time to address 
 O'Conor himself on any point relating to your 
 subject, and will inclose your letter to me, I will 
 gfet it conveyed to him ; though I am not ac- 
 quainted with him myself. But then, for fear of 
 delay from my great avocations, do not let me 
 be obliged to write myself on the subject to either 
 of you. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your intended 
 kind present of your book, which I long much to 
 see ; and it may be left for the Bishop of Dromore, 
 at the Rev. Dr. Lort's house, Saville Row, near 
 Burlington Gardens, with an explanatory card ; 
 just mentioning that the Bishop of Dromore de- 
 sired you to leave it there, and hoped his good 
 friend. Dr. Lort, would excuse the liberty, till he 
 could give further directions about it. 
 
 I have at your service a very fair copy of the 
 Palis of Honour, compijekd by Gawifne Dowglas, 
 Bijsshope of DiinkyU. Imprinted at London in Fleet 
 Stret at the sygne of the Rose Garland, by Wyllyam 
 Copland. God save Quene Marye. In small 4to., 
 containing thirty-nine leaves only. At the end is 
 the Printer's Colyphon, Imprinted at London in 
 Flete Strete at the sygne of the Rose Garland, by 
 Wyllyam Coplande, but no date at all. It is need- 
 less to add, that it is all in a fat black letter, 
 bound up with the edition of the Eneados, London, 
 printed 1553. I am pretty sure I have the Com- 
 plaint of Scotland amidst my immense farrago,
 
 IIG CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 never sorted since I came into this country. T 
 fancy what I know of it T heard from Lord Hailes. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromore House, March 23rd, 1786. 
 
 The Bishop of Dromore's compHments to Mr. 
 Pinkerton : he hopes he will excuse a short billet 
 written in haste, to acknowledge, without delay, 
 the receipt of his favor of the 13th inst., and to 
 assure him he has forwarded, as directed, the two 
 inclosed letters to Colonel Vallancey and Mr. 
 O'Conor. 
 
 The Bishop will take the first opportunity in 
 his power to forward Bishop Douglass's Palis of 
 Honour ; but, as it is bound up with the J^neid in 
 4to., and both are very fair copies, the Bishop 
 wishes they may be both preserved clean, and 
 not suffered to go into the smutty hands of the 
 printers. The Bishop concludes Mr. Pinkerton 
 has got a transcript of another allegorical poem of 
 Gawain Douglas, intitled King Hart; which is 
 preserved in manuscript in Maitland's Collection, 
 pag. 226. beginning thus — 
 
 " King Hart into his cumlie castel strong," — 
 
 if not, the Bishop has a transcript at his service, 
 and some few manuscript illustrations, partly his 
 own, and partly communicated by John Davidson, 
 Esq., a writer of the Signet in Edinburgh, a man 
 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 117 
 
 of learning, and very excellent critic, to whose 
 kind offices principally the Bishop was indebted for 
 procuring him the loan of Bannatine's manuscript 
 out of the Advocates' Library ; but indeed he was 
 favored in this by all his friends in Scotland, who 
 were numerous, and used their influence in con- 
 currence with Mr. Davidson, in obtaining so great 
 an indulgence. The Bishop hath not been able 
 to find any copy of the Complaint of Scotland, 
 among his pamphlets, &c. which have been so 
 shuffled about in travelling from London to Car- 
 lisle, and thence to Ireland, that it is not impos- 
 sible but it may have been lost, if he ever had it. 
 P. S. Your frank did not prevent the postage : 
 this I only mention, to save you the trouble of 
 such an application in future. I shall never 
 scruple postage for any packet you may wish to 
 transmit through me to others, &c., though I 
 cannot but lament our difference in opinion in 
 what I think some very essential points ; and, as 
 many others as well as myself think them of great 
 importance to the welfare of society, the least to 
 be wished is, that this departure from the re- 
 ceived opinions should not officiously or unneces- 
 sarily be obtruded on the world. Excuse this 
 general reflection, which, till I have seen your 
 book, I cannot judge whether it be well applied 
 or not.
 
 118 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 REV. J AS. JOHNSTONE* TO MR, PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, March 30th, 1786. 
 
 Your letter of July 7th, 1785, learned Sir, after 
 a long- chace, only reached me about six weeks 
 ago, which I hope will be deemed a sufficient 
 apology for my silence. It gives me extreme 
 satisfaction to observe that a gentleman of your 
 erudition has deigned to cast a pitying look upon 
 the scanty and vanishing remains of Scottish 
 history. Between monkish credulity and re- 
 fined supaficiaUtif , they have hitherto been sadly 
 mangled. I sincerely wish you all the success 
 possible ; and, treading in the same field, but 
 "longo intervallo," I will glean up what may escape 
 your notice. With respect to your queries, I 
 have met with no complete chronicle of Scotland 
 in this country : nothing but disjecta membra. 
 To suppose that the Caledonian records were 
 preserved at lona is a common error : for a long 
 period it had no dependence upon the crown of 
 Albany, and, besides, it underwent so many 
 catastrophes, (being twice burnt, and the monks 
 and patriarch massacred three other different 
 times,) that it is impossible to conceive how any 
 thing of value should be suffered to remain there. 
 It is much more likely that Kenneth the 2nd, after 
 obtaining the Pictish crown, intrusted his archives 
 
 * Rev. James Johnstone, Chaplain to the English Minister 
 at Copenhagen, was author of the Death Song of Lodbroc, 
 AnliquHatcs Cillo-Aormanicee, «SfC. Sfc.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 119 
 
 to Tuathal M'Fergus, primate of the united king- 
 doms; but who resided in a part of the nation 
 very remote from Icolmkill, and much less 
 explored. 
 
 Neither the Danes nor Norwegians have pre- 
 served any written monuments of their history, 
 previous to the 10th century: any thing we know 
 of prior times is from the Icelanders. I am per- 
 suaded, if those gentlemen-rovers could only lay 
 their hands upon a few fat cows, they gave them- 
 selves little trouble about other matters. Pictavia 
 was incorporated with Albany before Iceland was 
 discovered : consequently, it is not surprising if 
 the Picts are never mentioned by the Scandinavian 
 writers. I find nothing concerning Galloway in 
 them previous to the time of Earl Allan, who 
 made a distinguished figure in those ages. The 
 castle that Pennant alludes to probably contained 
 nothing but the charters of the Norwegian mo- 
 narchs to the Bishops of Man, and the islands, and 
 to the Hebridean chieftains. They were kept in 
 the palace, or cathedral, of Drontheim, and con- 
 sumed by fire ; but I forget the year. There are no 
 lives of Scots saints to be found at this place : the 
 few extracts I have from them were obtained else- 
 where. I can get no intelligence of Bishop Robert's 
 Description of the Orkneys ; nor, what is more 
 stranjre, of Valleius's Priscse Cantilenae Danicae. 
 
 Thus, Sir, I think I have answered all your 
 queries ; and I wish I could have done it more 
 satisfactorily. But, notwithstanding, I now and 
 then pick up an anecdote, which shows me that 
 the northern nations were neither so barbarous.
 
 120 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 nor so unconnected as is generally supposed. 
 Several of even Boece's fictions are founded in 
 truth : among these I long reckoned his wars 
 of Macbeth against the Scandinavians ; but I find 
 now it is a fact. The traditional character of the 
 Danes is so frightful, that we should be surprised 
 a gentle son of Morven should dare to put his foot 
 in Lochlin. 1 find, however, that the Earl of 
 Carrick was there ; and that his great son, after 
 the defeat at Methuen, retired to the same place. 
 It was, no doubt, by his negociations at that 
 court, that he got Angus of the Isles, and the 
 posterity of the brave Norwegians, to act the 
 manful part they did at the battle of Bannock- 
 burn. I am told a Baron Ferguson, in Cowal, is 
 possessed of some charters which nobody can 
 read. I wish they could be copied : they are 
 most certainly of the Norwegian princes. I have 
 seen some hundreds of them ; and they are gene- 
 rally in Icelandic, the common language of that 
 kingdom till the reformation. 
 
 I have more confidence in your friendship than 
 to suppose you would think of publishing this 
 scrawl: you evidently see, Sir, it consists of a few 
 loose thoughts, thrown out in the hurry of busi- 
 ness. My collections will make their appearance 
 in due time.
 
 jVIR. PINKERTON. 121 
 
 MR. DAVIDSON* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, April 2nd, 1786. 
 
 Mr. Buchan gave me last day your favor ; and 
 I am glad to see that you approve of my ideas 
 about the Regiam Majestatem. Malcolm's laws 
 appear to be not authentic. Spelman is quite in 
 the right : Lord Hailes printed a tract in 1769, 
 M^hich fully demonstrates the thing. 
 
 Your ingenuity and labors about the Picts 
 and Scots merit much commendation. I shall be 
 happy to see your work, and beg you will have 
 me set down as a subscriber to all your publica- 
 tions on our Scots antiquities, &c., and for two 
 copies of each, one for myself and another for the 
 writers to the Signet. I think a map of Scotland, 
 Pictish and Scottish, might be a thing prefixed 
 to your work, and which would elucidate it. Caer 
 occurs in the Lothians — Carbery and Cramound, 
 in old writings : I remember to have seen it 
 named Carra miincl Scottorum, i. e. the castle on the 
 river. It is also in Fife, Carbery and Cardwan; 
 vide Sibbald, p. 85. These etymologies are per- 
 plexing matters : somehow the languages and 
 customs came to mix ; but the oldest names 
 every where, as Fife, Scoon, Cupar, Lothian, and 
 Perth, I have found puzzle even our Gaelic ety- 
 mologists; though they often appear very lucky 
 in that art, aptly expressing the nature of the 
 
 * ,Tolin Davidson Esq., Writer to the Signet, autliQr of Obser 
 i:alions on the Regiam Majestatem, Sfc.
 
 122 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 place in the name. But we might go far by a com- 
 plete villare and nomenclature, which I have in 
 vain tried to get done by some of the knowing 
 ones : my friend. Lord Hailes, was deceived by 
 them when he wrote the Dissertation on the Guild 
 in his Annals. I showed him the true etymology ; 
 and he by a note corrected the Dissertation, and 
 gave that etymology to the public. 
 
 Your intelligence about the first edition of the 
 Detection, &c., I gave notice of to Principal Ro- 
 bertson : I should be glad to see it or hear more 
 about it. 
 
 I went with Mr. Buchan to the Advocates' Li- 
 brary, and saw the plays of Sir D. Lindsay in the 
 Hyndford manuscripts. It seems to me there are 
 94 pages of plays and interludes. If I am not 
 mistaken, the title at the beginning, bearing them 
 to be Lindsay's, though not on the head of the 
 pages, is not succeeded by any other title ; and 
 therefore they may be properly all, on the autho- 
 rity of that manuscript, ascribed to that poetic 
 Knight. I got Mr. Buchan into a train by which 
 I hope he will get them copied for you. I notice 
 well what you say about Barbour : I looked at 
 the manuscript : it is more difficult to be read than 
 the other; but yet easily made out by attention. 
 I do not know, however, if there is one to be got 
 here who can do it. I remember well much 
 work was employed to obtain the manuscript to 
 be lent to my worthy friend, the Bishop of Dro- 
 raore ; and I could scarcely prevail, even with 
 the aid of the donor, the Earl of Hyndford. I 
 almost despair of it. But, when the curators meet,
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 123 
 
 I shall attempt it. I am glad that you find the 
 English universities, &c., so liberally-minded now. 
 I think I have read that Selden was refused a 
 loan of a book by the college to whom he gave 
 his manuscripts. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your handsome 
 offer of getting me copies of manuscripts from 
 the English collections. If the articles, p. 86 and 
 234, in Goodall,* Vol. ii. are extant, I should be 
 glad to be at the expense of a copy. I would 
 also wish a copy of Earl Morton's Trial for Darn- 
 ley's Murder : it is not in this country. A fac- 
 simile copy also of No. X. Vol. ii. p. 54, I would 
 also wish to have. Mr. Gough was applied to by 
 a friend of mine, and sent me the fac-simile copy 
 of the subscription to it, very well done by a 
 lead- pencil on oiled paper : but I would wish to 
 have the whole ; and the way he had used is 
 possibly the easiest. I take it to be one of the 
 copies which were left in England of these 
 papers produced against Queen Mary, by Earl 
 Murray or some other of that party. I am glad 
 you have studied that controversy, and see it in 
 the light it always appeared in to me. I have 
 given Mr. Buchan, to send you, the last but one 
 copy I had of the Rolls of Robert Bruce, which I 
 had printed several years ago, and a charter 
 
 * Walter GoodalVs Examination of the Letters said to be 
 tvritten by Mary, Queen of Scots, to James, Earl of Bothwell; 
 showing, by Intrinsic and Extrinsic Evidence, that they are 
 Forgeries : also an Inquiry into the Murder of King Henry. 
 Edinburgh, 1754, 2 Vols. Ovo.
 
 124 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which I found among the Duke of Buccleugh's 
 papers, and got him to give orders to engrave. I 
 never saw any Scots deed or paper, in Saxon, 
 Gaelic, or French prose, before Robert the Bruce's 
 time, that I can recollect, and should wish to 
 see one. Some few charters we have. I 
 have tried to come at Bulls from Rome ; and, as 
 several Rescripts, &c., are mentioned in the Corpus 
 Juris Canonici, I think there must be many curious 
 things there. Earl Buchan informs me he has a 
 prospect of getting them. 
 
 If you are at any expense for me, I will pay it 
 to Mr. Buchan the moment I know it. I do not 
 go far in such matters ; but I am always willing 
 to throw away a few pounds for amusement. 
 
 Thus your goodness brings you to the trouble 
 certainly of a long letter, and perhaps of more 
 still. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF 
 BUCHAN.* 
 
 Knightsbridge, April 3rd, 178G. 
 
 I was afraid of being troublesome with my cor- 
 respondence, else I should have answered the 
 letter your lordship did me the honor to write me 
 immediately. I do not know how to thank your 
 lordship for the kind offer of lodging me at your 
 house till I copied the manuscripts ; but I shall 
 
 * Lord Buchan has indorsed this letter : " A curious letter 
 from Mr. Pinkevton to the Earl of Buchan."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 125 
 
 always be as grateful for the offer as if I actually 
 had accepted it, which it was impossible for me 
 to do. For, alas, my lord, I have quite other 
 matters to mind than to copy Scotch manuscripts ; 
 and, since my countrymen seem so cold in the 
 business, 1 shall allow them to go on in their 
 old way. 
 
 I learn from your lordship's letter that you have 
 misunderstood me as to the design. The F/te 
 Sanctorum are by subscription. Winton I have 
 a copy of. Barbour I want no subscribers for ; 
 but only the manuscript to copy. I was also 
 surprised at your lordship's mention of haste and 
 inaccuracy in speaking of my Ancient Scottish 
 Poems ; for the short Essay prefixed cost me half 
 a year's toil ; and the toil and pains bestowed 
 on the whole publication have struck those most 
 versed in such matters here, as greater than have 
 ever been exerted on a like occasion. 
 
 Indeed, every page shows prima facie the pains 
 taken. Your lordship also mentions several mis- 
 takes, but points out none. This is unusual with 
 literary people ; for it is a favor to point out a 
 mistake ; but to mention them without showing 
 them, is unallowable. I can see your lordship 
 differs in opinion about the camps of Agricola, 
 &c.; and I know it is a common plan with my 
 countrymen, to call all people mistaken who differ 
 from them in opinion ; but this idea is not found 
 in any other country save Ireland, and the sooner 
 we abandon such strong prejudices the better. 
 
 As to Antiquarian matter, my lord, I am glad 
 to see, from your speech to our Antiquaries and
 
 126 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 your Letters on Agricola's Camps, that your lord- 
 ship is very little versed in them ; and I may say 
 to you, as the Harper did to Philip of Macedon, 
 " Huaven forbid you should know these matters as well 
 as we /" 
 
 REV. DR. CHARLES O'CONOR* TO 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Belanaga, near Rosconinion, 
 April 4th, 1786. 
 
 Through the kindness of my Lord Bishop of- 
 Dromore, and the conveyance of my learned friend 
 Mr. Walker, an officer in our Irish Treasury, I this 
 week received your letter of the 13th of March. 
 It gratified me to find a gentleman of your can- 
 dor and abilities employed on the Antiquities of 
 the Ancient Scots, a distinct people among the 
 other various tribes inhabiting our Britannic Isles; 
 and it would add highly to my gratification, if I 
 could supply you with any useful document on the 
 subject — a subject of importance, but long under a 
 cloud, thickened by prejudices from your country, 
 as well as from our own : luckily, these prejudices 
 begin to subside here, a circumstance which en- 
 couraged me to draw up a Prospectus on the 
 Origin, Civil Government, and Manners of the An- 
 cient Scots in their Heathen State. How it will be 
 
 * This singularly learned Irish Antiquary, author of Colum- 
 hanus' Letters, &c. &c., and Librarian to the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, died very recently.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 127 
 
 received in the committee of Antiquities, belong- 
 ing to our Royal Irish Academy, I know not. It 
 may fail of giving satisfaction from such hands as 
 mine ; bat I doubt not of its success w^hen the 
 subject falls into better hereafter. 
 
 This I am bold to assert ; for some materials of 
 authentic information are still preserved among us. 
 \s2iY, some materials; for most of our historical details 
 are irrecoverably lost. Our Archives deposited in the 
 Monasteries of Ireland, have been consumed in the 
 fires of the heathen barbarians of the North ; who, 
 in frequent incursions, despoiled France, Britain, 
 and Ireland, in the 8th and 9th centuries. They 
 demolished our nurseries of learning ; and it was 
 only on the reduction of their power here, that 
 some Irish Patriots have set about collecting as 
 much of our historical wreck as escaped. A col- 
 lection has been made ; but some of the collectors 
 wanted critical skill in their choice : they, how- 
 ever, wanted not the art of flattering the vanity of 
 a declining nation, by following such documents 
 as gave the Scots too high an antiquity in this 
 island. In consequence, they published genealo- 
 gies with redundant generations, and gave us a 
 correspondent catalogue of kings, who only ob- 
 tained their titles by the courtesy of their several 
 factions. They are confounded with the few mo- 
 narchs who had a legitimate election, from the 
 concurrence of the majority of the nation ; and 
 these injudicious publishers have put our titular 
 kins:s in succession to each other, as a son would 
 succeed to a father in modern monarchies. Such 
 was the art employed to gain the Scots a high
 
 128 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 antiquity, thoroughly inconsistent with the state 
 of affairs in Europe before the commencement of 
 the Persian Empire. This fabric, therefore, of 
 technical genealogies, and technical succession of 
 ninety Kings before the Christian sera, cannot stand ; 
 and your countryman, Mr. Innes*, (a priest of the 
 Scotch College in Paris,) has sufficiently exposed 
 its weak foundation ; though in other respects a 
 very mistaken writer. 
 
 To Gilla Coeman and Flan, of Bute Abbey, we 
 owe the publication of the Regal List I mentioned : 
 they were esteemed as able antiquaries by the 
 majority of their contemporaries in the eleventh 
 century ; and the majority since their time (even 
 our learned O'Flaherty) have adopted a popular 
 error : I have done so in my youth ; but, on meet- 
 ing with better guides, am not ashamed to retract. 
 In the annals of Tigemach, and other ancient do- 
 cuments, I found that our more authentic notices 
 are to be deduced from the building of Eamaniaf 
 
 * " In 1729 appeared Innes' invaluable Essay on the Ancient 
 Inhabitants of Scotland, in 2 vols. 4to. and 8vo. This work 
 forms a grand epoch in our antiquities, and was the first that led 
 the way to rational criticism on them. His greatest merit lies 
 in publishing the Old Chronicles and other genuine remains of 
 our History. His industry, coolness, judgment, and general 
 accuracy, recommend him as the best antiquary that Scotland 
 has yet produced." — Pinkertons Inquiry into the Anlient His- 
 tory of Scotland ; Introduction, p. Ixiv. 
 
 t In illustration of what is here said of Eamania, and indeed 
 respecting the whole of this letter, see a very curious paper by 
 Dr. O'Conor, entitled, Rijlections on the History of Inland, 
 during the times of Heathenism, published in Vallancey's Col- 
 lectanea, iii. p. 213.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 129 
 
 in Ulster, about 200 years before the Christian 
 9era. The seven generations of Ultonian princes 
 mentioned in the interval, prove this calculation to 
 be pretty exact. Of what passed in Ireland before 
 this Eamanian sera, little is known, except a few 
 capital facts ; such as the expedition of the Scots 
 from Spain to Ireland, about 500 years before the 
 birth of our Saviour ; the legislation of Ollamh 
 Fodhla, and his erection of apartments for the 
 college of Fileas at Teamor, where they continued 
 undisturbed under every revolution, and from 
 thence spread with equal immunity through the 
 neighboring provinces. These were facts which 
 were too big for oblivion in any country, where the 
 elements of literature were cultivated. These ele- 
 ments were imported from Spain, where the native 
 Scytho-Celts held intercourse with the Phoeni- 
 cians and their Carthaginian posterity. It was in 
 memory of these intercourses that the ancient 
 Scots took occasionally and ostentatiously the 
 name, Phenii. Hence the dialect among them 
 called the Phenian, (the language of their juris- 
 prudence preserved to this day, but not understood 
 by me or any other Irish scholar in this kingdom); 
 and hence the number of Phoenician terms disco- 
 vered by Colonel Vallancey in our old intelligible 
 writings. 
 
 Through the lights obtained by the Scots (in a 
 part of the continent where the Phoenicians had 
 lasting settlements) they learned the art of sailing 
 on the ocean, and imported into this island the seven- 
 teen cyphers t ley used in their writings ; and, thus 
 initiated, and cut off in a remote island from any 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 J 30 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 intellectual intercourse with the polished people 
 of Greece and Rome, they were left to the im- 
 provement of their own stock. In such a situation, 
 their improvement must be slow as well as gradual. 
 It took them time to form their barren Scytho- 
 Celtic dialect, (first used in the greater division of 
 Europe) into a nervous and copious language, 
 stripped of its original consonantal harshness. It 
 is still preserved in our old books, and discovers to 
 us the corruptions of our common people, who 
 are corrupting it more and more every day, 
 even in places where the English language is not 
 yet used. By the way, how could the language of 
 the third century in your country be preserved pure 
 to this day in the Highlands of Scotland ? How 
 could the powers of Ossian be preserved by oral 
 tradition through a period of 1500 years? In our 
 old written language we discover that the speakers 
 were a cultivated people ; but their cultivation 
 was local ; and, on that score, the discovery of 
 what it was among this sequestered people, is an 
 object more interesting to us than one offered to 
 investigation from a bare principle of curiosity. 
 To you. Sir, and to disengaged writers like you, it 
 is left to bring this subject of Scottish antiquity 
 out of the darkness spread over it. The lights 
 which the revolution under our Tuathal, (sur- 
 named the Acceptable), afford, will be of great 
 use to you. At the close of the first century, the 
 Belgians of Ireland revolted against their Scottish 
 masters, expelled the old royal family, and set 
 up a monarch of their own blood. Tuathal, the 
 presumptive heir of the Heremonian line, was 
 
 I 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 131 
 
 conveyed to your country : his mother Ethnea 
 being the daughter of the king of the Picts, 
 he was protected there, under his grandfather. 
 Grown to maturity, he returned ; and after sub- 
 duing all the enemies of his house, he mounted 
 the throne of Teamor. Soon after, in a conven- 
 tion of the states, the crown of Ireland was, by a 
 solemn law, declared hereditary in his family ; 
 and, from this epocha, which commenced A. D. 
 130, to the establishment of Christianity, we have 
 a series of authentic history productive of great 
 men and great actions. 
 
 I shall owe much to your indulgence, if you pardon 
 all this before I come to the chief subject of your 
 letter. Of all that I could find relating to your coun- 
 try, I shall in my next send you transcripts and lite- 
 ral translations ; but I must confess that I have not 
 hitherto met with much that has not been published 
 in the last age by Mr. OTIaherty. In the book of 
 Balimote I find our antiquaries concurring with Bede 
 in the establishment of Carbry Riada as the leader 
 of the first colony of Scots in Britain, supported 
 there partly by the indulgence of the Picts, and 
 partly by the negociating power of the wisest of 
 our monarchs, Cormac Ulfada, Carbry's cousin-ger- 
 man. The second greater colony was established 
 by Carbry's posterity, the sons of Erk, about the 
 year 503. The succession of the Dalriadic kings 
 from that period, with the years of reigns down to 
 Malcolm Canmor, has been preserved in the poem 
 quoted by Mr. OTIaherty, a copy of which I 
 possess; and the original, with a translation, shall 
 be remitted to you, as soon as I recover from my
 
 132 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 present languid state, bound by rheumatic pains. 
 That the Tuatha De Danan arrived in Ireland 
 from North Britain, and subjected the Belgians, all 
 our old documents aver. 
 
 Be assured. Sir, of any service I can render you 
 in your present undertaking. The more it is agi- 
 tated by able writers, the more the truth of history 
 will appear. The motto of your arms, post nuhila 
 Sol, makes me look up to you as the person who 
 will disperse the cloud cast on our history. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO DR. CHARLES O'CONOR. 
 
 Knightsbridge, near London, 
 July 22nd, 178G. 
 
 I was duly favored with your full and obliging- 
 letter of the 14th April, and was in hopes that 
 your health would ere now have permitted your 
 sending me the extracts and the poem you so 
 politely promise. But, as they have not come to 
 my hands, I am afraid that your great and vene- 
 rable age, joined with your rheumatic complaints, 
 have come in the way of your good intentions. 
 
 My Inquiry into Scottish History prior to 1056, 
 will not be sent to the press till next summer 
 (1787), and will not appear till the beginning of 
 1788. It is a work of infinite reading and labor; 
 and, though but an octavo volume, will cost me 
 more pains than two quarto volumes upon an 
 easier subject would. 
 
 But these pains I cheerfully undergo, as I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 133 
 
 hope at last to settle the ancient history of my 
 native country, upon the solid footing of facts and 
 authorities which nothing can shake, and which 
 shall, as the Spanish proverb runs, leave nothing in 
 the ink-horn. 
 
 Such being the case, I hope that your health 
 will permit you, sometime before next summer, to 
 send me the extracts and poem you promise. I 
 assure you. Sir, no service can be more acceptable 
 to me; and I shall be most grateful for it. 
 
 What is the reason that the Irish do not pub- 
 lish extracts at least from the Psalter of Cashell 
 and other old monuments, with literal trans- 
 lations ? A general reference to old chronicles, 
 which is the common plan of your antiquaries, is 
 very unsatisfactory, and is never allowed in the 
 history of other countries. When manuscripts 
 are referred to, the passage itself ought always to 
 be produced, the page and age of the manuscript, 
 and the place where it is. But a single pamphlet, 
 containing extracts from the manuscripts them- 
 selves, with translations, would give more satis- 
 faction to the literati of Europe, than all the 
 works which have been published on your anti- 
 quities, your own excepted, which are by far the 
 most sensible and valuable. Where is a hymn to 
 St. Patrick, published by Colgan as of the fifth 
 century? Is not that hymn modern Irish, and 
 legible by any one who can read Irish of the 
 fourteenth century? 
 
 Has the language continued the same, or how 
 are we to account for this ?
 
 134 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. JOHNSON TO MR. MORISON.* 
 
 Kenraore, Aug. 13th, 1780*. 
 
 With this catalogue I send you an exact copy 
 from one of the originals in Taymouth House, 
 which you will be so kind as to forward to 
 Mr. Pinkerton.f I am sorry I could not send it 
 sooner; but I spent some time in procuring the 
 list, and find myself rather at a loss which to begin 
 
 * Mr. Morison, bookseller at Perth, who is occasionally 
 noticed in this Correspondence, and whose letter will be 
 found subsequently, giving an account of the sad death of Mr. 
 Johnson. 
 
 t I have preserved this letter, as the first intimation of Mr. 
 Pinkerton's having turned his thoughts to the Iconographia Sco- 
 tica, and as containing, what I do not know was ever published, 
 a full Catalogue of the Portraits in Lord Breadalbane's seat at 
 Taymouth. " These portraits," Mr. Pennant observes, in his 
 Tour in Scotland, Vol. 111. p. 30, " constitute the most remark- 
 able part of the furniture of the house;" and he has enumerated 
 several of them, and described some. It were greatly to be 
 desired that similar lists were kept of the portraits in all the 
 residences of our ancient families in Britain. For want of a 
 little care in this respect, many, within the narrow circle of my 
 own knowledge, are no longer to be identified, though known to 
 be intended to represent individuals of note ; and I could enu- 
 merate some instances where I have heard the former possessor 
 dwell with pleasure upon the description of family-pictures, 
 while the present proprietor is utterly ignorant whom they are 
 intended to portray. The late Sir \Yilliam Musgrave felt 
 strongly the importance of this : in the British Museum are 
 preserved two volumes of original letters addressed to him, 
 containing answers to queries regarding the portraits in different 
 houses; and it is plain from these, that he had intended to seek 
 for similar information on a very extensive scale.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 135 
 
 with, as I am at present uncertain which of the 
 noble personages Mr. Pinkerton wishes to have, 
 and which in colors, &c. ; particularly with regard 
 to Robert II., which I cannot find; and Robert 
 III., which is a very wretched performance, as I 
 have marked in the catalogue. I cannot find 
 Eliz More, nor Mary of Guelder, which Mr. Pin- 
 kerton mentions particularly in his letter. This I 
 have sent is undoubtedly the Annabella he wishes 
 for: the date, &c. correspond with the date on 
 Robert III. As I have something to do, I will 
 wait till I hear from Mr. Pinkerton, which I hope 
 will not be long; and will thank you to send me, by 
 the carrier, a few sheets of the best drawing-paper 
 in a stiff case of pasteboard, to keep it from crump- 
 ling, in the manner I spoke of. 
 
 Catalogue of Portraits in Taymouth House. 
 
 IN THE LIBRARY. 
 
 1 John, Earl of Mar .... dated 1G36\ 
 
 
 2 William, Earl of Airth . . . 
 
 . 1637 
 
 
 3 William, Earl Marishall . . . 
 
 . 1636 
 
 
 4 Lord of Loudoun 
 
 . 1637 
 
 
 5 John, Earl of Kinghorn . . . 
 
 . 1637 
 
 
 6 Lord Napier 
 
 . 1637 
 
 Half lengths 
 * by Jameson. 
 
 7 Sir Robert Campbell .... 
 
 . 1641 
 
 8 Sir John Campbell .... 
 
 . 1642 
 
 
 9 James, Marquis of Hamilton 
 
 . 1636 
 
 
 10 Anne, Marchioness of Do. . . 
 
 . 1636 
 
 
 11 Thomas, Lord of Binning . . 
 
 . 1636 
 
 
 12 John, Lord Leslie .... 
 
 . 1636y 

 
 136 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 IX THE DRAWING-ROOM. 
 
 13 Charles Rich, Earl of Warwick, whole length ") _« 
 
 la Henry Rich, Earl of Holiand, brother to Charles, V. ^^ 
 
 Earl of Warwick, and father to Mary, Countess of \ S 
 
 Breadalbane. 
 
 For these two vide Pennant. 
 
 IN THE LOBBY. 
 
 15 Sir Dun. Campbell, of Lochaw . . . "i , 
 
 16 Lady Margaret Stewart, his wife, daughter of ' ^ 
 
 Robert, Earl of Fife and Menteith . . ' " 
 
 17 Sir Colin Campbell, of Glenurchie, died 1480, ^ 
 
 aged 80 ....... f ® 
 
 18 Lady Janet Stewart, his wife, daughter of William, I rn 
 
 Lord Lorn ....... -^ 
 
 19 Sir Dun. Campbell, of Glenurchie, killed at the ~\ 
 
 battle of Flodden, 1513, aged 70 . . . v § 
 
 20 Lady Margaret Douglas, his wife, daughter of V ^ 
 
 George, Earl of Angus .... 
 
 21 Sir Colin Campbell, of Glenurchie, died 1523, -^ 
 
 aged 55 ....... f ^ 
 
 22 Lady Mary or Margaret Stewart, his wife, daughter i |3 
 
 of .John, Earl of Atholl .... J 
 
 23 Sir Dun, Campbell, died 1530, aged 50 . . •\ ^ 
 
 24 Margaret, his wife, daughter of Sir John Colquhoun, > S 
 
 of Luss ....... ' 
 
 25 Sir John Campbell, of Glenurchie, died 1550, 
 
 aged 54 ....... 
 
 26 Margaret, his wife, daughter of Sir Archibald Ed- 
 
 monstone, of Duntreath .... 
 
 27 Sir Colin Campbell, of Glenurchie, died 1583, 
 
 aged 84 ....... 
 
 21 Lady Katharine Ruthven, his wife, daughter of 
 William, Lord Ruthven .... 
 
 29 Sir Duncan Campbell, of Glenurchie, died 1631 
 
 30 Lady Jane Stewart, his first wife, daughter of the 
 
 Earl of Atholl, died 1593, aged 35
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 137 
 
 Hugh, [ i 
 
 31 Sir Colin Campbell, of Glenurcliie, aged 50 
 
 32 Lady Juliana Campbell, his wife, daughter of 
 
 Earl of Loudoun, aged 52 . 
 
 33 Sir Robert Campbell, of Glenurchie, succeeded his \ 
 
 brother, Sir Colin, 1G33. (Same as No. 7.) ^ q; 
 
 34 Sir John Campbell, his son, father to the first Earl of i 2 
 
 Breadalbane ...... ^ 
 
 IN THE DINING-ROOM. 
 
 35 John, Earl of Breadalbane, ann. 1696, married first, in 
 1658, Lady Mary Rich, daughter of Henry, Earl of 
 Holland ; secondly, 1681, Lady Mary Campbell, daugh- 
 ter of Archibald, Marquis of Argyle, Countess Dowager 
 of Caithness. 
 
 36) 
 37 5 
 
 Portraits of these two Ladies. 
 
 38 John, Earl of Breadalbane, (ann. 1740,) married first, in 
 1685, Lady Frances Cavendish, daughter of Henry, Duke 
 of Newcastle ; secondly, in 1695. Henrietta, daughter of 
 Sir Edward Villiers, sister to Edward, Earl of Jersey : 
 both married when he was Lord Glenurchie. 
 
 > Portraits of the two foregoing Ladies. 
 
 40 > " * 
 
 41 John, Lord Glenurchie, (anno 1744,) afterwards third Earl 
 
 of Breadalbane; married first, in 1718, Lady Annabella 
 Gray, eldest daughter of Henry, Duke of Kent ; secondly, 
 in 1730, Annabella Pershall, grand-daughter and heiress to 
 Sir T. Pershall, Bart. By Ramsay. 
 
 42 7 
 
 > Portraits of both these Ladies. 
 
 43 3 
 
 44 John Lord Glenurchie, (anno 1762,) married, in 1761, 
 
 Willielma Maxwell, daughter and co-heiress of William 
 Maxwell, of Preston, in the Stewartry of Kirkcud- 
 bright, Esq. 
 
 45 Portrait of the said Lady. 
 
 46 George and John Campbell, eldest and second sons of John 
 
 Lord Glenurchie, afterwards third Earl of Breadalbane, 
 (anno 1742). N. B. This John is the same with No. 44.
 
 138 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 ANTICHAMBER WRITING-OFFICE. 
 
 47 David 2nd, King of Scotland, dated 1330, seemingly a fine 
 
 original, but rather defaced by time. 
 
 48 Robert 3rd, King of Scotland, dated 1390, repaired in 
 
 1633 ; a very poor copy. 
 
 49 James 1st, . dated . 1424 repainted 1632 
 
 50 James 2nd, .... 1437 . . . 1633 
 
 51 James 3rd, .... 1460 . . . 1633 
 
 4th, wanting 
 
 52 James 5th, K. of Scot. 1514 . . . 1633 
 
 53 Ann, Queen of Scotland, 
 
 without date, but 1633 
 
 54 Portrait of a handsome young man, seemingly a king, 
 
 prince, or knight; with small feathers and pearls in his 
 cap, dressed in a rich habit of ermine, on one side, and 
 fleur-de-lis on the other, with a collar in which are 
 escallop shells, and a St. George pendent on his breast, 
 without name or date of any kind : appears to be the 
 same workmanship with the foregoing. 
 
 55 Margaret, daughter of Christian, King of Denmark, and 
 
 Queen of Scotland, dated 1460 — appears to be original. 
 
 56 Mary, Duchess of Longueville, Queen of Scotland, dated 
 
 1514 — seemingly an original. 
 
 57 Annabella Drummond, daughter of the Knight of Stobhall, 
 
 and Queen of Scotland, dated 1390 — appears to be 
 original. 
 
 58 Maria, Queen of Great Britain, anno 1635 — very old, and 
 
 much sunk in. 
 
 59 John Campbell, of Glenlyon. 
 
 LARGE EAST ROOM. 
 
 60 Margaret of Argyle. 
 
 61 Sir Ewen Cameron, of Lochiel. 
 
 62 General M'Nab. 
 
 63 N. B. — Since writing the above, a portrait of James 4th is 
 
 found, of the same workmanship with the rest of the 
 James's; dated 1489, and copied in 1633.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 139 
 
 04 Also a portrait of Archibald Campbell, first Lord of 
 
 Argyle, aged 36. 
 C4 Robert 1st, King of Scotland, 130G— seemingly original, 
 
 or a very good copy ; but in bad preservation. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 London, Sept. 2nd, 1786. 
 
 As I have long wished to be acquainted with 
 you, I won't permit any moment, leading to the 
 aimed point, to eschape, or go in vain. 
 
 I will also accept your kindful invitation to- 
 morrow, and render my due thanks to the Eternal 
 Being for the restitution of your health, dear for 
 every of your friends. 
 
 GEN. VALLANCEY TO MR. PINKERTON.f 
 
 I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. 
 Young, a fellow of Trinity College, the gentleman 
 to whom Dr. Usher delivered Mr. Lorimer's Me- 
 moirs of the Psalter of Cashell. Mr. Young had 
 taken great pains to discover this manuscript, pre- 
 vious to the search I made : he will inform you of 
 our bad success. I am not yet convinced that 
 
 * Grimr Johnson Thorkolin, LL, D. Keeper of the Archives 
 at Copenhagen, and author of Fragments of English and Irish 
 History, S)'c. 
 
 t The following letter was inclosed in this.
 
 140 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the Psalter, or an abstract from it, is not in the 
 library : the manuscripts are many, and contain 
 miscellaneous matter without indexes : to search 
 them thoroughly would require a month ; and it is 
 by great favor the librarian attends you in the ma- 
 nuscript room for half an hour ; and by the Col- 
 lege Laws he must not quit the room when any 
 person is in it. This obstacle to our inquiries is 
 not to be got over ; and unless Mr. Young, or some 
 other person residing in the college who under- 
 stands Irish, will take the trouble on themselves, 
 I despair of accomplishing the task. 
 
 I have frequently turned to your list of Pictish 
 Kings with desire of complying with your request, 
 in deriving their names from northern dialects. 
 From the Gloss. Suio-Goth of Hire, from the 
 Icelandic Dictionary, from the Scytho-Goth of 
 Verelius, and from the Swedish and Danish Dic- 
 tionaries, I can make no sense of the names. 
 From the Irish and from the Persic most of them 
 are to be analysed. 
 
 This strengthens my former assertion that the 
 Picts were not the Cruitne, as the Irish and Erse 
 translate the word ; but that the Cruitne were 
 Crotoni, from Croton in Italy, as the Irish His- 
 tory declares ; that colony of Pelasgian Scythi, 
 who settled there after the time of the original 
 Hercules, who was a Scythian. My Vindication 
 of the Irish History, (which will be out in a fort- 
 night with a list of Errata a yard long, owing to 
 my dwelling in the country,) I hope, will set this 
 in a clear light ; and, previously to your perusal of 
 it, I wish you would read the distinction Richard-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 141 
 
 son and Jones have made between the Northern 
 and Southern Scythians, people who, from the first 
 descent from Caucasus, became as distinct nations 
 as the Chinese and Americans — even at enmity 
 with each other ; one leading the wandering life 
 of the Tartars ; the other descending to the South, 
 mixing with the Jews, Canaanites, Arabs, &c. 
 dwelling in towns, and improving in the arts and 
 sciences. Monsieur Bailly has well described 
 both in his Atlantkle. From what has been ob- 
 served, I conclude that the lists of Kings in the 
 Pictish Calendar, are not originals at the begin- 
 ning, but a forgery of some Erse or Irish seanachy: 
 and the names at the latter end appear to be 
 genuine Northern, as Drust, from the Suio-Gothic 
 Dtistig, Audax; or corrupted from Drott, Domi- 
 nus, Drottset vel Drozt, Drost and Dro.viet, " no- 
 men praecipui olim regni Officialium, quique se- 
 cundum regem primas in imperio peragit partes." 
 {Ihre.) Bred, from the Suio-Goth: B)Yiede, ira, 
 animi fervor, or from Brodd, cuspis. Bryta or 
 brifda, frangere. 
 
 These are evidently Northern names ; and I be- 
 lieve those in the beginning to be forged. 
 
 DR. O'CONOR TO GENERAL VALLANCEY.* 
 
 Belanaga, Sept. 23d, 178G. 
 
 Your friend, Mr. Pinkerton, being curious to 
 
 * To this letter was subjoined tlie Diiain which is the subject
 
 142 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 peruse the Dmiin I mentioned to you, on the first 
 Scottish Kings in North Britain, I request you 
 will remit it to him with my best respects. I am 
 long in arrear to him ; and, as you are acquainted 
 with the crazy state of my health, I make a 
 second request, that you will impress him with 
 the truth, that nothing but my infirmity pre- 
 vented an earlier attention to the transcript he 
 required from me. 
 
 The Dua'in was composed about the year 1070, 
 in the reign of Malcolm Canmor. In the course 
 of ages, it did not escape faults and mutilations 
 from ignorant transcribers, particularly in the 
 middle parts, wherein the succession of kings is 
 not only defective, but deranged. In the first 
 period, however, from the year 503 to 719, the 
 list of eighteen monarchs in the Duain corresponds 
 exactly with our Irish annals. In the last period, 
 from the reign of Gregory to that of Malcolm 
 Canmor (through a succession of. thirteen mo- 
 narchs) the same exactness is observable also. 
 The defects and deragements in the Diiain are 
 only visible from the year 719 to 895. The loss 
 of a genuine copy of the whole is to be regretted ; 
 as, in the Catalogue given by Buchanan, till he 
 comes to the reign of Malcolm I., A.D. 946, there 
 can be little or no dependence. 
 
 of it, in the original Irish, and also an English version ; but 
 as both the one and the other, accompanied, indeed, likewise 
 with another version, have been printed in the second Volume 
 of the Antiint Ilistcri/ of Scotland, p. 321, I have not thought 
 it necessary here to repeat them.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 143 
 
 The Diiain begins with the first peopling of 
 Britain ; and the account is mostly fabulous. It 
 is followed by the tradition, that seventy Pictish 
 Kings reigned in Albany before the dissolution of 
 the Pictish Government by the Scots. For Mr. 
 Pinkerton's satisfaction, I annex a translation to 
 the copy I send him on the other side of this 
 paper. I am only sorry to tell him, that, after 
 all my inquiries, I could not find a second copy ; 
 and for that in my possession I am indebted to 
 you. Sir, from whom I have received many other 
 documents of the best authority. 
 
 Yesterday, my dear Sir, I received your Vindica- 
 tion under a franked cover from our Castle of 
 Dublin. It outweighed all the papers in the post- 
 bag ; but this is nothing : it outweighs a hundred 
 volumes, the compositions of ignorance on our 
 British Antiquities : you have opened a mine 
 for new workmen ; and, by the treasure you have 
 thrown up, you have created a passion for further 
 explorations. Your erudition and labors in the 
 work before me are immense. The framers of 
 hypotheses on our European Antiquities will be 
 vexed, undoubtedly, to find all their fabrics de- 
 molished ; but the unbiassed among the learned 
 will be extremely thankful to you for your dis- 
 coveries in a region (the extremity of the west) 
 where little or nothing in ancient history was ex- 
 pected : macte esto. Peevish system-makers envy, 
 and will object. But relative to the Pano- 
 Scythians, their navigations, their knowledge of 
 letters, and the final settlement of some of their 
 tribes in the British Isles, you have carried your
 
 144 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 point demonstrably. 1 return a thousand thanks 
 for your communications and documents for twenty 
 years past. Through that assistance I am pre- 
 paring a Prospectus of the Internal State of this 
 Country ; but my infirmity and other avocations 
 throw, I am afraid, insurmountable obstacles in 
 my way. 
 
 DR. THOMAS CAMPBELL TO THE BISHOP OF 
 
 DROMORE.* 
 
 No. 5, Anne Street, Dublin, 
 Feb. 27, L787. 
 
 I told you that I had put Mr. Pinkerton's 
 inquiry into such a train that I had almost every 
 hope of giving him satisfaction ; but the sequel 
 will show how far I have been disappointed. The 
 Librarian of the College, wishing to further our 
 research in the most liberal manner, sent for a 
 Mr. Flanigan, a student of Trinity College, Dub- 
 lin, and greatest adept he knew of in the Irish 
 language, that gentleman being, as you probably 
 
 * Attached to this letter is one in the hand-writing of the 
 Bishop of Dromore, stating that it is from "Dr. Campbell, author 
 of the Philosophic Survei/ of the South of Ireland, who, since 
 that book was written, has very much wavered in the faith he 
 then had in Colonel Vallancey, and is now an unbeliever in his 
 hypotheses." — Dr. Campbell was Chancellor of St. Macarten's, 
 Clogher, and a correspondent of Mr. Gough, to whose edition 
 of Camden's Britannia he contributed. Dr. Campbell died in 
 1795 : see Mr. Walker's letter of the 7th August of that year.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 145 
 
 know, employed by the Royal Academy in copy- 
 ing Irish manuscripts ; but, alas ! his knowledge 
 failed in making out the dates in the te.vt of those 
 venerable parchments, the Annals of Tigernac and 
 Inisf all, or Innisfallen. (N.B. not Inisfail! Inisfail 
 is a name for Ireland at large : Inisfail is an island 
 in the county of Kerry, where the monastery 
 stood, whence originated the famous Annals.) 
 And, unfortunately, there is a chasm or hiatus 
 valde deflendus at the period of the reign of 
 Brudi, of whom no mention is made in this copy. 
 But it is to be observed, that, on the margin of this 
 copy, is a regular notation of chronological dates, 
 in our common figures, by a modern hand, from 
 which it appears to my unlearned eye, that the 
 above chasm extends from the year 577 to 590. 
 
 Thus far we go on sure grounds : now, it is to 
 be further observed, that, in the Annals of Tiger- 
 nac, there is a similar notation of chronology in 
 the margin ; and, opposite to the account of Brudi 
 Mac Alilochoii is the following marginal note. — 
 *' 584. Brudeus ob'. Ult. Annal." 
 
 On this I remark, that it should from hence 
 seem, that the date of Brudi's death in the Annals 
 of Ulster, to which the writer of that note refers, 
 is a year later than in the translation which Mr. 
 Pinkerton has seen in the British Museum. It is 
 then natural for Mr. Pinkerton to expect that I 
 should have referred to the Annals of Ulster to 
 clear up this doubt ; and I did so : but the copy 
 in Trinity College, Dublin, has no marginal notes 
 that we could make out ; and the text, as to the 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 dates, was, like that of Tigernac and Inisfallen, 
 not intelligible to Mr. Flanigan. 
 
 Upon the whole, my lord, here is a certain 
 degree of authority in favor of three out of those 
 four years which pressed Mr. Pinkerton's ac- 
 curacy with difficulty in his pimctum Jixum, or 
 great epoch. As it was found so difficult to come 
 nearer to the death of Brudi, your lordship and 
 he will easily see how vain it would be for me to 
 attempt any inquiry into more minute dates. But 
 I must add, that I have heard that the best copy 
 of the Annals of Ulster is in the Library of Ox- 
 ford ; and whether an inquiry would reward Mr. 
 Pinkerton's pains I dare not so much as guess. 
 
 I am heartily vexed that I could not be of more 
 service to Mr. Pinkerton ; as I am persuaded he is 
 divested of those fond prejudices which have dis- 
 figured the writings of some gentlemen of his 
 country and my own. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Feb. 28th, 1787. 
 
 The Bishop of Dromore's compliments to Mr. 
 Pinkerton : he has had the good fortune to pro- 
 cure what he esteems the very ablest assistance 
 in this kingdom for the solution of his doubts and 
 difficulties; and, if the result has not answered 
 his sanguine expectations, the Bishop despairs of 
 success from any other quarter. Dr. Campbell
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 147 
 
 is supposed to be now engaged in researches, 
 which, like a talisman, will tend to dissolve the 
 unsubstantial visions and reveries of Colonel Val- 
 lancey and his followers, and is a very careful and 
 cautious inquirer into the reliques of antiquity. 
 He has in this research of Mr. Pinkerton's em- 
 ployed a Mr.Flanigan, a student of Trinity College, 
 who received a reward for discoverinsf an ancient 
 inscription, supposed to exhibit the Ogham, or secret 
 character of the ancient Irish druids and bards, 
 &c., and is wholly devoting his studies to the revival 
 of ancient Irish literature. The Bishop thought 
 he could not do better than send to Mr. Pinkerton 
 the autograph of Dr. Campbell. Dr. Campbell's 
 stay in Dublin being only a few months in winter, 
 he can only be an occasional assistant to Mr. 
 Pinkerton ; but, while he is here, the Bishop will 
 apply to him or young Flanigan. He knows no 
 other who can be of solid use. 
 
 The Bishop wishes Mr. Pinkerton would care- 
 fully read Dr. Priestley's Institutes of Natural and 
 Revealed Religion, in 2 vols. 8vo., before he de- 
 cides that all of that school have given up the Old 
 Testament, as Mr. Pinkerton seems to hint in a 
 former letter ; but indeed he wishes Mr. Pinker- 
 ton would read them on other accounts. 
 
 MR. A. DE CARDONNEL,* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 March 5th, 1787. 
 Some days ago, Mr. Buchan called upon me, 
 
 * Author of the Numismata Scotia, or a Series of the Scotish
 
 148 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 with a request from you, to endeavour to procure a 
 sight of Sir David Lindsay's Plays and Satires. I 
 have been inquiring with great anxiety at every 
 person I could think of, and I have wrote to 
 Lord Balcarras, a descendant of his, to know if he 
 has such a manuscript in his library, but have got 
 no answer yet. 
 
 Calling on a friend of mine here about them, I 
 have got the book entitled Sir David Lindsay's 
 Satire, printed, but wanting several pages at the 
 beginning and end : there is a note at the begin- 
 ning, wrote by Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore. 
 '* Although this book is called, on the current title. 
 Sir David Lindsay s Satire,* it is more properly a 
 moral play, being of that species of dramatic wri- 
 tings, which, at the revival of literature, prevailed 
 all over Europe and even in England, called mo- 
 ralities. In Bannatyne's manuscript collection of 
 Old Scotish Poems, (presented by Lord Hyndford 
 to the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh) is a com- 
 plete copy of this work, beginning at page 164 of 
 the manuscript. In many places the two copies 
 contain considerable variations. Of Bannatyne's 
 
 Coinage from William the Lion to the Union ; and of Pic- 
 turesque Antiquities of Scotland, in 2 vols. 4to. etched by him- 
 self, 1788—1793. 
 
 * Fifteen years after this letter was written, Mr, Pinkerton 
 printed at Edinburgh, for private distribution, thirty copies of 
 the work here alluded to, entitled, Ane Pleasant Satyrc of- 
 the Thrie Estaitis. Of Sir David Lindsay's works many edi- 
 tions are enumerated by Dr. AYatt in the Bihliotheca Britan- 
 nica: the last and most perfect was by Mr. Geo. Chalmers, 
 in 3 vols. Bvo. 1786.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 149 
 
 copy, Allan Ramsay made a transcript, (but not 
 with the most scrupulous fidelity,) which is at 
 present in possession of his son, Mr. Allan Ram- 
 say, sergeant painter to the King. T. P. 1776." 
 
 Whether the above-mentioned book may be pro- 
 perly styled his Play or Satire on the Estates, I 
 cannot determine ; but it is printed; and, by what I 
 can learn, the only copy at present extant. I agree 
 with the Bishop in its being a play, from the man- 
 ner of introducing the character with " Heir sail 
 thay spulye flattry of the freiris habite, and sclio 
 sail have ane kirtil of silk under hir habit ;" these 
 are put in a small type all through the book. This 
 copy begins with the 17th and ends with the 
 148th page: the first is a Dialogue between Rex 
 and Sensuality and Wantonness. As the gentle- 
 man this belongs to will not upon any account 
 part with it out of his sight, I do not know 
 how to get it copied for you in case it is neces- 
 sary, as to which you must let me know, and I 
 shall fall to work to have it done in as cheap a 
 way as possible. Inclosed, I send you a proof of 
 my second plate : it is the entry of St. Mary's 
 Church, Dryburgh. It is a different style from 
 the last: do write me if it pleases. Lord Buchan 
 has just left me, perfectly satisfied with the plan, 
 and much pleased with the two plates.
 
 150 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. A. DE CARDONNEL TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 April 21st, 1787. 
 
 How many obligations do I owe you for your 
 kind attention ! Your last letter has been lying 
 on my table before me without my having been 
 able to answer it. The public business has for 
 some time past required very close attendance ; 
 and the least moment of leisure I was obliged to 
 seize to get forward with my plates. My corre- 
 spondents I have not answered from necessity. 
 They may blame me ; but I could not help it. 
 Since yours I heard from Mr. Planta. The money 
 is paid to Mr. Nicol : the sum I think little : how- 
 ever, I shall venture to send up what silver ones I 
 have to him, as they are of little use to me. I 
 fancy by this time you will have received Mr. 
 Paton's book ; as Mr. Elliot's partner left Edin- 
 burgh above a week since, and was to send you 
 notice immediately on his arrival. Although very 
 busy, I have not been unmindful of you : after 
 much inquiry, I have found a person who will 
 undertake to copy for you ; but I wait till you 
 shall see the books sent, in case it should be 
 what you want. I see in Arnot's History of 
 Edbiburgli, an excerpt from a manuscript play 
 then in possession of David Garrick, p. 605 — is 
 this it? Do let me hear farther ; and I shall im- 
 mediately set about procuring leave for the young 
 man to sit in the Advocates' Library to copy ; as 
 no manuscripts are allowed to go out now.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 151 
 
 By very hard labor I have now got my work 
 in train : I have almost finished twenty-two plates ; 
 I have got drawings for about sixty. I mean to 
 put twenty-five in the first number, with an intro- 
 duction in much the same style as Mr. Grose. 
 The paper is commissioned from Mr. Whatman, 
 made on wood moulds : it is beautiful, and will 
 have a fine eifect both in the printing and copper- 
 plate. It is to be made on purpose, without any 
 blue, and if possible, to have a yellowish cast, and 
 to have no size. The form is Atlas, which cuts 
 exactly in 8vo. to my page. As preface, intro- 
 duction, and descriptions for the whole views in the 
 first number, are finished in rough, I hope to be able 
 to publish by the first of July or perhaps sooner. 
 I have sent you proofs of the three last plates I 
 have finished, thrown off upon the paper ; w^hen 
 carefully done, they will look better, as I do not 
 understand the throwing off myself; but they 
 will serve to show how I go on. 
 
 MR. BERKELEY* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Magdalen Hall, Oxford, June 25th, 1787. 
 
 Mr. Berkeley presents his compliments to Mr. 
 Pinkerton, and returns him many thanks for his 
 
 * This letter, of no interest in itself, is only introduced for the 
 purpose of showing a part of Mr. Pinkerton's literary life, 
 •which is not alluded to in any other portion of this correspon- 
 dence. Mr. Pinkerton had inserted, in tlie Gentleman's Maga-
 
 152 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 great politeness in sending the tragedy, the which 
 Mr. Berkeley will preserve with care and return 
 with punctuality ; but flatters himself he may be 
 indulged with the copy till the beginning of Sep- 
 tember ; as he has so much employment at pre- 
 sent, as will, he fears, render it impossible for 
 him to accomplish the translation sooner. He is 
 very apprehensive that, when finished, it will by 
 no means do justice to the original; as Mr. 
 Berkeley's acquaintance with the Italian language 
 is of late date. On his utmost exertions, how- 
 ever, Mr. Pinkerton may depend with certainty. 
 
 Mr. Berkeley is much flattered by Mr. Pin- 
 kerton's invitation to Knightsbridge, and is sorry 
 that he fears it will not be in his power to avail 
 himself of it till winter, as Mr. Berkeley pro- 
 poses passing the summer at Oxford, where 
 (should any literary researches conduct Mr. Pin- 
 kerton to the Bodleian) Mr. Berkeley will be 
 happy to have the honor of receiving him. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE W ALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, June 29th, 1787. 
 
 Some time ago you said you would be so kind 
 as to give me a list of the writings of Lord Eli- 
 
 zine for the preceding March, proposals for printing a transla- 
 tion of an Italian tragedy, called rra//«fe ; and Mr. Berke- 
 ley's letter is in reply to such proposals.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 153 
 
 bank. I have a mind to complete my account 
 of Royal and Noble Authors, for which I have 
 amassed a great number of additions, both of 
 M^orks and omitted writers. I shall therefore be 
 much obliged to you, if, without interrupting your 
 own much more valuable writings, you can favor 
 me with that list. 
 
 All I know of Lord Elibank's publications are 
 the following : 
 
 1. Inquiry into the Origin and Consequence of 
 the Public Debts. 
 
 2. Thoughts on Money, Circulation and Paper 
 Currency, Edinburgh, 1758. 
 
 3. A pamphlet on the Scotish Peerage, 1771. 
 (I do not know the title.) 
 
 I have a very imperfect memorandum, made 
 long ago, and which, being only written with a 
 pencil, is almost effaced, so that all that remains 
 legible are these words, '* Lord Lyttleton's cor- 
 respondence — Lord Elibank's answer to." I re- 
 collect that it alluded to some remarkable anec- 
 dote ; but my memory grows superannuated, and 
 I cannot recover it : have you any idea ? 
 
 I do not even know Lord Elibank's Christian 
 name : was it Patrick ? 
 
 In 1778 I cut out of a newspaper almost a 
 whole column, containing an account of the death 
 and character of Patrick, Lord Elibank ; and, as 
 he is there described as a very aged man, I con- 
 clude it was the lord I remember, who mar- 
 ried the widow of Lord North and Grey, and 
 was brother to Mr. Alexander Murray, imprisoned 
 by the House of Commons.
 
 154 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 When I have the pleasure of seeing you here, 
 (which I shall hope will be in about a fortnight, 
 when I shall be free from all engagements), I will, 
 if you care to see it, trouble you with a sight of my 
 intended supplement, to which, perhaps, you can 
 contribute some additions, as 1 think you told me. 
 I am in no haste : for I only intend to leave it 
 behind me, and have actually put all the materials 
 in order, except the article of Lord Elibank. I 
 do not pretend to show you any thing worthy of 
 your curiosity, for nothing is more trifling than 
 my writings ; and I am glad to lay you under a 
 sort of debt of communication in which I am sure 
 of being overpaid. 
 
 I can tell you, what is truly curious ; I have a 
 list (over and above those whom I shall mention, 
 being dead) of at least thirty living authors and 
 authoresses : Would not one think this a literary 
 age ? Perhaps, you was not av/are of what a mass 
 of genius the House of Lords is possessed — I 
 ought rather to say the peerage of the three king- 
 doms; and of all, except of two of the ladies, (who 
 are five) the works are in print : I will show you 
 the catalogue — nay, you shall have a copy, if 
 you please ; lest so many illustrious names should 
 be lost, when I, their painful chronicler, am not 
 alive to record them. Nor is there an atom of 
 vanity in that expression : books of peerage are 
 like the precious spices that embalm corpses and 
 preserve the dead for ages.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 155 
 
 REV. DR. CHARLES O'CONOR TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 June 30th, 1787. 
 
 Unremitting rheumatic pains prevented my 
 writing to you as early as I would wish on the 
 subject of the Scots kings of North Britain ; and 
 indeed I am still unable to write but very slowly. 
 In the course of the last winter I have remitted to 
 Colonel Vallancey, for your inspection, a copy 
 (with an annexed translation) of the verses which 
 recite a list of the kings of the Albanian Scots, 
 from Loarne and Fergus, the sons of Erk, to Mal- 
 colm III. 
 
 Of the poem (the duain) I never could find a 
 second copy; nor did Mr. O'Flaherty meet with 
 any copies more just to the original : perhaps a 
 more genuine copy may yet be discovered in Ox- 
 ford, or in some manuscripts of the Chandos 
 Collection. The ancient manuscripts of your own 
 country have long since been carried away, per- 
 haps destroyed, by Edward I., king of England. 
 
 According to the Ancient Documents still pre- 
 served in Ireland, the Scots had no considerable 
 settlement in Albany, before one made by Carbry, 
 otherwise Eocho Riada, a son of Conary II., king 
 of Ireland, and the cousin-german of Cormac, who 
 was one of the best and wisest monarchs that ever 
 reigned in Ireland. That Cormac, about the 
 middle of the third century, assisted Carbry 
 Riada with troops, conducted by the celebrated
 
 156 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Finan Mac Cumhal, his son-in-law, a commander 
 so highly celebrated in our Irish romances. 
 
 The establishment then made was in course of 
 time weakened. 
 
 The Dalriada family were necessitated to retire 
 for some time to their principality in the Irish 
 Dalriada (the county of Antrim at present). 
 
 In the beginning of the sixth century, the race of 
 Conary II. re-established themselves, and extended 
 their limits in Britain. Their expedition was con- 
 ducted under the sons of Erk, then strengthened 
 by matrimonial connexions with this royal family, 
 which then swayed and for 500 years after pos- 
 sessed the crown of Ireland. On the revolution 
 under the sons of Erk, Loarne obtained the title 
 of the king; but, being at the time past his seven- 
 tieth year, the administration was wholly in the 
 hands of his brother Fergus : accordingly, some of 
 our senachies omit Loarne in the Scotch Catalogue, 
 and name Fergus as first monarch ; and properly 
 enough they extend his reign to twenty-six years. 
 By an ignorance in history easily demonstrated, 
 Buchanan and most of your countrymen antedate 
 the expedition under Fergus a hundred years; 
 and the catalogue they give of their kings, down 
 to Keneth Mac Alpine, is partly false and partly 
 deranged. 
 
 The verses I sent you would be our best docu- 
 ment relating to the succession of the Scots kings, 
 had we a genuine copy : vitiated as it has been, it 
 is remarkable that the list given in those verses 
 agrees exactly with that in our annals, from 
 Fergus to the decease of Ambkcllach (your Am-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 157 
 
 berkelethus), through a period of 2 1 6 years, under 
 the government of seventeen monarchs. 
 
 After the decease of Ambkellach to the reign 
 of Donall, A. D. 895, the poem has been vitiated. 
 There is a derangement in the succession, and 
 an omission of kings to complete the number re- 
 quired in the concluding lines of that poem. Here 
 is a disorder of 176 years. From the death of 
 Donall, the Irish and Scotch agree, to the end of 
 the Scotish line, A. D. 1G89. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, July 30tli, 1787. 
 
 I am glad to hear that Barbour is about to be 
 published from the manuscript, and shall with 
 pleasure give a Preface, Life of the Author, Notes 
 and Glossary, as I promised, to Messrs. Morison. 
 The greatest object of this edition must be to print 
 it from the manuscript literatim; so as to say in 
 the title-page, " The First Genuine Edition, printed 
 from a manuscript of the year 1489." Perhaps it 
 would be well if your lordship requested Lord 
 Hailes to inspect the transcript and collate it, if he 
 would take the trouble. He might perhaps also 
 add a few notes, which must of course be sent to 
 me, that I may not repeat what he has said. It 
 will be better not to hurry this work ; and Messrs. 
 Morison can go on with Dunbar's Poems in the 
 mean time. There is no necessity for sending the 
 proofs to me ; but I should like to see the Jirst
 
 158 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 proof-sheet. The chief things to be attended to 
 are, complete identity of spelling with the manu- 
 script, that the state of our language on its first 
 appearance in writing may be seen. Good pointing 
 to assist the reader, and especially short sentences: 
 using the full point as often as the sense will bear. 
 Distinct paragraphs ; and never using z for y, as 
 our old printers and some editors do from igno- 
 rance, as zour for your, Sec. This last fault, if fallen 
 into, would spoil the sale of the book. What is 
 printed z, is merely j/ consonant put z in old manu- 
 scripts to distinguish it from y vowel, which is 
 marked y ; but of this I mean to speak in the 
 preface. 
 
 Particularly, my lord, the work not being di- 
 vided into books, as Wallace is, will confuse the 
 reader by its length, if this be not obviated. 
 Wallace is divided into twelve books ; and Bar- 
 bour's Poem for variety, &c. had best be split into 
 twenty. To each book an argument in old Scotish 
 prose ought to be prefixed, marking the chief con- 
 tents, which will very much relieve and assist the 
 reader. These arguments any one the least skilled 
 in our old language can easily put ; but, if desired, 
 I shall do them and send them to your lordship or 
 Messrs. Morison. The little chapter-titles, now 
 running through the work, must all be, omitted; 
 for they are not by Barbour ; and many are prose, 
 some verse. The arguments will include their 
 essence. 
 
 In preparing for my proposed edition, I marked 
 these twenty books as follows, in the common 
 Glasgow edition, 1737, 12mo. 
 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 15^ 
 
 Buke I. 
 
 II. p. 18. " The escaping of the Bruce and death of John 
 
 Cumin." 
 
 III. p. 33. " How John of Lorn discomfit King Hobert." 
 IV. p. 52. " How the Queen and other Ladies were 
 
 tane." 
 
 V. p. 71. " Of the King's hansaling in Carrick." 
 VI. p. 87. " The King is went to his Lodging." 
 VII. p. 104. •* How tlie King escaped from his foes." 
 VIII. p. 120. " How James of Douglas discomfit than." 
 IX. p. 130. " How the King's men with fighting." 
 
 X. p. 152. " How the King at Clachmaban." 
 XI. p. 173. " How Sir Edward withoutens turn 
 
 " Undertook the battle of Bannock-burn." 
 
 This alone fully shows that the titles were not 
 
 written by Barbour ; for no battle of Bannockburn 
 
 occurs here. 
 
 XII. p. 189. " How the King slew Henry Bohoun." 
 
 XIII. p. 204. " How Walter Stewart and Douglas." 
 
 XIV. p. 218. " How James Douglas convoyed the King." 
 XV. p. 237. " The fourth battel made in Ireland." 
 
 XVI. p. 251. " How past in Ireland the noble King.' 
 XVII. p. 209. close book XVI. with this line — 
 " Without peril arrived they." 
 
 begin book 17 with this — 
 
 *' The lords of the land were faire." 
 XVIII. p. 292. dose book XVII. with this line— 
 
 " To help his brother that was there." 
 
 begin book 1 8 with this — 
 
 " But he that rest annoyed ay." 
 XIX. p. 306. close book XVIII. with this line — 
 
 " Discomfit had in his own countrie." 
 
 begin book 19 with this — 
 
 " Thus was the land awhile at peace." 
 XX. p. 320. " How king Robert assembled them." 
 
 Twelve books would be too large, twenty-four 
 too short. The number of lines must be marked 
 on the margin 10, 20, &c.
 
 160 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I hope your lordship will agree with me in the 
 propriety of these remarks ; but the chief and 
 essential point is exact conformity with the ma- 
 nuscript, so as the title may bear that the work is 
 from the manuscript only. This can never be done 
 by any collation with former editions, but by con- 
 sidering the manuscript as the only copy extant. 
 I depend upon your lordship's word that this shall 
 be the case: and, if it be not, this edition will do 
 no credit, but be open to the detection of any one 
 who inspects the manuscript. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Sept. 19tli, 1787. 
 
 Having arrived to the county of Sutherland, 
 after a voyage through the western coast of Scot- 
 land, and great part of the Hebrides, not less 
 tedious than lasting, I am happy in being able to 
 pay you my duty, and renew my warmest thanks 
 for your letters to Mr. Buchan, as the last proof 
 of the best friendship. Since I left your house, 
 the seat for hospitality and the muses, I have 
 struggled with great hardship. Through the 
 Hebrides, the wishes and the second sight have 
 followed me wherever I went ; nay, the whole 
 has taught me that you, in your Dissertations of 
 the Origin of Nations, have done justice to the 
 Gauls and their posterity in the Western High- 
 lands. This people boast of Ossian and Pictish 
 Houses : on both they look as belonging to them-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 161 
 
 selves. About Ossian Mr. Dempster and I have 
 been very particular : we inquired into the secrets 
 of Mr. M'Pherson's birth. All answers proved 
 dark, indistinct, and perfectly insufficient to make 
 good (the Aldc)^) the age and authenticity of that 
 famous Poem. The Pictish Houses* are nothing- 
 less than conical heaps of stones, built for the 
 purpose of serving the dead as places of abode. 
 These monuments are still frequent in Denmark, 
 in Norway, and in Iceland : they are called 
 Hangar. You please to see account of them in a 
 Prefation to Snorro's History. The age of the 
 famous vitrified castles is at length found out. 
 One Paul Mactyre built that at Chreech about 
 1270. Will you be kind enough to tell this to our 
 friend Dr. Lorimer ? In letters from Copenhagen 
 I am informed that the books, already the 12th 
 
 * Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, vol. i. p. 330, gives two 
 plates and a long account of these buildings, of which he speaks 
 as the only remains of the Picts, who formerly inhabited the 
 northern parts of that country. Of these round buildings he 
 says, " there are numbers over all the north, particularly 
 Sutherland, Caithness, and Orkney. It is observable in them, 
 that there is no mortar of any kind, neither clay nor lime ; nor 
 had the Picts any notion of casting an arch. They consist of 
 the best stones they could find, well laid and joined : the wall 
 was sometimes fourteen feet thick; and the great room, which 
 was quite round, twenty-two feet in diameter: the perpendi- 
 cular wall twelve feet high. The roof was carried on round 
 about with long stones, till it ended in an opening at the top, 
 which served both for light and a vent to carry off the smoke of 
 their fire. We found nothing in them but handmills, or what 
 the Highlanders call Querns, which were only eighteen inches 
 in diameter, and great heaps of deer-bones and horns." 
 VOL. 1. T
 
 162 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of June, were taken on board for Mr. Nichols ; 
 but all later accounts I shall be glad to get from 
 you : a letter on that subject would exceedingly 
 oblige me. In a few days I go from hence to 
 Dunnichan in Angusshire, near Forfar, from 
 whence a tour is proposed to Glasgow and the 
 Firth of Clyde. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Sept. 20th, 1787. 
 
 Both your favors of 22nd of August and 5th 
 inst. are now before me. I am happy to see that 
 the last concurs with the agreement I made with 
 Messrs. Morisons, that the manuscript should be 
 sent up here and prepared by me for the press. 
 Will not the best way be to send me ten books 
 when transcribed ; that I may be getting them 
 ready while the others are transcribing ? Many 
 people will now be passing from Edinburgh to 
 London ; and I dare say your lordship will agree 
 with me that a private hand would be the safest 
 mode of conveyance. 
 
 There shall be no delay on my part in pre- 
 paring the work for the press ; and it shall be all 
 sent back two months after I receive it. The 
 printer must begin with the poetry and notes. 
 The Preface, Life, and Glossary, I shall prepare, 
 but must have the whole work printed off and 
 sent me before I send them ; that 1 may refer to 
 pages, &c. The notes are to be at the bottom of
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 103 
 
 tlie page, as in Tyrwhit's Chaucer, to relieve the 
 reader in so long and uniform a poem. 
 
 I am happy to concur with your lordship as to 
 Henry's Wallace. But it will be better to defer 
 all thoughts of it till our present labor be done : 
 nor is it so important as Barbour's Poem, which is 
 a whole century older. Winton's Chronicle, my 
 lord, I have a fine manuscript of; but, upon a 
 diligent perusal of that ocean of Scotish Poetry, I 
 find it a crude history of the whole world, and 
 which would not bear printing ; as it would not, if 
 printed, bear reading. But extracts of all worth 
 preserving I may publish in time. I was much 
 surprised, when the Morisons informed me that 
 they had sent 1000 copies of James the First's 
 Poems up here : no book of the kind will bear 
 such impressions. Even here seldom above 500 
 are thrown off in books of old poetry, which few 
 read. But they may venture on 1000 of our classic 
 poets, if ornamented with prints. 
 
 I understood from your lordship's of 22d of Aug. 
 that you were at the expense of transcribing ; but 
 your last mentions that Morison is at the expense, 
 which is but fair, for the work will certainly pay 
 him well in the end. But, my lord, it is to be 
 regretted that no society can be formed in Scot- 
 land for publishing old pieces of history, poetry, 
 &c. The king would certainly allow 200/. a year 
 for that purpose, which would be sufficient ; and 
 no greater service could be rendered to the 
 country. In Denmark, private gentlemen, as 
 Mr. Suhen, Sec, have been liberal patrons in this
 
 164 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 way ; and indeed this is the only kind of patron- 
 age now known or existing. 
 
 I was at Strawberry Hill about a month ago ; 
 but have not seen Mr. Walpole since. Next time 
 I see him I shall remember your lordship's com- 
 pliment. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Oct. 15th, 1787. 
 
 I am happy to inform your lordship that the 
 complete transcript of Barbour is now come to 
 hand in three divisions. The trouble your lord- 
 ship has taken in this business does you high 
 honor, and shall be mentioned with due applause 
 in the preface. I am convinced from this that 
 there is a patronage independent of expense ; 
 and I exult to see that Scotland has at least one 
 man of high rank who thinks her literature worthy 
 of his care. 
 
 For the kind expressions in your last, I am 
 infinitely obliged. The differences of opinion 
 hinted at, I believe, are, in literary matters, only 
 two: — 1st. Concerning Ossian. 2ndly. Concern- 
 ing Queen Mary. Neither of them can be dis- 
 cussed in a letter. Of the first I shall only say, 
 that the light in all other countries of Europe is at 
 present much too strong for such matters ; and our 
 own countryman, Murray, {Acta Nova Goettingen- 
 sia, vol. 1 .) has fully shown that the oldest parts of 
 Ossian are not older than the thirteenth century.
 
 MR. PliNKERTON. 165 
 
 On the last I believe that both Robertson and 
 Stuart are equally wrong ; and that, granting 
 Mary guilty, Regent Murray was a villain. So 
 much for the Hero of one, and Heroine of 
 another ; but it is a general remark, that our 
 countrymen never write without taking a side : 
 we are all advocates ; and none of us judges. In 
 respect to both questions, my lord, I think, with 
 all deference, that for this end your lordship 
 ought not to have thrown into one scale that 
 weight which you possess from your rank, but, 
 above all, as chief and speaker of a society of 
 antiquaries. Imagine to yourself, my lord, what 
 weight an opinion of a whole society must have ; 
 and how dangerous it is for an individual to 
 oppose it, though truth be on his side. So much 
 for these differences of opinion, which are merely 
 literary ; and such with me never enter into life, 
 however inimical they may be in speculation. I 
 rather speak of any who differ from me with 
 more respect, that I may not seem uncandid. 
 
 I wish very much, my lord, to have a complete 
 literal copy of Sir David Lindsay's Play, to be 
 found in the Bannatyne manuscript, beginning- 
 part ii. p. 164. *' Heir beginnis the proclama- 
 tioun," &c., and ending, I believe, p. 221. It is 
 very long ; but may be easily copied by the same 
 hand who does Barbour. If your lordship will 
 set him about it, I shall esteem it a great favor ; 
 and Mr. Buchan, Writer to the Signet, my factor, 
 will pay the expense. 
 
 As your lordship was pleased to encourage my 
 Vitcc Anl/qaa Sanctorum Scotice, and I doubt not
 
 1G6 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 have procured several of the subscriptions in Scot- 
 land, I hope you will forgive my sending the 
 inclosed paper. The two years being elapsed, 
 and only thirty-six subscribers having appeared, 
 instead of 100, the number necessary to pay for 
 print and paper, I am forced to give up the work, 
 if the subscribers do not double their sums. But, 
 even then, 14/. will be wanted to make up the 
 50/. necessary, which expense I shall myself 
 bear. It will be very kind if your lordship will 
 send them to Mr. Creech, and desire him to 
 forward them to the subscribers ; as your inter- 
 ference will have weisrht both with him and them. 
 In two months I shall send down ten books of 
 Barbour's, that the Morisons may go on, as I 
 mention to them in the letter inclosed. 
 
 SIR JOS. BANKS* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Nov. 1st, 1787. 
 
 1 shall most willingly undertake to solicit sub- 
 scriptions among my friends for your intended 
 
 * I have inserted this letter, of no interest in itself, (except 
 as showing the readiness to oblige in one of the most obliging 
 men that ever lived,) for the purpose of attaching to it a portion 
 of Mr. Pinkerton's Prospectus of the work referred to, which 
 is so well written and curious, that it deserves to be preserved. 
 It appears that Mr. Pinkerton was not likely to be very 
 successful in his attempts to find patronage in Scotland; for 
 Mr. Cardonnel, in a letter to him, written some time subse- 
 quently, tells him, " 1 find there arc 40 of Maitland's Poems
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 1^37 
 
 publication of the Lives of Scots Saints; and if 
 
 sold, and 12 of the Fitce Sanctorum Scotia subscribed for, at 
 Edinburgh. You know our countrymen tolerably well ; but 
 you cannot imagine how few men of any taste there remain 
 here at present. Taste for literature and every virtue has fled, 
 and has left nothing but a mere caput mortuum. 
 
 '' PROPOSALS 
 
 For Publishing by Subscription a Work to be called 
 
 Vitae Antiquae Sanctorum qui habitaverunt in ea parte Brit- 
 taniaj nunc vocata Scotia, vel in ejus insulis. Plerasque 
 edidit ex Mss. quasdam solummodo coUegit Johannes Pin- 
 kerton, qui et variantes lectiones, et notas pauculas, adjecit. 
 
 TO THE PUBLICK. 
 
 Lives of Saints have deservedly been held in supreme con- 
 tempt ever since the light of literature revived. As Protestants, 
 and as men of sense, let us laugh at their ridiculous miracles ; 
 but as philosophers, let us allow that history and geography 
 they seldom pervert; having no motives ; but, on the contrary, 
 every inducement to preserve them exactly, in order to color 
 their other tales. That this is actually the case, we know to a 
 certainty, from the lives of saints of other countries; in which, 
 as appears from contemporary historians, geography and history 
 are never violated. Old historians of Scotland we have very 
 few : hence the lives of our saints become even valuable, as 
 they throw light on our earliest history. The French historians 
 and antiquaries, and of late Mr. Carte in England, have, by 
 means of lives of saints, illustrated many an obscure point in 
 history and geography. 
 
 The learned editors of the Historiens de France, Paris 1738, 
 seqq. 12 vols, folio, have published, with the ancient historians, 
 Extracts of the Old Lives of Saints, illustrating history. 
 Largebek, in his Collection of Ancient Danish Historians, 
 lately priuted at Co|)enhagen. follows the same plan. So that 
 Protestants and Papists agree in the utility of such works. 
 Montesquieu, Esprit dcs Loix, liv. xxx. ch. ii. says, " Quoiqu'ou
 
 168 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 you will be so good as to send me some printed 
 
 puisse reprocher aux auteurs de ces vies d'avoir ete quelquefois 
 nil pen trop credules sur des choses que Dieu a certainement 
 faites, s'ils ont ete dans I'ordre de ses desseins, on ne laisse pas 
 d'en tirer de grands lumieres sur les moeurs et les usages de ces 
 temps la." Mr. Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 9-3. 8vo. ed., observes, that 
 " The ancient legendaries deserve some regard, as they are 
 obliged to connect their fables with the real history of their own 
 times/' And he then quotes lives of saints. But a matter, 
 now so universally known, needs not to be further insisted on. 
 
 It so happens, that the lives of Scottish saints are mostly 
 written by men of eminence. Cuminius, Adomnan, Jocelin, 
 Turgot, Ailred, were all men of real talents and celebrity. 
 
 Keith, in his Catalogue of Scotish Bishops, has given a 
 Calendar of Scotish Saints, amounting to lOG in number. But 
 of these, two thirds belong to the Irish; and, if they want any 
 more, they may have them. Others belong to England and 
 Wales ; and not above twenty are found who actually either 
 lived, or were born, in present Scotland; and of these not 
 above half were real Scotish saints, or born in present Scotland. 
 But the design of this work is to serve our ancient history and 
 geography, which can only be done by giving the lives of 
 those who resided in present Scotland. 
 
 First appears St, Ninian, who converted the Southern Picts, 
 as Beda tells us ; and that, as Usher shows, about the year 412. 
 His life is translated from the Saxon, by the famous Ailred, 
 Abbot of Rieval, about 1150; and two copies were in the 
 Cotton Library ; but both were unfortunately burnt in that well- 
 known fire of 1731. But another copy, written about the thir- 
 teenth century, is in the Bodleian Library ; and the Editor 
 has procured a transcript, xibove all, the two lives of St. 
 Columba, who converted the northern Picts in 565, as Beda 
 tells us, are the most curious remains of the very earliest 
 Scotish antiquities. They are written by Cuminius Albus, 
 sixth Abbot of Hyona, (or Tcolmkil,) in 657 ; and by Adomnan, 
 eighth Abbot of Hyona, in 670. The last of these writers is 
 mentioned by Beda : the first by the last; and the authenticity 
 of their works is unquestionable. Cuminius and Adomnan are
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 169 
 
 receipts, or authorise me to give them in writing, 
 
 well put by Father Innes, as the very earliest writers who 
 illustrate Scotish history. Cuminius is published by that great 
 antiquary Mabillon, in his Seecula Benedictina, (9 volumes 
 folio,) a work not to be found in the first libraries of the king- 
 dom. An abridgement of Adomnan was published by Ca- 
 nisius, in his Lectiones Antique (six vols. 4to.) ; and re-pub- 
 lished by Surius, and other Sanctologists. This abridgement 
 Goodal, who had never seen a dozen manuscripts in his life, 
 was so ignorant as to think complete, and to blame Bollandus 
 for some additions from the full ancient copy, in his Vita^ 
 Sanctorum, 32 volumes, folio ; but a most correct and fine 
 manuscript exists in the King's Library, and from it the work 
 shall now be published literatim. It is a large production, in 
 three books of forty or fifty chapters each ; and is singularly 
 minute, curious, and interesting: the parts omitted being those 
 which relate to history, geography, private manners, &c. are 
 just the most important : though the strange names seem to have 
 shocked Canisius. His style is excellent for the time ; and 
 Usher even ranks him with Beda as an historic writer. 
 
 St. Kentigern,or Mungo, in 578, appears to much advantage : 
 his life being written at great length, in 45 chapters, by Jocelin, 
 a monk of Furness. He dedicates his book to another Jocelin, 
 Bishop of Glasgow, from 1174 till 1199. A contemporary 
 manuscript is in the Cotton Library, and is very valuable ; 
 containing strong lights as to the kingdom of Strathclyde in 
 Scotland ; of three successive kings of which, Morken, Ro- 
 derick, and Constantine, it contains anecdotes ; besides many 
 geographical informations. The author tells us he compiled it 
 from two old lives, the one in Irish, the other in Latin. The 
 Life of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1070, by Tiirgot, 
 Bishop of St. Andrews, her confessor, shall be given by Surius, 
 compared with manuscripts, if any can be found : that in the 
 Cotton Library being burnt. 
 
 That curious piece of northern liistory, the Life of St. Mag- 
 nus, Earl of Orkney, 1103, shall be given in the Latin trans- 
 lation of the original Islandic, printed at the end of the
 
 170 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 it will much facilitate the cause in which 1 should 
 wish to be successful. 
 
 GEN. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 G7, Lower Grosvenor-street, 
 Dec. 4, 1787. 
 
 General Stuart's compliments to Mr. Pinker- 
 ton, and returns with thanks the inclosed Tree, 
 from James I. of England, a period much later 
 
 Orkneyinga Saga, or History of the Orkneys, published by 
 Jonveus, Hafnije, 1780, 4to. 
 
 The short Eulogy of St. David, King of Scotland, 1124, by 
 Ailred, Abbot of Rieval, his contemporary, shall also be given, 
 compared with three or four manuscripts in the Cotton Library. 
 
 The Editor shall only add, that the mode of subscription has 
 become so common among those who use it as a pitiful snare to 
 catch money, that pride might have deterred him from it, had 
 he not been accustomed to despise that pride which would 
 prevent a man from being useful. And he believes the reader 
 is ere now convinced that the present will be a work of utility 
 as well as curiosity. Indeed, as to the latter quality, few 
 books can exceed it. The lives of saints were almost the sole 
 prose reading of our ancestors ; as the Metrical romances were 
 their poetry. Both were 
 
 " The Classics of an age which heard of none." 
 
 Both abound with the most lively pictures of life and manners. 
 And the lives of Scotish saints happen to be singularly curious 
 and interesting from the eminence of the writers ; from their 
 length and minuteness; and from the light they throw on the 
 ancient history and geography of a country, most of whose 
 more precious records have perished." 
 
 II 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 171 
 
 than the Genealogy he is in quest of; namely, the 
 Collaterals of John Stuart of DciDileij, the Con- 
 stable of the Scots army serving in France, who 
 was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of 
 Crevant* in 1422, and afterwards killed, with his 
 brother Alexander,')' at La Bataille des Harengs, 
 in a sortie from Orleans in 1428. The relation 
 in which the present Sir John Stuart of Castle- 
 milk stands with the Constable, as being the 
 immediate male descendant from the Constable's 
 brother. Sir William Stuart of Castle-milk, killed 
 at the battle of Verneuil, in 1424, is the object of 
 General Stuart's immediate researches, in which 
 he expected some information from the book 
 " Genealogy of the Kings and Nobility of Scot- 
 land," at Mr. Edwards's in Pall-mall, said to have 
 been sold to Mr. Pinkerton ; but, though fre- 
 quently sent for to Mr. Edwards's, it cannot be 
 found. 
 
 * In this battle, which was won by the English and Bur- 
 gundians, Monstrelet tells us that the Constable of Scotland 
 surrendered himself prisoner to the Lord de Chatelleux, but 
 with the loss of an eye ; and the greater part of the Scots, wha 
 were in the front ranks, were either killed or taken. Johnes' 
 Translation, vol. i. p. 400. 
 
 t Monstrelet says that it was the son, and not the brother, of 
 the Constable of Scotland, who was slain in this engagement, 
 which was fought to protect a great convoy of provisions des- 
 tined for the English army, and was ever after called, the 
 Battle of Herrings, because a considerable part of the convoy 
 consisted of herrings and other articles of food proper for Lent. 
 Johnes^ Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 495.
 
 172 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 LEcosse Francoise par Houston, and L^Histoire 
 cles Papes, Princes, &c. par Chambre d'Ormond 
 vers I'an 1400, are the books which treat of the 
 subject ; but General Stuart cannot find them in 
 England. Mr. Pinkerton, being well known to 
 him by reputation as an antiquary much further 
 back, is requested for his assistance in this family 
 object, if it lies in his way, which the General 
 will thankfully acknowledge any time he is pleased 
 to call here. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Dec. 5th, 1787. 
 
 I am much obliged to your lordship for the fac- 
 simile, and for the information of your last : could 
 Lord Hailes be prevailed on to proceed with his 
 Annals, it would be happier, than for that valuable 
 writer to waste his time in confuting Mr. Gibbon. 
 Scotland has few accurate historians, while 
 Christianity has defenders in duty bound, all over 
 Europe. He is angry with me, because he sus- 
 pects my Christianism : but, if I were a Chinese 
 or a Jew, he would not quarrel : such contra- 
 dictions are found in the wisest of us. By a sin- 
 gular fate, I preserve the friendship of English 
 churchmen, and yet lose that of a Scotish Judge. 
 Yet I shall speak and write of him with respect, 
 as he deserves. 
 
 Your lordship's information concerning the 
 Morisons is too true. I promised to endeavor to
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 173 
 
 get English booksellers to take 500, but find they 
 are averse to any work printed out of London. 
 The Morisons modestly insist on mij taking 500, 
 and allowing them to print 500 more for their 
 own sale ! Thus I am not only to give them my 
 labor gratis, but give them 100/. for accepting it ! 
 I have told them at once to draw upon George 
 Nicol for their expenses ; and I shall keep the 
 transcript. As your lordship kindly says that the 
 transcript was directed and revised by you to do 
 me a pleasure, for which I shall ever be grateful, 
 I hope this resolution will meet with your appro- 
 bation. My notes are scattered on the blank pages 
 of the transcript ; and, rather than give them to 
 the Morisons, I would destroy it, cost what it 
 would. Their conduct to me is ungenerous and 
 unjust ; and I leave to your lordship to judge if I 
 deserved it. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCIIAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Dec. 15th, 1787. 
 
 I am afraid of being quite troublesome to your 
 lordship by such constant correspondence; but hope 
 your love for our old literature will once more excuse 
 me. Your lordship mentioned in a late letter, that 
 you would cause Jamieson, who copied Barbour, 
 to transcribe Lindsay's Play for me. But, in your 
 last, Mr. Buchan's bond is spoken of for the ma-
 
 174 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 nuscript ; and, my lord, it seems one Mr. Tytler, 
 an advocate, son of Queen-Mary-Tytler, has taken 
 it into his head that I have spoken ill of his 
 father's book, which presumption he punishes by 
 withstanding my application to the curators ! He 
 does not see that he is only struggling to save me 
 trouble, and is injuring only the old poetry of his 
 country. If I find it not beneath me, I shall cer- 
 tainly brand him as he deserves. But, my lord, this 
 opposition may render the borrowing of the ma- 
 nuscript on bond a matter of delay ; and I had 
 agreed with a printer to publish six old poems, 
 under the title of " Scarce Scottish Poems, re- 
 printed," which, if your lordship permits, shall be 
 dedicated to you, as the only return I can make 
 for your attentions. Bishop Percy sent me at 
 once the *' Palais of Honour,'' from Ireland ; but I 
 find my own countrymen will ever be like dogs in 
 the manger : '' Lindsay's Play" is the only piece 
 I want to complete the work : it is not long ; and 
 if your lordship will cause Jamieson to copy it, I 
 shall take it as a great favor. 
 
 When I reflect with how much ease your lord- 
 ship procured a copy of Barbour for the Morisons, 
 and that it could not be had upon my application 
 a year before, I cannot think that your lordship 
 could prefer their publishing to mine, but impute 
 this to some fault of my factor. He has money in 
 his hands, and ought not to have hesitated to pay 
 those trifles for me : as yet I can impute my 
 want of success to no other cause. It will be 
 extremely kind if your lordship will mention 
 whether this fault was his. The expense of
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 175 
 
 transcribing " Lindsay's Play " he shall pay in- 
 stantly to the copier. 
 
 The subscribers in England have consented to 
 double their subscriptions for my Vit<^ Sanctorum 
 ScoticE, so that the work will proceed. I have not 
 yet heard concerning those in Scotland. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromore House, Jan. 16tli, 1708. 
 
 My copy of the Hibemia Domhiicana is at your 
 service ; and I will send it by the first convenient 
 opportunity to London. I will also make inquiry 
 for Colgani Trias Thaumaturga when I go to Dub- 
 lin, which I shall probably do about March, being 
 detained in the country till that time. I do not 
 yet want Gawin Douglas' Palais of Honour, which 
 I purchased merely for the use of some good 
 antiquary like you, and therefore desire you will 
 keep it two or three years longer, if necessary. 
 
 I desire I may be a standing subscriber to any 
 thing you may publish upon Hearne's plan ; and, 
 upon mentioning it to a very learned and inge- 
 nious countryman of yours, the Rev. Dr. William 
 Trail, nephew to the late Bishop of Downe, who 
 was some time a Professor at Aberdeen, and who 
 is my near neighbour here, he desired I would 
 procure him the favor of being a subscriber also. 
 He is reading with great pleasure your late book,
 
 17G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which you sent me ; and we both join in wishing 
 we could prevail upon you to abstain from drop- 
 ping any thing to the discredit of a book, which we 
 highly venerate, the Old Testament ; especially 
 when it is not necessary to your subject. If it 
 should be, attack it in a regular and formal 
 discussion ; and then we doubt not to defend it 
 at large. But, till this is done, it seems ndther 
 fair nor candid to step aside from other topics, to 
 throw out insinuations on this subject, which 
 must be very offensive to many readers as well as 
 to me. 
 
 In the new evening paper, called the Dublin 
 Chronicle, appeared lately some strictures on the 
 Ancient Ecclesiastical History of Ireland {Scotia 
 Antiqiia) which you should by all means see. 
 They first appeared under the signature of Jerneiis 
 in the Dublin Chronicle for December 24th, and 
 again December 27th. In the Grecian Coffee-house 
 in DevereiLV Court, they formerly took in the Irish 
 papers ; if not now, there are other coffee-houses, 
 where, upon inquiry, you might find them, and 
 where they are regularly filed. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCIIAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, Feb. 2d, 1788. 
 
 I hope your lordship will forgive my troubling 
 you about a literary matter, which your lordship 
 condescended to promote. Mr. Cardonnel, some 
 months since, informed me that, upon calling at
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 177 
 
 Creech's shop, he learned there were about a dozen 
 subscribers to the Vitce Sanctorum Scotia. Upon 
 desiring my factor, Mr. Buchan, since to call on 
 Creech, and learn the names, Creech informed him 
 *' there were but tico or three ; and the sub- 
 scription paper was lost, so he could not tell the 
 names." 
 
 Though the booksellers have a mean opinion of 
 Creech, I cannot think him capable of sheer rob- 
 bery, as this is ; but I should take it extremely 
 kind, if your lordship would desire Mr. Cardonnel 
 to call on Creech and bring him to reason. I 
 shall have a sufficient number of subscribers in 
 England ; for the number increases fast since the 
 price was raised. Yet I humbly hope your lord- 
 ship will not allow the subscribers in Scotland 
 and me to be thus wronged. Subscriptions are 
 always entered in a book ; so the subscription 
 paper is a mere farce : I should take it extremely 
 kind if your lordship would recommend some 
 other bookseller in Edinburgh, who does not, like 
 Creech, set up for a genius and a gentleman ; 
 and far less take a party in selling books, or at 
 any rate inclines to the Whig. Your lordship's 
 knowledge of Scotland must render you a perfect 
 judge. Mr. Buchan informs me that your lord- 
 ship has applied, by petition to the curators, for 
 Bannatyne's manuscript. I thought your lord- 
 ship's rank and influence rendered this unne- 
 cessary ; and supposed it was not done in the 
 case of Barbour. I only wait for Lindsay's play, 
 to publish the volume ; and I hope no time will be 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 178 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 lost. Barbour's poem I shall publish here next 
 year. 
 
 DR. THOMAS CAMPBELL TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 No. 28, Dame Street, Dublin, 
 Feb. 6th, 1788. 
 
 I have been but a few days in this town, and 
 have not had time to inquire for Burke's Hibernia 
 Dominicana, which I am pretty certain of getting 
 for you, though I never saw the book ; but I 
 despair of getting the Trias Thaumaturga : how- 
 ever, my diligence shall not be wanting in looking 
 out for it. This intelligence should, in its natural 
 course, come to you, by reflection, from our excel- 
 lent Bishop of Dromore ; but I could not lose a 
 minute to renew my intercourse with you ; and, 
 in particular, I beg that you will put me on your 
 list of subscribers for your Lives of the Scotish 
 Saints, which the Bishop has wrote to me (for I 
 have not seen him since I saw you), you are pre- 
 paring upon Hearnes plan. Mr. Ledwich (Edward) 
 F. A.S.* desires also to be a subscriber. 
 
 I should by this night's post send to you, in 
 compliance with the Bishop's desire, a newspaper, 
 in which is a continuation of a slight Sketch of the 
 Ecclesiastical and Literarij History of Ireland, only 
 that I disagree very much with the Bishop as to its 
 merit ; for, in good truth, I do not deem it worthy 
 your perusal ; and I fear that your lyncean eye 
 
 * Author of the Antiquities of Ireland, &c. &c.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 179 
 
 might discern some Celtic iionscuse in it. How- 
 ever, if it should in future appear to me worthy 
 your notice, I shall send you some of the papers, 
 (especially when I shall be certain that a news- 
 paper sent to London in an open cover will cost 
 you but a penny) wherein the names of M'Pher- 
 son and Pinkerton may be introduced. 
 
 You must know the origin of this matter : — on 
 my leaving London I went to Beaconsfield, where 
 the hospitable owner entered very cordially into 
 my plan, which I partly communicated to you, of 
 writing the History of the Revolutions of Ireland, 
 &c., so as to give the sjnrit rather than the letter of 
 our melancholy Annals. He advised me to be as 
 brief as possible upon every thing antecedent to 
 Henry IL ; and, in full conviction of the force of 
 his advice, I have been, since I saw you, weeding 
 out certain ecclesiastical and literary documents 
 there interspersed, and have thrown them into the 
 present newspaper form, so as to be arranged, in 
 a better form, and in a book or pamphlet, if they 
 should meet any decent share of approbation, 
 which the Bishop's partiality encourages me to 
 hope for. Mr. Burke, however, did not content 
 himself with giving me good advice : he gave me 
 also his very valuable collection of manuscripts 
 relative to Ireland, no less than four folio volumes, 
 of which I have already considerably availed my- 
 self. I have reason to believe the Bishop has 
 wrote to you lately, though I am ashamed to say I 
 have not yet answered his letter.
 
 180 , CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE HON. 11 01^ ACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PlNKEllTON. 
 
 Berkely Square, Feb. 11th, 1788. 
 
 I wrote a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, soliciting 
 his interest for you, should there be a vacancy at 
 the Museum. He answered (and I will show you 
 his answer when I see you) that he is positively 
 engaged to Mr. Thorkelin, should Mr. Planta 
 resign ; but that, the Chancellor having refused 
 to sign the permission for the latter, who will not 
 go abroad without that indulgence, no vacancy is 
 likely to happen from that event. Sir Joseph has 
 since called on me, to make excuses for not com- 
 plying with my request ; and he then told me he 
 thought Mr. Planta might go abroad, with the 
 consent of the Archbishop and Speaker, without 
 the signature of the Chancellor. I do not care 
 about that, which would not promote your in- 
 terest. I am very sorry, for your sake, that I have 
 none ; but I knew as much before. 
 
 DR. LORIMER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Charlotte Street, Feb. 25th, 1788. 
 
 Your letter of the 20th I received on Friday 
 evening, but could not sit down to answer it till 
 this day ; and I am afraid it will still be to little 
 purpose, when I do my best to solve your diffi- 
 culties. With respect to the sixth section of the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 181 
 
 Chronicon Rythmicum,* you may remember that, 
 soon after you and I were first acquainted, I put 
 the same question to you. I need not tell you 
 that I put no great confidence in the Chronology 
 of this Author ; though I should be glad to recon- 
 cile the dates he mentions with each other, as it is 
 one of the few authorities prior to Fordun, &c. 
 The Pictish kingdom, he thinks, existed 1224 
 years and nine months, and ended in the year 
 836. Consequently, it began 388 years and nine 
 months before the Christian sera. The Scots, he 
 says, came into Argyle 443 years before Christ; 
 and, as it would appear, preceded the Picts about 
 265 years and three months, I think ; but those 
 dates can never be made to tally. This chapter 
 begins " Quod jam promisi, &c. ;" where does he 
 promise ? In the prologue he says, '' quoto tem- 
 pore, et quota arte Pictos, cum iisdem, et post eos 
 vicissim regnaverunt, et qualiter nunc stirps Scoti- 
 gera miscetur cum Saxonica," If we admit the 
 Scots 443 years before the Incarnation, and the 
 Picts 388 years and nine months, then the former 
 were only fifty-four years and three months before 
 the latter, 1224 years and nine months with 
 them ; and how many after them I leave you to 
 consider. I am glad you turned your thoughts 
 
 * " The Chronicon Rythmicum is to be found at the end of 
 many manuscripts of Fordun, and is an abstract of his Clironicle, 
 or rather of the Scotish Chronicle or History in general. It is 
 never quoted, nor referred to, either by Fordun or AVinton, 
 though they quote the Carmen Ehgiacian often ; so that certainly 
 it was not wril ton before ttieir time." Phikertons Lurly His- 
 tory of Scotland, 1. p. 513.
 
 182 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 towards this subject; and, when we can contrive 
 to meet, we shall have some farther consideration 
 on these matters. At the same time, I must beg- 
 that, as you have asked my opinions in writing, 
 you would promise not to expose my name in 
 print ; for I have a mortal aversion to it, though 
 several of my scraps have come out without my 
 intending it. 
 
 With respect to the Register of St. Andrew's, I 
 only differ from Innes's copy in two reigns : the 
 third king I make thirty-three or thirty-four years, 
 and the thirteenth I make thirteen years. My 
 reasons you can soon see ; and if we differ in opi- 
 nion, we shall not disagree. I wish you may be 
 able to read this scrawl, as I have only time to 
 add that I ever am, &c. 
 
 P. S. You see clearly that the order of the 
 verses in the Irish Duain has been altered : 
 query, whether the same liberty has not been 
 taken with the sixth chapter of this Chronicon 
 Rythmicum, the '' deca quinque contibinoruni" is 
 the only difficulty, and what I always wished to 
 get explained. When I mention the Chronicle of 
 St. Andrew's, I do not mean that I have considered 
 that part which relates to the Picts ; neither do I 
 consider the reigns after the children of Mal- 
 colm III. to be equally correct with the former 
 part of the Register. The author had begun to 
 nod. I have just found out two or three leaves of 
 my own fragments written about twenty years ago 
 upon this same subject, which I shall put in my 
 pocket, to show you, the first day I can catch you 
 at home : to-morrow I shall be in the city ; but, 
 
 I
 
 > 
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 183 
 
 bating accidents, if the weather is good, on Thurs- 
 day forenoon I may call. 
 
 MR. MACAULEY TO DR. LORIMER.* 
 
 72, Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, 
 March 24th, 1788. 
 
 Mr. Macauley presents his compliments to Dr. 
 Lorimer. Reflecting on the name, Et/iica, since 
 he saw the Doctor, it has occurred to him that it 
 must be the island situated about six leagues 
 N.N.E. of the Point of Ardnamurchan, and now 
 called, according to the English orthography. Egg. 
 Ethica would be pronounced by an Highlander 
 Ehica, according to the Scots method of pro- 
 nouncing the vowels ; — with this difference, that 
 the last syllable would be rather an opening of 
 the mouth than any distinct vowel. In the Gaelic 
 language (monosyllables excepted) words termi- 
 nating in a vowel, (or rather in either of the vowels 
 a or e) if that termination is not accented, have it 
 pronounced so indistinctly, that it may be written 
 either with an a or an e. It depends on the pre- 
 ceding vowel, which of these is to be written at 
 the end of the word, and not upon the pronuncia- 
 tion or sound of the word itself. Thus the name 
 Ethica would be pronounced Ehiche — in three 
 syllables ; the last syllable being rather an open- 
 ing of the mouth than any distinct sound. It is easy 
 
 * Inclosed in the preceding.
 
 184 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 to conceive how this name, in process of time, 
 might be changed into Ehiga, and, by a little 
 contraction of the pronunciation into Egge, which 
 is the present Gaelic name, converted by English 
 orthography and pronunciation into Egg. Mr. 
 Macauley will be happy if this explication will 
 appear satisfactory to Dr. Lorimer. The name 
 does not appear to be of Gaelic etymology, and 
 therefore probably is Danish. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. GEORGE PATON.* 
 
 Knightsbridge, March 3lst, 1788. 
 
 T am favored with yours, inclosing Mr. Herd's 
 remarks, for which I thank you and him. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the etchings. 
 Lindsay's Satire I returned as desired, though I 
 had made no use of it, for want of the Bannatyne 
 copy. I wish you would complete and collate 
 
 * This and the following letter are preserved in the Paton 
 Correspondence, manuscript, in the Advocates' Library at 
 Edinburgh, and have already appeared in a small 8vo. vol. in- 
 titled Rtliquice Scoticce, for a copy of which I am indebted to 
 the kindness of Mr. Alexander Young of Edinburgh. The book 
 was printed only for private distribution ; and but a very few 
 copies were taken oft'. Mr. Paton was a clerk in the Custom- 
 House at Edinburgh, and, as the editor of the Reliquia: Sco- 
 ticce states, a well-meaning and inoftensive man. It is to be 
 regretted that his own letters to Mr. Pinkerton are not pre- 
 served ; that it might be seen what gave rise to so intemperate 
 an effusion as the second of these letters to him. Mr. Pinker- 
 ton has preserved no trace of any correspondence between 
 them.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 185 
 
 yours with that copy ; and lend it me again ; and 
 I should reprint it immediately. 
 
 Different literary matters so much occupy my 
 time, that I cannot enter into correspondence with 
 Mr. Herd ; but I shall give you a few hints. 
 Meston and Nicol I omitted, as I did many others, 
 because beneath notice. Mr. H.'s wonder, that I 
 never saw AJaj', &c. puts me in mind of the Shep- 
 herd, who wondered where the English traveller 
 was born, who did not know a village in Gallo- 
 way. His supposing that Bervie, p. 315. is our 
 Bervie, is risible. It is coupled with Antwerp. 
 Elliot, in his BibUotheca, London, 1545, voce Bri- 
 tannia, mentions " Antwarpe or Berroiv.'" Mr. 
 Herd's remark on my doublet and j ablet might 
 have been spared ; as it is answered by my note 
 on the passage. That he should speak of accu- 
 racy is amazing ; for his two volumes * teem with 
 inaccuracies and ignorance. They who speak of the 
 errors of others, should think of their own, and of 
 the Scripture, "Take first the beam out of thine 
 own eye," I have many ignorant letters of remarks 
 from Scotland ; for an ignorant man is very fond 
 of appearing wise by correcting his neighbors ; 
 but, had I remarked upon works of the writers, I 
 could have shown ten errors in theirs, for one of 
 mine. Learned men pass slight errors, as matters 
 incident to humanity, and dwell on the real merit 
 
 * Collection of Ant lent and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic 
 Ballads, S)'c., hy David Herd, Edinburgh, 1776, 2 vols. 12nio. 
 Mr. Ilcrtl was clerk to Mi. David Russell, accountant in 
 Edinburgh ,
 
 18G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 or demerit of a work. So much for Mr. Herd, 
 whose remarks only confirm the opinion I formed, 
 from his two volumes, that he is an illiterate and 
 injudicious compiler. 
 
 For you, Sir, I think you have great merit in 
 the attention you show to our topography and old 
 literature, and esteem your correspondence ac- 
 cordingly ; and shall be happy to serve you here, 
 if in my power. Your copy of the Complaynt 
 is completing at the Museum; and, as I have 
 got copies of two leaves wanting in the Museum 
 copy, they shall be added. But the title, alas! 
 seems lost for ever. 
 
 If you know of any historical books or manu- 
 scripts relating to Scotland, preceding A. D. 1700, 
 not in Nicolson's Hist. Lib., it will be kind if you 
 will let me know. Seton's manuscript of Winton 
 I bought from Mr. Astle, and have just procured 
 a very rare description of Scotland, printed by 
 Waldgrave, without date, 4to. 
 
 Do you know of any map of Icolmkil ? I want 
 one for my Vitc£ Sanctorum Scotice, now in the 
 press. Mr. Creech forgot to mark the names of 
 many subscribers in Scotland, and of you, as I 
 suspect, among others. I am going to write to 
 Mr. Elliot, to take the matter out of Creech's 
 hands.* 
 
 * " On this letter Mr. PiUon has written the following; note, 
 which he, in all probabilitj', engrossed in his answer to Mr. 
 Pinkerton : 
 
 " At my time of life, I think it very improper for me to in- 
 terfere or enter the lists; so submit it to yourselves, mending 
 what differences may j)ass between you and Mr. Herd : only
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 187 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. GEORGE PATON. 
 
 Kiiightsbiidge, April 8th, 17B8. 
 
 Your last to me is of so singular and uncom- 
 mon a kind, that I must humbly beg leave to 
 decline your correspondence in future. When I 
 take the trouble to read or write letters, it is in 
 hopes of amusement and instruction. That even 
 this may contribute a little to yours, I must tell 
 you, that the insolence of office, though perhaps 
 used in custom-house correspondence, can never 
 be admitted into literary. I blame you for your 
 informing at random various people here, of I 
 knovv^ not vv^hat nameless errors in my v^^orks, 
 which struck you, and nobody else. Do not go 
 to deny this ; for I have seen the letters to three 
 various persons here, one of them a bookseller. 
 Are you so much a stranger to literature and com- 
 mon propriety, as not to know that, to speak of 
 errors without condescending on any, and to third 
 persons, is to be a declared enemy ; while to point 
 out facts to an author is to be his best friend ? 
 Are you so much a stranger to the character of 
 your own Topographical Catalogue of Title Pages, 
 so noted for dullness and inaccuracy, as to set up 
 for a judge of literature, in which your name is 
 unknown ? Can even the dotage of age excuse 
 arrogance, joined with ignorance ? But I spare 
 you. 
 
 your acknowledgments in the notes on your Maitland's Poems, 
 have in general given too liberal an opportunity tor censure." 
 lieliquiiS Scoticcc.
 
 188 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Your conduct, in surreptitiously getting from me 
 a copy of Lindsay's portrait for the Morison edi- 
 tion of our poets, I pass ; as I do your ungentle- 
 manlike behavior, in getting Mr. Gough to require 
 Lindsay's Satire from me, while my receipt stands 
 to Mr. M'Kenzie ; so that I am still liable for the 
 book. 
 
 I was willing to pass over all these improprie- 
 ties, as I hate to quarrel with people ; but, as 
 your last convinces me that you have too much 
 self-importance to be a literary correspondent of 
 mine, and I have more of such correspondence, 
 even with real literati, than I care for ; I must for 
 the last time subscribe myself 
 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Glasgow College, May loth, 1788. 
 ANECDOTES OF CROMWELL.f 
 
 The following anecdotes concerning Oliver 
 Cromwell, I learned in conversation, many years 
 ago, from Mr. James Anderson, who was long 
 the manager of Stockwell-street sugar-house in 
 Glasgow, who was a man of veracity, and who 
 
 * Dr. xVnderson, who was professor ol" Natural Philosophy 
 at Glasgow, published the Instil utcs of Physics; and Observa- 
 tions on Roman Antiquilics Discovered between the Forth and 
 the Clyde, lie died in 170(5. 
 
 t Inclosed in the IcUcr to IMr. James Parker, which follows.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 189 
 
 died about thirty years ago, at a very advanced 
 age. He said that he had them from Mr. Danziel, 
 senr., a merchant in the High Street of Glasgow, 
 Vi^ho died in the beginning of this century, and 
 that his friend Danziel's account was confirmed to 
 him by many concurring testimonies. 
 
 A short time before the battle of Dunbar, as 
 Cromwell was reviewing the ground, accompanied 
 by a few cavalry, a soldier of the Scotish army, 
 prompted by his own zeal, concealed himself 
 behind a wall which inclosed a field, and fired his 
 musket at Cromwell. The ball did not take effect, 
 but went near him. The cavalry seemed to be 
 alarmed ; but Cromwell, who was going at a 
 round trot, never altered his pace nor tightened 
 his rein ; and only, looking over his shoulder to 
 the place from whence the shot came, called out, 
 " You lubberly rascal, were one of my men to miss 
 such a mark, he should certainly be tied up to the 
 halberts !" 
 
 When Cromwell entered Glasgow, said Dan- 
 ziel, at the head of his victorious army, I was 
 standing in the street called Bell's Wynd, at the 
 end of it which joins the High Street, with a good 
 many young lads and a shoemaker, who was well 
 known to us all by his drollery and by the name 
 of London Willie. As we were silently admiring 
 the order of the troops, Cromwell happened to 
 cast his eye upon us, and cried out, *'Hah, Willie ! 
 come hither, Willie !" If we were surprised at 
 this, we were more surprised to see Willie retire 
 into Bell's Wynd, and one of Cromwell's attend- 
 ants go after him, who brought him to the general,
 
 190 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 at whose stirrup he not only walked, but went in 
 with him to his lodging for some minutes. My 
 companions and I waited till Willie came out, 
 anxious to know why one of his station was taken 
 notice of by the famous Cromwell. Willie soon 
 satisfied our curiosity, by informing us, that his 
 father had been a footman to James VI., and 
 accompanied him to London at the union of the 
 crowns : That he himself was bred a shoemaker, 
 and wrought in a lane through which Cromwell 
 often passed to a school, as he supposed : That 
 Cromwell used to stop at the work-shop to get his 
 ball and playthings mended, and to be amused 
 with his jokes and Scotch pronunciation : That 
 they had not met from that time till now : That 
 he had retired into Bell's Wynd, lest it should 
 be remembered that his father had belonged to 
 the royal family : That he had no reason, however, 
 to be afraid, for the general had only put him in 
 mind of his boyish tricks, had spoken to him in 
 the kindest manner, and had given him some 
 money to drink his health, which he was going to 
 do with all expedition. 
 
 Next Sunday, said Danziel, Cromwell went 
 to the Inner Church in Glasgow, St. Mungo's, 
 and placed himself with his attendants in the 
 king's seat, which was always unoccupied, ex- 
 cept by strangers. The minister of the church 
 was Mr. Durham, the author of some religious 
 books, which are still very popular. He was a 
 great Presbyterian, and as great an enemy to 
 Cromwell ; because he thought, and early said, 
 that Cromwell and his friends would be forced,
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 191 
 
 by the convulsion of parties, to erect an absolute 
 government, the very evil they meant to remedy. 
 The text was taken from Jeremiah ; and the 
 commentary upon it, by allusions, was an invective 
 against Cromwell and his friends, under Scriptural 
 language and history. During this satire they 
 saw a young man, one of Cromwell's attendants, 
 step to the back of his chair, and, with an angry 
 face, whisper something to him, which, after some 
 words, was answered by a frown ; and the young 
 man retired behind the chair, seemingly much 
 disconcerted. The cause of this was unknown to 
 the congregation. It was supposed to be owing 
 to some intelligence of importance which had 
 been just then received ; but it was afterwards 
 known, and generally known, that the following 
 words had passed between them : — ** Shall I shoot 
 the fellow ? " *' What fellow ? " *' The parson." 
 * 'What parson ?" ''T/zr/^ parson." "Begone,Sir: 
 he is one fool, and you are another !" Danziel 
 added, that Cromwell sent for Mr. Durham on 
 the very next morning, and asked him, why he 
 was such an enemy to him and his friends — de- 
 clared that they were not enemies to Mr. Dur- 
 ham — drank his health in a glass of wine, and 
 afterwards, it was said, prayed with him for the 
 guidance of the Lord in all their doings. 
 
 When Charles I. was in Scotland in 1633, a 
 subscription was set on foot for building a new 
 hall and library to the University of Glasgow ; 
 and the king's name appears at the head of the 
 subscribers, for two hundred pounds sterling. The
 
 192 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 king, however, was not able, I suppose, to pay 
 that sum; and he contracted some debts at Perth, 
 which are unpaid at this moment. When Crom- 
 well arrived at the fullness of his power, he sent 
 two hundred pounds to the University, and there 
 is below the king's subscription " Solvit Dominus 
 Protector.''' One of the magistrates of Perth, 
 hearing of this, thought it entitled him to ask 
 payment of the sum which the king had bor- 
 rowed, when in that town. But Cromwell did 
 not listen to his petition ; and, when it was urged 
 again and again, said with vehemence, " Have 
 done, Sir, I am not the heir of Charles Stuart ! " 
 To which the other replied with equal warmth, 
 " I wot well, then, you are his intromitter — shall I 
 say a vicious intromitter?" In the law of Scot- 
 land, intromitter signifies one who takes upon 
 himself to manage the estate of a deceased per- 
 son, and who, by that act, renders himself liable 
 for all his debts ; and vicious is, when it is done 
 without any right, and therefore is a vice or 
 iniquity. Cromwell, though absolute, did not 
 even chide him for this freedom, but declared, 
 that he would never pay that money ; " because," 
 said he, "■ I will do things for a learned society, 
 which I will not do for other societies, and I 
 would have you know this !" 
 
 Such facts mark the temper and genius of cele- 
 brated men more distinctly, perhaps, than the 
 labored character of many elegant historians ; and 
 the above I have heard, with some variations, 
 from many persons as well as from Mr. James
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 193 
 
 Anderson, of Stockwell-street Sugar-house in 
 Glasgow, who was not in the least degree con- 
 nected with any of my kindred. 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PARKER. 
 
 Glasgow College, May 24, 1788. 
 
 I trouble you with this packet, that you may 
 be my advocate with Mr. Pinkerton, who must 
 think me very negligent. I believe, however, 
 that I could fully justify my delays, by a great 
 variety of business in which I have been for 
 some time engaged ; but they would cost a page 
 of writing, and therefore I think it will be better 
 for me to plead guilty, if you will be my apologist. 
 Trusting, then, to your defence, I beg of you to 
 request Mr. Pinkerton to present the inclosed 
 anecdotes of Oliver Cromwell to Mr. Walpole, 
 with my most respectful compliments. 
 
 Be pleased to send the inclosed remarks on 
 Sir John Dairy m pie's Memoirs to the Gentle- 
 man's Magazine, after Mr. Pinkerton has seen 
 them. In the Edinburgh Magazine, which is sold 
 by Murray in London, Sir John has got a trim- 
 ming for what he has said of the great Earl of 
 Stair ; and it is said that more remarks of the 
 same kind are waiting him. The articles that I 
 have animadverted upon are such as either I my- 
 self, or some of my friends are interested in, par- 
 ticularly the Carronades ; for the report by the 
 Glasgow professor was given by me, above seven 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 years ago, to the Commander-in-Chief in Scot- 
 land. Sir John is so merciless in his two volumes 
 to some of the greatest men who lived about the 
 beginning of this century, that he deserves no 
 mercy ; but truth, not revenge, is my object. 
 
 Whitaker is rioting so much in the victory 
 which, he thinks, his three volumes concerning 
 the Bonny Queen have procured him, that he 
 is preparing, it is said, a fourth,* as a coup de 
 grace, and as a Te Deum. It is expected, how- 
 ever, that Mr. Pinkerton will give him a coup de 
 main — I mean with his pen, and without delay. 
 
 You must have seen the account of Robert 
 Bruce's watch in the newspapers and in the 
 Memoirs of the London Antiquarian Society. f 
 Reports say that the King gave two hundred 
 pounds for that watch. Does Mr. Pinkerton 
 know that it is an absolute imposition by a ped- 
 lar and an engraver in this place, about fifteen 
 years ago ? 
 
 In the next edition of the Ancient Scottish Poems, 
 perhaps (observe I say "perhaps") I will give 
 Mr. Pinkerton a few notes upon some of them. 
 Take the two following as a specimen : — 
 
 * It was in the course of this year that the Rev. John Whitaker 
 published his Vindication of Mary Queen of Scots, which he 
 afterwards reprinted with additions and corrections in 1790 ; 
 but both editions are equally confined to three volumes. 
 
 t What is here referred to, forms part of a Memoir entitled 
 Observations on Clocks, hy the Hon. Daines Barrington, printed 
 in the 5th volume of the Archjeologia. What was supposed 
 to have been Robert Bruce's watch, passed into the possession 
 of our late king.
 
 MR, PINKERTON. 195 
 
 In volume first, page cxxxviii — The author, 
 Mr. Blair, was a clergyman of the Church of 
 Scotland, and minister of the parish of Athol- 
 stonford, in the presbytery of Haddington. He 
 was succeeded, if I mistake not, by the author of 
 the tragedy of Douglas. His eldest son, Robert, 
 is, at present, at the head of the Scotch bar. 
 Another son is a merchant in Edinburgh : a third 
 is professor of astronomy in the University of Edin- 
 burgh ; and a fourth, who was a merchant in Ame- 
 rica, lives within a few miles of Mr, Pinkerton, at 
 Turnham Green, if I mistake not ; but he must be 
 known to some of the loyalists of Mr. Parker's ac- 
 quaintance, from whom Mr. Pinkerton may get 
 exact information. I agree with Mr. Pinkerton as 
 to the great merit of the poem ; though it is under- 
 valued by some scribblers in this country. 
 
 In volume second, page 418 — The allegory is 
 kept up from beginning to end, and with so much 
 accuracy, that its beauty is marred by technical 
 words, which none but seafaring people can 
 understand. Scheittis, which in modern spelling 
 is shytes, is the name of the ropes at the lower 
 end of a sail ; and, when a square sail is at right 
 angles to the keel, the ship is then between the 
 shytes, and sails with a stern wind, or, as it is 
 called, before the wind. Sole is a mistake for sale. 
 Bolwyn is the name of a rope which, at present, is 
 called a bowling; and the three words which 
 follow it are at present in use, with a different 
 spelling ; being all parts of the apparatus belong- 
 ing to the sails of ships that have old-fashioned 
 riggings. Sale ouir strek, that is, mil over straight ;
 
 196 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 that is, the shytes hauled too tight, in order to 
 lose none of the wind. Buhhis is the striking of 
 the sail against the mast by back winds. Lek 
 is a leak, Pres, a press of sail, is still in use, for 
 using every sail that will draw wind. Sloggis is a 
 squall, or ^7/,^^ of wind, such as are commonly met 
 with at St. Abb's Head, and Buchanness, in the 
 north of Scotland. Mr. Pinkerton will not be 
 surprised at my knowledge in these things, when 
 he is informed that I have seen the rage of a 
 storm in the Bay of Biscay, in a clear night, with 
 thunder at intervals : the most magnificent scene, 
 I imagine, that can be seen in this globe. 
 
 Various societies in Scotland, political, reli- 
 gious, and irreligious, are to celebrate, on the 
 5th of November next, the revolution which was 
 effected by the Prince of Orange, an hundred 
 years ago. I wish Mr. Pinkerton would write a 
 song for the Revolution Club, of which I will 
 make one on that day. Nobody will do it 
 better. It must be to a tune that every body can 
 sing, such as Purcell's " God save the King," or 
 Thomson's " When Britain first at Heaven's 
 command." If Mr. Pinkerton will undertake it, 
 his health will be drunk in a bumper by the 
 Revolution Club ; and I will send him a memo- 
 randum of the chief grievances from which the 
 Scots were delivered by that great event. 
 
 I have troubled you with so many remarks and 
 queries, that it will be a labor to answer them, 
 unless you shall receive help from Mr. Pinkerton, 
 or from the hand of one of Mr. Elmsley's young 
 men.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 197 
 
 Be pleased to present my best respects to Mr. 
 Pinkerton, and to Mr. Elmsley — alas ! I cannot 
 say to worthy James Ingram. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, May 20th, 1788. 
 
 The bad state of your health, with which 
 General Melville had made me acquainted long 
 ago, gives me sincere concern ; but I hope that 
 the present spring, as a pleasant and convalescent 
 season, will soon restore your lordship to your 
 pursuits, to your friends, and your country. 
 
 I could not conceive, my lord, that Lindsay's 
 piece should be so immodest. But it only forms 
 one out of sLv poems meant to be published to- 
 gether ; and all the obscene parts shall be cas- 
 trated : so I hope still that your lordship will 
 have no cause to regret that the collection is in- 
 scribed to you. But, as I am at present occupied 
 with Barbour, (as a relaxation from historical 
 pursuits,) I must defer that collection for a year 
 or two ; and your lordship will have time enough 
 to think of the matter. 
 
 When your lordship can attend to literary 
 affairs, I should be much obliged if you would 
 cause some of your correspondents near the spot 
 to take a small map, or bird's-eye view, of the 
 whole island of Icolmkill, as I wish to engrave it 
 for the Vitce Sanctorum Scot ice, now in the press.
 
 198 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 General Melville said he would write to your 
 lordship concerning a small literary scheme I 
 proposed to him, namely, to have a catalogue 
 taken and printed of all the Gaelic manuscripts 
 found in Scotland. 
 
 T dare say your lordship may know some per- 
 son proper to undertake another scheme for illus- 
 trating our antiquities : to wit, a dictionary of 
 names of places in Scotland, where antiquities 
 and curiosities are to be seen, with brief descrip- 
 tions of towns, &c. This, though a mere com- 
 pilation, would be highly useful to travellers and 
 others, and might be thrown into one or two 
 small volumes. 
 
 A traveller informs me that Mr. Cummyng 
 neglects the manuscripts of the Antiquarian So- 
 ciety shockingly ; and, in particular, that Drum- 
 mond of Hawthornden's are all in confused heaps. 
 I hope your lordship will think the honor of the 
 Society concerned in removing this charge, though 
 also common to the Advocates' Library. If 
 Drummond's answer to Camden be among these 
 manuscripts, Mr. Nichols, I am sure, would 
 gladly pay for a copy to print in the BibUotheca 
 Topographica . 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Glasgow, Aug. 5th, 1788. 
 
 1 thank you heartily for your letter of the 9th 
 of June last. It would have been answered 
 sooner, but I was out of town ; and the toasts and
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 199 
 
 subject of conversation for the Revolution Club 
 were not ready till yesterday.* 
 
 * TOASTS AND SUBJECTS OF CONVERSATION 
 FOR NOV. 5th, 1788. 
 
 1. To the immortal memory of James II. King of Great 
 Britain, who produced the best system of political liberty that 
 has ever existed, though he possessed a violent desire, and the 
 greatest advantages for rendering himself absolute ! 
 
 2. May the Ministers of those times never be forgotten ; 
 Feversham, Jefteries, Kirk, Wright, Lauderdale, Hatton, 
 Sharp, Aberdeen, Queensberry, Perth, &c. ! 
 
 3. Never-fading honor to the memory of such as suffered for 
 supporting the rights of human nature : Pilkington, Ward, 
 Russell, Sydney, Barnardistone, Rosewell, the grandson of the 
 great Hampden ; the 251 persons condemned at Taunton, Mrs. 
 Grant, Lady Lisle, Prideaux, Cornish, Coke, Compton, Hali- 
 fax, Nottingham, Mordaunt, Jones, Montague, Charleton, 
 Nevil, &c. ; the twelve Magistrates of Edinburgh, More, 
 Argyll, Weir, Spencer, Baillie, Carstairs, Burnet, &c. ; the 
 2000 persons who were outlawed under the pretence of holding 
 intercourse with rebels ; the multitudes who were put to death 
 without any trial ! 
 
 4. Blessed be the memory of the Prince of Orange, who 
 saved his own country from ruin, restored the liberties of 
 Britain, and supported the independency of Europe; who was 
 the friend of civil liberty, of religious toleration, of the brave, 
 and of the honest, even among his enemies ! 
 
 5. Everlasting renown, in all the nations of the eartli, to the 
 Convention of Scotland, which voted, That King James, by his 
 mal-adniinistration and his abuse of power, had forjeiled all 
 title to the crown, and therefore they made a tender of it to the 
 Prince and Princess of Orange ; while the Convention of 
 England only voted. That he, having violated the fundamental 
 laws of the constitution, and withdrawn himself out of the king- 
 dom, had abdicated the government, and that the throne was 
 thereby vacant. 
 
 0. Health to consistent Jacobites, who ought to respect the
 
 200 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 They are made so as to please all the members, 
 and to be free of asperity, in language at least, as 
 
 character of the Prince of Orange, because he meddled not with 
 the affairs of Britain till called to do it by the King, in order to 
 support his ruinous conduct, and because, upon their own prin- 
 ciples, he that has the reversion of power, or of wealth, has a right 
 to hinder the present possessor, if he attempts to destroy it. 
 Health likewise to inconsistent Jacobites, who now pray for 
 their lawful sovereign ; acting right, but reasoning wrong, upon 
 their own principles. May boUi be thankful that the British 
 government, since the Revolution, has not been like that of their 
 favorite kings ! for, if it had, they, for their contumacy, would 
 have been hanged, or banished, or fined, or imprisoned, or tor- 
 tured with screw thumbkins and iron boots. 
 
 7. May the Whigs never be Tories in practice ! but remem- 
 ber that true liberty and the happiness of the people is the 
 only just object of government; particular families being 
 elevated for that end alone. May they never forget that the 
 excellence of the British constitution consists in the checks 
 which the three parts of it give to each other ; in the ease with 
 which the minister, that is, the actual sovereign, can be dis- 
 placed or punished, without touching the King, or altering the 
 succession ; and in preserving the hereditary succession, by 
 which the ambition of such as Caesar and Cromwell is con- 
 stantly suppressed ! 
 
 8. The Habeas Corpus ; no torture ; toleration in religion ; 
 the liberty of the press ; and may the people in Scotland be 
 allowed a proof of " the truth of the reproach, and of the 
 damage sustained," as well as in England ! 
 
 9. May all the old leaves fall off the old tree. Halkerston's 
 cow; Kinless Rascals; Patting! What will the Ministry 
 think of this ? 
 
 10. The trial of civil causes in Scotland by juries as well as 
 in England, from which there will arise the most important 
 consequences. The people will be better acquainted with the 
 laws of their country, and respect them more. The force of 
 the evidence will be better ascertained, because taken before
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 201 
 
 much as possible ; and every thing mentioned is 
 admitted by D. Hume and all the defenders of the 
 Stuart family. The sixth article relates to the 
 Episcopal clergy of the old church at present 
 existing in Scotland, who have lately made a 
 figure in the newspapers. The majority of them 
 pray for the King since April last ; but Bishop 
 Rose and some of the presbyters protested against 
 
 those who are to judge of it. Partiality and indolence in the 
 bench will be checked by the jury, and those faults in the jury 
 will be checked by the judges, while they will acquire that 
 exalted reverence which is peculiar to English judges, in conse- 
 quence of their acting with a jury. 
 
 11. The aid of counsel, open doors, the presence of friends, 
 pen, ink, and paper, exculpatory proof to every accused person ; 
 and may all such as refuse these means of defence be opposed 
 and despised by every good man ! 
 
 12. Long live our sovereign George III., who is an example 
 to his subjects of private virtues ; who is the friend of liberty, 
 the patron of the sciences, the support of the elegant arts, and 
 the encourager of the useful arts, and of every thing that can 
 make his people happy ! 
 
 God bless our lawful King ! 
 
 [The tune — Purcell's ''God save the King."] 
 And all that from him spring. 
 
 Long live the King ! 
 
 May he defend our laws. 
 And ever give us cause, 
 With heart and voice to sing 
 God save the King ! 
 
 . Tj   T K t [The tune and measure the same as Thomson's 
 
 A tiynm to l^lOeriy. ,< y^^^^ Britain first at Heaven's command."]
 
 202 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the resolution, and continue their old practice : as 
 these protesters maintain passive obedience, and 
 indefeasible right, they are called the consistent 
 Jacobites, and the others are called the incon- 
 sistent. The ninth relates to old events in the 
 court of session, which are very famous, but which 
 it was necessary to involve in mysterious expres- 
 sions. If you do not understand them, I will 
 explain them to you afterwards. The tenth re- 
 lates likewise to that court ; but it was not neces- 
 sary to make it dark, because its constitution is 
 according to law, and because there is a cry in the 
 country for juries in civil causes. The eighth and 
 eleventh contain the general principles of British 
 liberty, and consequently the subject of your 
 hymn ; and therefore it is unnecessary to give 
 you more hints for it than are contained in these 
 articles. As a revolution club implies a dispo- 
 sition to rebel, it was thought proper to give all 
 the praise to the present crowned head, which is 
 the last article. 
 
 When do you propose to publish the scarce 
 Scotish poems mentioned in your last letter? 
 Your labors for these many years upon the 
 Scotish history, preceding the year 1056, will, 
 I hope, have a good sale. The University is much 
 obliged to you for the present which you propose 
 to make of the VitiE Sanctorum ; but I really think 
 it is too expensive a present for you to make to a 
 rich society.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 203 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 14th, 1788. 
 
 The new regulation of the post proves very in- 
 convenient to this little district ; for it arrives and 
 departs again in half an hour ; so that, having a 
 visitor when I received your letter yesterday, I 
 could not possibly answer it then ; nor can I 
 write now expeditiously, as, for these thirteen 
 days, I have had a third fit of the gout in my left 
 arm and hand, and can barely hold the paper. 
 
 Your intelligence of the jubilees to be cele- 
 brated in Scotland in honor of the Revolution was 
 welcome indeed. It is a favorable symptom of an 
 age when its festivals are founded on good sense 
 and liberality of sentiment, and not to perpetuate 
 superstition and slavery. Your countrymen, Sir, 
 have proved their good sense too in their choice of 
 a poet. Your writings breathe the noble gene- 
 rous spirit congenial to the institution. Give me 
 leave to say that it is very flattering to me to have 
 the ode communicated to me : I will not say, to 
 be consulted, for of that distinction I am not 
 worthy : I am not a poet, and am sure I cannot 
 improve your ideas, which you have expressed 
 with propriety and clearness, the necessary ingre- 
 dients of an address to a populous meeting ; for I 
 doubt our numerous audiences are not arrived at 
 Olympic taste enough to seize with enthusiasm 
 the eccentric flights of Pindar. You have taken a 
 more rational road to inspiration, by adhering to
 
 204 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the genuine topics of the occasion ; and you speak 
 in so manly a style, that I do not believe a more 
 competent judge could amend your poetry. I 
 approve it so much, that, if you commanded me to 
 alter it, I would alter but one word, and would 
 insert but one more. In the second stanza, for 
 
 " Here ever gleam' d the patriot sword," 
 I would rather read 
 
 " Here ever JI ash' d;" 
 
 as I think gleamed not forcible enough for the 
 thought, nor expressive enough of the vigorous 
 ardor of your heroes. In the third stanza I 
 think there wants a syllable, not literally, but to 
 the ear, 
 
 " And slavery, with arts unblest." 
 
 Slavery, if pronounced as three syllables, does not 
 satisfy the fullness of harmony, and besides obliges 
 the tongue to dwell too strongly on ivith, which 
 ought not to occupy much accent. An epithet to 
 arts would make the whole line sonorous. 
 
 These are trifling criticisms of a trifling critic, I 
 know ; but they mark both my attention and 
 satisfaction with your ode. I must add, how 
 beautifully is introduced " Innocent of blood !" 
 How ought that circumstance to be dwelt upon at 
 the Jubilee of the Revolution ! 
 
 I will tell you how more than occasionally the 
 mention of Pindar slipped into my pen. I have 
 frequently, and even yesterday, wished that some 
 attempt were made to ennoble our horse-races, 
 particularly at Newmarket, by associating better 
 arts with the courses ; as by contributing for odes, 
 the best of which should be rewarded by medals.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 205 
 
 Our nobility would find their vanity gratified ; for, 
 as the pedigrees of their steeds would soon grow 
 tiresome, their own genealogies would replace 
 them, and in the mean time poetry and medals 
 would be improved. Their lordships would have 
 judgment enough to know if their horse (which 
 should be the impression on one side) were not 
 well executed ; and, as I hold that there is no 
 being more difficult to draw well than a horse, no 
 bad artist could be employed. Such a beginning 
 would lead farther ; and the cup or plate for the 
 prize might rise into beautiful vases. But this is 
 a vision ; and I may as well go to bed and dream 
 of any thing else. I do not return the ode, which 
 I flatter myself you meant I should keep. 
 
 P. S. I must not forget how difficult it is to 
 write to a given tune, especially with so much 
 ease as you have done ; and nothing is more happy 
 than making " November smile as May.'' 
 
 DR. JOHN ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Sept. 4tli,1788. 
 
 I heartily thank you, in the name of all my 
 friends, for the Hymn to Liberty, which you were 
 so good as to send me in your letter of the 16th of 
 the last month. It is much admired, particularly 
 the plan, the absence of hard words, and Pindaric 
 flights, and the eighth verse {and soon the), which 
 is thought equal to any thing that could have 
 been written upon the occasion by Lucan and
 
 206 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Milton, while at the same time it is historically 
 correct. Some various readings have been pro- 
 posed, which you will be pleased to adopt, to 
 alter, or to amend. The whole, to wit, the Toasts, 
 Song, and Hymn, will be printed in a sheet for 
 the use of the drinkers and singers ; and it is 
 wished to get it inserted in the London Chronicle, 
 and Gentleman's Magazine, a few days after the 
 4th of November next is past. After I shall have 
 received your corrections, some of the printed 
 copies shall be sent you by water in a bale to 
 Elmsley. 
 
 HYMN TO LIBERTY. 
 
 1. 
 
 Hail, brightest daughter of the sky ! 
 
 Lo Scotia from her dales and hills, 
 
 [Lo Caledonia from her hills,] 
 To thee, to thee, sweet Liberty, 
 
 The grateful song of triumph fills. 
 
 Great are they who worship thee ; 
 
 [While our rocks resist the waves,] 
 Blest the people that are free ! 
 
 [Never shall their sons be slaves.] 
 
 2. 
 Our fields with native valour stor'd, 
 
 The Roman legions saw and fled : 
 
 Here ever flash'd the patriot sword ; 
 
 A Bruce has reign'd, a Wallace bled. 
 
 3. 
 
 Yet by tyrannic arts opprest, 
 
 [Yet by unequal laws opprest,] 
 A while our drooping fathers pined, 
 
 And chains, and priestly cant unblest 
 
 [And slavery's hidden art unblest] 
 Debased a while the daring mind.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 207 
 
 4. 
 Religious freedom to confound, 
 
 Stern torture brought her engines dire ; 
 
 [Stern Fortune show'd her engines dire j] 
 The Press, in rigid fetters bound, 
 
 Controll'd the mind's celestial fire. 
 
 5. 
 
 But why the spectre forms relate 
 That haunted our degrading night ? 
 To save Britannia's falling state 
 Great William came, and all was light. 
 
 6. 
 
 From thee, from thee, sweet Liberty ! 
 The hero his bold message bore. 
 To rear thy radiant banner high, 
 And bring it to the British shore. 
 
 7. 
 
 With ev'ry virtue fraught he came, 
 
 [He came, he came, llie Hero came,] 
 And Tyranny confounded stood : 
 
 Sufficient, Goddess ! was thy name, 
 To conquer without shedding blood. 
 
 8. 
 
 And soon the British temple wide, 
 To thee erected long of yore, 
 Appear'd in more than ancient pride, 
 And stood with strength unknown before.
 
 208 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 9. 
 
 Then sacred ever be the day 
 
 Which brought such blessings to our land, 
 
 [That oped these blessings to our sight,] 
 And made November smile like May, 
 
 [That made November smile as May,] 
 With roses shed by Freedom's hand ! 
 
 [That fill'd our skies with Freedom's light.] 
 Great are they who worsliip thee ! 
 
 Blest the people that are free ! 
 
 Again and again I thank you heartily for your 
 hymn, and beg that you will be so good as to 
 send me your corrections of the above readings. 
 Some of the above notes, and my seal upon this 
 letter, will show you that I belong to a Whig 
 family. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Oct. 15th, 1788. 
 
 I am rather sorry to hear that you are going to 
 be the editor of another s work, who are so infinitely 
 better employed when composing yourself: how- 
 ever, as it will be on a branch of virtii that I love, I 
 comfort myself, from your taste and accuracy, that 
 it will be better executed than by any one else. 
 
 I will execute your commissions; but you must 
 give me a little time. The gout has lamed my 
 fingers, and I cannot use them much at a time ; 
 and I doubt it has made me a little indolent too. 
 Age, you may be sure, has not improved my
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 209 
 
 sight, and Vertue's manuscripts are not only a 
 heap of immethodic confusion, but are written in 
 so very diminutive a hand, that, many years ago, 
 when I collected my Anecdotes from them and 
 had very strong eyes, I was often forced to use a 
 magnifying-glass. Should you be impatient, will 
 you come and search those manuscripts yourself? 
 Next, will you come next Sunday hither, and 
 pass the whole day, if you please, in the examina- 
 tion ? 
 
 I do not recollect tJiree medals of my father. 
 One, I think, was struck by Natter, who was 
 much patronised by my brother, Sir Edward, and 
 who also engraved two or three seals of Sir 
 Robert's head. The consular fioure on the re- 
 verse of the medal I mean, was intended for 
 Cicero ; but I believe it was copied from a statue 
 
 JL 
 
 belonging to the late Earl of Leicester at Holkham, 
 and which, if I do not mistake at this distance 
 of time, is called Lucius Antonius. I do not know 
 that any medal of my father was struck on any 
 particular occasion. That I mention and Dassier's 
 were honorary, as of a considerable person ; and 
 his being prime minister might have a little share 
 in the compliment. Of Dassier I know no more 
 than I have said in the Anecdotes of Painting. 
 
 I am ignorant who has the medal of the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth ; perhaps you might learn 
 of Mr. Bindley, Commissioner of the Excise, and 
 who lives in Somerset House. He had a great 
 collection of modern medals, but sold them. Per- 
 haps the Duke of Devonshire has the medal in 
 question : you might learn of Doctor Lort ; or I 
 vol.. I. o
 
 •210 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 can ask him. Are there no modern medals in 
 Dr. Hunter's collection ? 
 
 These are all the answers I am ready to give to 
 your queries at present. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Droraore House, Oct. 22nd, 1788. 
 
 I received your obliging letter, and beg leave to 
 assure you, that the delay of my sending you the 
 Hibernia Dominicana has been unavoidable. Dr. 
 Campbell lives so remote from this place, that we 
 never see each other but in Dublin, and have no 
 more intercourse than if he were in Cornwall and 
 I in Caithness. I will however contrive, if pos- 
 sible, to get it transmitted to you before I go to 
 Dublin to attend Parliament in January next : if 
 not, you may then depend upon it : my present re- 
 sidence is upwards of eighty English miles from 
 our metropolis ; and we have not that regular inter- 
 course by stage- waggons, &c., as they have in 
 England. As I shall not see Dublin before the 
 meeting of our Parliament, I fear I shall not have 
 it in my power to see Mr. Professor Thorkelin, if 
 he should visit our metropolis before the time 
 above mentioned ; unless he honor me with a visit 
 here, which will make me particularly happy : 
 but, as I should be glad to be of service to him in 
 any of his literary researches, if I were apprised 
 of his arrival there, and favored with his address.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 21 1 
 
 I would endeavour to procure him access to the 
 libraries and manuscripts, &c., and procure all the 
 civilities to be shown him in my power. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your kind offer of 
 your Inquiry * which I shall gratefully receive, and 
 shall be extremely glad to hear of the progress of 
 your studies, and any literary intelligence, which 
 in this remote region reaches me slowly. 
 
 GENERAL STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Lower Grusvenor Street, 
 Friday, Jan. Dth, 178l>. 
 
 General Stuart's compliments and best thanks 
 to Mr. Pinkerton for the note just received, and 
 sends a person for " Chamhre (TOrmond,'' which 
 shall be carefully returned. 
 
 Most of the books in the Museum collection 
 have been consulted and extracted concernino* the 
 pedigree and feats of Constable John of Darnley, 
 and his posterity, according to the Catalogue now 
 in General Stuart's possession. Sir David Dal- 
 rymple. Lord Hailes, knows and approves of the 
 investigation hitherto made. Abercrombie's "Scots 
 Atchieve?nents" hdiVe also furnished good matter; 
 but there are some of his authorities cited, which 
 might be of great use, if General Stuart knew 
 
 * Inquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the Reign 
 of DIolcolm If I. in the year lO'A), 2 vols. »vo.
 
 212 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 where to find their works : such as " Traitez (Teii- 
 tre les Roys de France et (V Angkterre, S^c, Chart. 
 Irenes Com. de Winton — E.vtracta a Chronicis Scotia^ 
 but, above all, a third volume of his. Dr. Aber- 
 crombie's, own works, which he mentions in his 
 preface to vol. ii. to have ready in manuscript, 
 and which treats of the separate lives of our 
 country worthies ; and among whom were those 
 of John, Earl of Buchan, Constable of France, 
 and Sir John Stuart of Darnley, the constable 
 of the Scots army, whose brothers and their fami- 
 lies is the present object of General Stuart's in- 
 quiry ; and he is certain that William, one of 
 them, was killed at Verneuil, and Alexander at 
 the battle des Harengs near Orleans, at the same 
 time with the Constable.* This appears in many 
 books ; but more particularly in a paper found at 
 the Museum, where this William is precisely as- 
 certained to be of Castle-milk (the immediate 
 ancestor of General Stuart). A copy of this 
 paper shall be sent one of these days for Mr. Pin- 
 kerton's information. General Stuart hopes for 
 the pleasure of Mr. Pinkerton's personal acquaint- 
 ance, and that he will, meanwhile, excuse the 
 present encroachment upon Mr. Pinkerton's time, 
 so usefully employed. 
 
 * See p. 171.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 213 
 
 GENERAL MELVILLE* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Brewer Street, Feb. 20th, 1709. 
 
 I was happy to learn from Mr. Fyers, who had 
 met you, that I shall have the pleasure of your 
 company at dinner on Sunday next ; and I wish 
 you to come, if you conveniently can, as early as 
 four o'clock, if not earlier ; both as I wish to sub- 
 mit to your perusal a small Narrative, with notes 
 relating to the discovery of Agricola's camp in 
 Scotland, which I had been engaged to furnish to 
 Mr. Gough for his new edition of Camden's 
 Britannia, the sheet containing which he has 
 sent to me, and that, being perfectly persuaded of 
 your being better acquainted with the origin and 
 ancient history of the different nations who have 
 either been the residents and possessors, or the 
 occasional invaders of Scotland, than any other of 
 the gentlemen of learning, I am desirous to 
 obtain from you, as soon as your time will permit, 
 the respective dates of these events, as far as you 
 can supply them ; or that you will point out w^liat 
 authorities may be resorted to thereon ; for I 
 cannot help being of opinion, that much of the 
 
 * Lieut, -General Robert Melville was author of a paper upon 
 an ancient sword, printed in the 7th volume of the Archceologia ; 
 and Mr. Nichols, in his Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 3, 
 ([notes a letter from Mr. Gough, in which he mentions an 
 Essay given to the Society of Antiquaries by Gen. Melville, 
 on Ancient Ships, as " new and entertaining;" but I do not 
 tind it was ever printed.
 
 214 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 darkness, doubts, and ditficulties, wliicli peri)lex 
 our antiquaries about military and other remains, 
 supposed to be Roman, Caledonian, Pictish, 
 Danish, &c., might be better discriminated and 
 understood, were the times when, and the places 
 where, these different kinds of people lived, more 
 exactly known. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Knightsbridge, March 16th, 1789. 
 
 I should have answered your lordship's obliging 
 letter of 10th Nov. long ago, had your lordship 
 mentioned how I was to address to Dryburgh 
 Abbey. Nothing can give me more pleasure than 
 to hear of your lordship's health being re-estab- 
 lished ; and I hope that health and leisure will 
 excite to further literary labors. I long much to 
 go to Paris and examine the libraries there ; but 
 I am so occupied at present, that the journey 
 must be postponed. My book on Scotish History, 
 preceding the year 1056, in 2 vols. 8vo., will be 
 out in a month. The Vitce Sanctorum, so long- 
 delayed, from the printers here not dealing much 
 in Latin, will be ready in two months. Barbour 
 is in the press, — one volume printed : two others 
 remain ; and it will not be out till next winter. 
 It is finely printed by Hughes, and to be orna- 
 mented with ])]ates. My " Scarce Scotish Poems 
 Reprinted/'' which your lordship permitted me to 
 dedicate to you, will be in the press this year, I
 
 MR. PINKERTON, 215 
 
 hope. To publish other men's works is an easy 
 matter; but my book on History has loaded me 
 so much for many years, that I am at present 
 almost sick of composition. But I am not yet 
 old, and hope to do much for my country in the 
 literary way, before I die. I know your lordship's 
 goodness to me, and attention to Scotish literature, 
 will excuse these hints on my labors. 
 
 Your lordship's plan of publishing our chartu- 
 laries is an excellent one ; and it is hoped so 
 noble an example will excite some attention in 
 our countrymen to national antiquities ; their 
 neglect of which cannot be too much regretted. 
 
 GENERAL STUART TO MR, PINKERTON. 
 
 Lower Grosvenor Street, 
 March 17th, 1789. 
 
 General Stuart's compliments to Mr. Pinkerton. 
 He has received his note of yesterday : he knows 
 Mr. Pinkerton by character too well to imagine 
 he would neglect any thing deserving his notice ; 
 but the truth is. General Stuart did not think 
 himself entitled to take up any portion of his time ; 
 but, as Mr. Pinkerton is pleased to say he wishes to 
 be informed on the object of General Stuart's re- 
 search, he now acquaints him, that every thing of 
 public notoriety that exists in print concerning 
 John Stuart, of Darnley, the Constable of the 
 Scots army in France, with his diplomas, as Sei- 
 gneur D'Aubigny et de Concressault and Comte 
 d'Evreux, is in the possession of General Stuart,
 
 216 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 although he wants the third manuscript volume 
 of Abercrombie's Worthies, which, in his preface 
 to his second volume, he announces as contain- 
 ing the lives of John Stuart, Earl of Buchan, 
 Constable of France, and John Stuart of Darnley, 
 Constable of the Scots in France. 
 
 But the immediate object of General Stuart's 
 earnest research is concerning Sir William Stuart, 
 of Castle-milk, (the direct ancestor of General 
 Stuart,) who was the brother of that Sir John 
 Stuart of Darnley, Comte d'Evreux, &c., and 
 who went abroad with him in 1419-20, and who 
 was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in 1424. 
 
 Besides many other proofs, there is a paper in 
 the Museum, which ascertains that this very Sir 
 William Stuart was the ancestor of the Castle- 
 milk family, at present represented by Sir John 
 Stuart, of Castle-milk, near Glasgow, the next to 
 whom is Alexander Stuart, of Torrance, the elder 
 brother of General Stuart. There are several col- 
 lateral points desirable to be ascertained ; namely, 
 the commission borne by this Sir William in the 
 corps of Archers de la Garde, or original troop, 
 commanded by his brother, Sir John, under 
 Charles VII. This point, 'tis imagined, might 
 have been found in Houston's Ecosse Francaise, 
 where the first who composed that corps would 
 have been inserted : also the particular feats of 
 the chief officers; for example, at St. Riquier, in 
 1422, where a William D'Aubigny is said to have 
 distinguished himself in single combat in the 
 Dauphin's (Charles VII.) party. 
 
 General Stuart has an inventory of the Museum
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 217 
 
 Library, but can no where observe this book, 
 Houston's Ecosse Fraucaise, therefore will be most 
 particularly obliged to Mr. Pinkerton to obtain a 
 reading-, for an hour, of it. 
 
 General Stuart has the most indubitable proofs 
 of this William having been the brother killed at 
 Verneuil, and that another brother, Alexander, was 
 the person who fell with Sir John, the constable, 
 at the battle dcs Hareugs, abandoned by the 
 jealousy or the cowardice of Le Comte de Cler- 
 mont, (the immediate ancestor of the Bourbon 
 reigning family,) during the siege of Orleans, 1428. 
 
 But General Stuart is in search of every minute 
 ])articular concerning Sir John of Darnley's force, 
 carried from Scotland, in 1419-20, vv^ith the names 
 of his brothers and principal officers who accom- 
 panied him to France, made part of his regular 
 corps, or were distinguished or extinguished either 
 at Bauge, Crevant, Verneuil, or Orleans ; and of 
 the monuments erected to them, particularly at 
 Bourges, Tours, Angers, or Orleans. In this last 
 place, where a Scotsman was bishop during the 
 siege 1428-29, there was a monument erected for 
 John Stuart, of Darnley, whose body was brought 
 from the field by the famous Count de Dunois, 
 Batard d'Orleans, who himself was wounded in 
 the same action where Darnley was slain, with his 
 brother Alexander, as before mentioned. General 
 Stuart has heard of a work by Symphorien Guyon, 
 entitled '* Les Antiquites cF Orleans,''' but can no 
 where get it. 
 
 Every thing that is known in the best French 
 histories concerning Bernard Stuart d'Aubigny,.
 
 218 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 who commanded the French auxiliaries to Henry 
 of Richmond, at Bosworth field, and was Charles 
 the VIII. 's and Lewis the XII. 's lieutenant- 
 general in Naples, and of Robert Stuart, Marshal 
 d'Aubigny under Francis I., descendants of John of 
 Darnley, are also known to General Stuart ; but 
 there are many things yet unknown, which might 
 be discovered in Houston's Ecosse Fran^aise, and 
 other works, which, by industry, 'tis hoped, may 
 yet be discovered ; and these Mr. Andrew Stuart, 
 General Stuart's brother, will find, perhaps, at the 
 Vatican, as he is now at Rome. 
 
 MR. DEMPSTER* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 July 18th, 1789.t 
 
 As an admirer of the extent of your learning, as 
 well as the depth of sagacity and research in your 
 late account of the ancient inhabitants of Scot- 
 land, I beg leave to mention a curious enough 
 passage I met with yesterday in Aristophanes's 
 
 * Geo, Dempster, of Duuniclien, Esq., was educated for, 
 and practised at the Scotch Bar, on quitting which he repre- 
 sented the boroughs of Forfar, c'vc. in four Parliaments, from 
 1708 to 1790. He was author of some papers in the Trans- 
 actions of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Highland 
 Society oj Scotland, besides a Discourse, containing a Sum- 
 mary of the Proceedings of the Directors of the Society for 
 Extending the Fisheries of Great Britain, printed 1789. 
 
 I Just at this time, Mr. Pinkerton printed his Vitce Antiquce 
 Sanctorum Scotice: the letter from the Society of Antiquaries, 
 returning him thanks for a copy of it, bears date 9th July, 1789.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 219 
 
 play, The Clouds, which, as far as one custom 
 goes to prove any thing of the origin of nations, 
 shows our Celts to have been of Eastern origin. 
 It is in the second scene of the fifth act, 10th and 
 11th line. I give it in the Latin translation, be- 
 cause I foolishly neglected the Greek language, 
 after having pretty nearly overcome its difficulties 
 at College. 
 
 Ipse vero statim velut obsoletiim esse dixit cithara canere ; 
 Et canere potantern tanquam mulierem hordea mohntem. 
 
 Now, the corn in the Highlands is still ground 
 by the women, who accompany the operation 
 with a song ; and this corn is generally barley. 
 If our common friend, Dr. Thorkelin, has not 
 presented you with a little Discourse of mine on 
 the subject of Improving the Highlands, I shall 
 be happy to send you a copy of it. But I think 
 he got one from me the other day for the purpose 
 of asking your acceptance of it. 
 
 MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Knightsbritlge, July 2-2iid, 1789. 
 
 1 cannot conceive how my Discourse has hap- 
 pened not to be delivered to you at the same time 
 with my letter ; as I put both with my own hand 
 into the Post-office, and both with the same ad- 
 dress. I now accompany this with a second copy. 
 I have only skimmed the surface of the subject of 
 improving the Highlands, which is my professed
 
 220 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 object, as a member of the British Society of 
 Fisheries, from a conviction that a numerous body 
 of fishers, any more than other manufacturers, can 
 never be found in a wild, rude, uncultivated, bar- 
 barous country, and from a full conviction of the 
 highlands of Scotland being as improvable as the 
 highlands of England or Wales ; if the people 
 were but as free, as well governed, and as well 
 protected in the one, as they have been, since 
 Henry the Eighth's time, in the other. But many 
 of the Society think the fisheries may be a soli- 
 tary improvement. 
 
 I thank you for your observations on the corn- 
 grinding song. I did not set down that coinci- 
 dence of customs, as a strong proof of the origin of 
 our Celts. I agree with you in thinking a few 
 words go farther to ascertain the origin of a nation 
 than a hundred customs ; for all nations must 
 grind corn, row boats, bury their dead, and beget 
 successors to themselves ; but no nation can use 
 ten words as the meaning of the same things, 
 without some original connexion between them. 
 One is naturally led to inquire about their grand- 
 father ; and, having found him out, to extend their 
 inquiries farther : but a Scotchman's inquiries on 
 these subjects lead him very soon into mist and 
 fog, and barbaric darkness and fable. Your wri- 
 tinsfs were the first that led me to believe our inva- 
 ders, the Danes, were opposed by their own coun- 
 trymen, settled here at an earlier period. A re- 
 mark of my own on visiting the Hebrides struck 
 me very much. In the Lowlands, all the ancient 
 names arc, with great submission to you, Celtic ;
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 221 
 
 and the inhabitants radically and fundamentally 
 Goths. But, when I went into the Highlands, I 
 found this order of things quite reversed, and the 
 names of all the islands, at least, Gothic, and the 
 inhabitants Celts. Leod House, Cannay, StafF-ay, 
 Bar-ay, Colons-ay, High Skers, Jurr-ay, Combr- 
 ay, Jerner-ay, Benbecul-ay, Ay-Kolumbkill. 
 
 That the aboriginal Celts should have been 
 driven back among the hills by Gothic invaders, is 
 natural to suppose; for so were the Welch, and 
 probably, the Britons and Biscayeners. But how 
 to suppose the Highlanders to be from Ireland, and 
 at no very remote period, puzzles me also. Or 
 how to suppose it otherwise : when we Lowlanders 
 call their language invariably Erse, and when all 
 their ancient songs that I heard, were allowed, by 
 the best judges among themselves, to be rather 
 Irish than Gaelic, and all their traditions represent 
 Fingal as coming from Ireland, and most of the 
 pedigrees, as reported or recorded or repeated by 
 the genealogists whom I saw, remount their chiefs 
 to Irish origin. I expect your second volume to- 
 day, and promise myself no small satisfaction 
 from its perusal ; the first having afforded me a 
 great deal, saving the abuse of the Macphersons, 
 unless they have been the aggressors, which I do 
 not know. 
 
 I cannot conclude without mentioning to you, 
 that every thing I met with in the Highlands, led 
 me to credit Shaw's account of the poetry of that 
 country : — all, all, Irish !
 
 222 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Knightsbridge, July 28th, 1789. 
 
 I am just now favored with yours ; and I ac- 
 knowledge your conditions are reasonable, and I 
 promise to comply with them; for nobody has 
 ever abused the privilege of an antiquarian, to be 
 dull, less than yourself. It is the only book of 
 that size over which I have not slept for these last 
 five years that I am turned of fifty and grown 
 corpulent. You and I differ much on the manner 
 of treating antiquities : I can say all my little say 
 in a letter of a moderate length ; while the smallest 
 point of antiquity in your hands could furnish a 
 chapter. You are a bee, that has taken pains to 
 collect honey — I am a mere bear, made for over- 
 turning the hive and robbing the combs : differing 
 from the bear only in gratitude to the bee. 
 
 I acknowledge you have thrown great light on our 
 British antiquities, by establishing the remote date 
 of the introduction of the Gothic language into 
 Great Britain, which could neither have come by 
 means of the English, Saxon, or Scotch-Danish in- 
 vaders; and which I could account for in Scotland 
 no other way than by discrediting all our historians 
 as to the defeats we gave the Danes, and believing 
 they had not only beat us, Gauls, as I thought, 
 but expelled and superseded us. You have shown 
 me we were Goths as well as our invaders, and 
 reconciled Ancient History to the existing fact of 
 our low country language. 
 
 This is all I have to say on the subject ; as I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 223 
 
 should be happy to convince you, by waiting on 
 you and hearing you with pleasure, were I not, 
 unfortunately, just going to the country for the 
 summer, where, if any thing new occurs to me on 
 the perusal of your second volume, as well as on 
 the re-perusal of the first, I will avail myself of 
 your obliging permission to trouble you with my 
 crudities. 
 
 THE HON. HOUACE WALPOLE TO 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, July 31st, 1789. 
 
 Having had my house full of relations till this 
 evening, I could not answer the favor of your letter 
 sooner ; and now I am ashamed of not being able 
 to tell you that I have finished reading your Essay 
 on the Ancient History of Scotland. I am so 
 totally unversed in the story of original nations, 
 and I own always find myself so little interested 
 in savage manners unassisted by individual cha- 
 racters, that, though you lead me with a firmer 
 hand than any historian through the dark tracts, 
 the clouds close round me the moment I have 
 passed them, and I retain no memory of the 
 ground I have trod. I greatly admire your pene- 
 tration, and read with wonder your clear discovery 
 of the kingdom of Strathclyde ; but, though I 
 bow to you, as I would to the founder of an em- 
 pire, I confess I do not care a straw about your 
 subjects, with whom I am no more acquainted 
 than with the ancient inhabitants of Otaheite. 
 Your origin of the Piks is most able ; but then 1
 
 224 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 cannot remember them with any precise discrimi- 
 nation from any otlier Hyperborean nation : and 
 all the barbarous names at the end of the first 
 volume, and the gibberish in the Appendix, was to 
 me as unintelligible as if I repeated Abracadabra, 
 and made no impression on me but to raise respect 
 of your patience, and admire a sagacity that could 
 extract meaning and suite from what seemed to 
 me the most indioestible of all materials. You 
 rise in my estimation in proportion to the disagree- 
 able mass of your ingredients. What gave me 
 pleasure that I felt, was the exquisite sense and 
 wit of your Introduction, and your masterly hand- 
 ling and confutation of the Macphersons, Whita- 
 ker, &c. there and through your work. Ob- 
 jection I have but one, I think you make your- 
 self too much a party against the Celts — I do not 
 think they were or are worthy of hatred. 
 
 Upon the whole, dear Sir, you see that your 
 work is too learned and too deep for my capacity 
 and shallow knowledge. I have told you that my 
 reading and knowledge is and always was trifling 
 and superficial, and never taken up or pursued 
 but for present amusement. I always was inca- 
 pable of dry and unentertaining studies ; and of 
 all studies the origin of nations never was to 
 taste. Old age and frequent disorders have 
 dulled both my curiosity and attention, as well as 
 weakened my memory ; and I cannot fix my 
 attention to long deductions. I say to myself, 
 " What is knowledge to me, who stand on the 
 verge, and must leave any old stores as well as 
 what 1 may add to them ; and how little could 
 that be ?"
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 225 
 
 Having thus confessed the truth, I am sure you 
 are too candid and liberal to be offended : you 
 cannot doubt of my high respect for your extraor- 
 dinary abilities : I am even proud of having dis- 
 covered them of myself without any clue. I 
 should be very insincere, if I pretended to have 
 gone through with eagerness your last work, 
 M^hich demands more intense attention than my 
 age, eyes, and avocations will allow. I cannot 
 read long together ; and you are sensible that your 
 work is not a book to be read by snatches and in- 
 tervals ; especially as the novelty, to me at least, 
 requires some helps to connect it with the me- 
 mory. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. Ittli, 1789. 
 
 I must certainly have expressed myself very 
 awkwardly, dear Sir, if you conceive I meant the 
 slightest censure on your book, much less on your 
 manner of treating it, which is as able and clear 
 and demonstrative as possible. No, it was myself, 
 my age, my want of apprehension and memory, 
 and my total ignorance of the subject, which I 
 intended to blame. I never did taste or study 
 the very ancient histories of nations. I never had 
 a good memory for names of persons, regions, 
 places, which no specific circumstances concurred 
 to make me remember : — and now, at seventy- 
 two, when, as is common, I forget numbers of 
 
 VOL. I. , p
 
 22G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 names most familiar to me, is it possible I should 
 read with pleasure any work that consists of a 
 vocabulary so totally new to me ? Many years 
 ago, when my faculties were much less impaired, 
 I was forced to quit Dow's History of Indostan, 
 because the Indian names made so little impres- 
 sion on me, that I went backward instead of for- 
 ward, and was every minute reverting to the 
 former page to find about whom I was reading. 
 Your book was a still more laborious work to me ; 
 for it contains such a series of argumentation that 
 it demanded a double effort from a weak old head; 
 and, when I had made myself master of a de- 
 duction, I forgot it the next day, and had my 
 pains to renew. 
 
 These defects have for some time been so ob- 
 vious to me, that I never read now but the most 
 trifling books ; having often said that, at the very 
 end of life, it is useless to be improving one's 
 stock of knowledge, great or small, for the next 
 world. 
 
 Thus, Sir, all I have said in my last letter or in 
 this, is an encomium on your work, not a censure 
 or criticism. It would be hard on you, indeed, if 
 my incapacity detracted from your merit. 
 
 Your aro-uments in defence of works of science 
 and deep disquisition are most just ; and I am 
 sure I have neither power nor disposition to 
 answer them. You have treated your matter as 
 it ought to be treated. Profound men or con- 
 versant in the subject, like Mr. Dempster, will be 
 pleased with it, for the very reasons that made it 
 difficult to me. If Sir Isaac Newton had written
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 227 
 
 a fairy tale, I should have swallowed it eagerly ; 
 but do you imagine, Sir, that, idle as I am, I am 
 idiot enough to think that Sir Isaac had better 
 have amused me for half an hour, than enlightened 
 mankind and all ages ? I was so fair as to con- 
 fess to you that your work was above me, and did 
 not divert me : you was too candid to take that 
 ill, and must have been content with silently 
 thinking me very silly ; and I am too candid to 
 condemn any man for thinking of me as I deserve. 
 I am only sorry when I do deserve a disad- 
 vantageous character. 
 
 Nay, Sir, you condescend, after all, to ask my 
 opinion of the best way of treating antiquities ; 
 and by the context, I suppose, you mean, how to 
 make them entertaining. I cannot answer you in 
 one word ; because there are two ways, as there 
 are two sorts of readers. I should therefore say, 
 to please antiquaries of judgment, as you have 
 treated them, with arguments and proofs ; but, if 
 you would adapt antiquities to the taste of those 
 who read only to be diverted, not to be instructed, 
 the nostrum is very easy and short. You must 
 divert them in the true sense of the word diverto 
 — you must turn them out of the way — you must 
 treat them with digressions nothing or very little 
 to the purpose. But, easy as I call this recipe, 
 you, I believe, would find it more difficult to ex- 
 ecute than the indefatigable industry you have 
 employed to penetrate chaos and extract the 
 truth. There have been professors who have 
 engaged to adapt all kinds of knowledge to the 
 meanest capacities. I doubt their success, at
 
 228 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 least on me : however, you need not despair ; all 
 readers are not as dull and superannuated as, dear 
 Sir, Yours, &c. 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 19th, 1781). 
 
 I will not use many words, but enougli, I hope, 
 to convince you that I meant no irony in my last. 
 All I said of you and myself was very sincere. 
 It is my true opinion that your understanding is 
 one of the strongest, most manly, and clearest I 
 ever knew ; and, as I hold my own to be of a 
 very inferior kind, and know it to be incapable of 
 sound, deep application, I should have been very 
 foolish, if I had attempted to sneer at you or your 
 pursuits. Mine have always been light and 
 trifling, and tended to nothing but my casual 
 amusement ; I will not say, without a little vain 
 ambition of showing some parts ; but never v/ith 
 industry sufficient to make me apply them to any 
 thing solid. My studies, if they could be called 
 so, and my productions, were alike desultory. In 
 my latter age, I discovered the futility both of my 
 objects and writings : I felt how insignificant is 
 the reputation of an author of mediocrity ; and 
 that, being no genius, I only added one name 
 more to a list of writers that had told the world 
 nothing but what it could as well be without.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 229 
 
 Those reflections were the best proofs of my 
 sense ; and, when I could see through my own 
 vanity, there is less wonder at my discovering that 
 such talents as I might have had, are impaired at 
 seventy-two. Being just to myself, I am not 
 such a coxcomb as to be unjust to you. No, nor 
 did I cover any irony towards you, in the opinion 
 I gave you of the way of making deep writings 
 palatable to the mass of readers. Examine my 
 words ; and I am sure you will find that, if there 
 was any thing ironic in my meaning, it was 
 levelled at your readers, not at you. It is my 
 opinion that whoever wishes to be read by many, 
 if his subject is weighty and solid, must treat the 
 majority with more than is to his purpose. Do not 
 you believe that twenty name Lucretius, because 
 of the poetic commencement of his books, for five 
 that wade through his philosophy ? 
 
 I promised to say but little; and if I have ex- 
 plained myself clearly, I have said enough. It is 
 not, I hope, my character to be a flatterer : I do 
 most sincerely think you capable of great things ; 
 and I should be a pitiful knave if I told you so, 
 unless it was my opinion ; and what end could it 
 serve to me ? Your course is but beginning; mine 
 is almost terminated. I do not want you to 
 throw a few daisies on my grave ; and, if you 
 make the figure I augur you will, I shall not be a 
 witness to it. Adieu, dear Sir.
 
 230 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 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 Eorfar, 
 Sept. 27th, 1789. 
 
 I am favored with yours, and could not help 
 smiling at finding my nonsense of kelt had en-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 231 
 
 tered your brain as well as mine, but been con- 
 demned, as it deserved, by your juster judgment. 
 But is the Gotliicism of the word a good reason ? 
 for hraccata, 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 mid- 
 leg, 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 aftbrded me the first relief 
 from them; and yours will, I hope, leave me no- 
 thing to wish for. I must take a good while to
 
 232 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 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 in- 
 ferior to their superior in point of idleness, is be- 
 yond doubt ; for it is our manners to this day. 
 May we not suspect that privileges belonged ex- 
 clusively to the idle, and that industry had no 
 means of self-protection? Yet among the He- 
 brides 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 Bir- 
 mingham. It was of copper, plated with silver — 
 the 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.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 233 
 
 I cannot call myself an enemy to aristocracy, 
 though a decided one to an aristocratical govern- 
 ment : 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 w^ish you may find materials that will 
 afford us more rational amusement than the his- 
 tory 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 
 JEstijorum (Easterlings) gentes alluuntur, quibus 
 ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua BritanniccB pro- 
 pior." 
 
 The Swedish tongue at this moment is nearer 
 the English than any other dialect of the Ger- 
 man is, and argues strongly in favor of your 
 hypothesis of Britain being occLipied very early 
 by people speaking German. The other, " Go- 
 thinos Gallica lingua coarguit non esse Germa- 
 nos," and this, not a paltry tribe ; for Tacitus 
 says, " nee minus valent :" yet they were taxed by 
 the Quadi as strangers, and employed in the iron- 
 works as slaves. 
 
 Caesar'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.
 
 234 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 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 assnred 
 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 at- 
 tention 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 satisfac- 
 tion, 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. 
 Ixxii. had said of these Annals, " they are written with an accu- 
 racy and information hitlierto unknown in our history. This
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 235 
 
 is very difficult ; but your knowledge of history 
 and of the antiquities of this country makes you 
 equal to that task ; and I hope your labor will 
 meet with such a reception from the public as 
 shall encourage you to finish that great work, 
 which it seems you have in view, a complete his- 
 tory of Scotland from the earliest times to the 
 reign of Mary. Go on, my dear Sir, and prosper. 
 I shall be always happy to hear of your success. 
 
 THE EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dryburgh Abbey, Oct. 23rd, 1789. 
 
 Having been much occupied, in the course of 
 this summer, in conducting my works here and 
 in West Lothian, I have had less leisure than 
 usual to bestow on my favorite pursuits in lite- 
 rature ; yet I have found time, by stealing it 
 from the night, to read with great care and at- 
 tention your truly learned and elaborate Inquiry 
 into the History of Scotland preceding the 
 commencement of the reign of Malcolm III., 
 
 excellent writer had before given sundry smaller works, illustrat- 
 ing our history and antiquities, all of which are highly esteemed 
 for the candour, love of truth, exactness, and industry, which per- 
 vade them. It is much to be regretted that he did not continue 
 his Annals ; and it is impossible to guess at the reason of the 
 interruption, except that some indignant star seems to influence 
 Scottish history and antiquities. But three centuries of our his- 
 tory illustrated by Sir David Dalrymple, form a great and 
 pleasing acquisition."
 
 23G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 on which, notwithstanding the violent disgust 
 which I find it has excited among my country- 
 men, I can very freely give you my encomium, 
 without either fearing their disapjDrobation or 
 courting your esteem. 
 
 Born in an age of energy and improvement, I 
 glory in being subject to its influence, and in being 
 disposed to promote the expulsion of prejudices, 
 which I may accidentally have contributed to 
 establish; and I continue to desire to assist you 
 in elucidating the true history of my country, to 
 which, as deserving my affectionate attention, I 
 shall always give my services, without forgetting 
 what I owe to truth and to the general interests 
 of humanity. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF 
 BUCHAN. 
 
 Kentish Town, Nov. lOtli, 1789. 
 
 I am honored with your lordship's favor of the 
 23rd of October, and am extremely obliged by the 
 kind terms in which you speak of my work on 
 our history. That it must shock many received 
 prejudices among my countrymen is certain; and 
 among these some, which, to use your lordship's 
 expression, you may have accidentally contributed 
 to establish. Your candid remark upon this oc- 
 casion does your lordship the greatest honor; and 
 it is to be hoped that your lordship will protect this 
 work against narrow-minded malevolence; and be
 
 MR. PINKERTON, 237 
 
 assured that, if any Scotish man thinks that he is 
 a warmer friend of his country than its author, he 
 is mistaken. The ''violent disgust," mentioned 
 by your lordship, is perhaps not generally pre- 
 valent in Scotland. Your valuable friend, Mr. 
 Dempster, is a warm friend of the work ; and the 
 Perth Academy has expressed approbation. But 
 your lordship having been a patron of the Celtic 
 school of our history, (the only one indeed known 
 till this book appeared,) it is natural that many of ^ 
 those befriended by your lordship should be ene- 
 mies of this work. I indeed lay my account with 
 persecution, for not only having attacked national 
 prejudices, but attacked them violently. Had the 
 supporters of these prejudices been moderate, I 
 should have been moderate too ; but violent pre- 
 judices must be violently attacked ; and there is 
 surely no country in which prejudices are so 
 violent as in ours. I am convinced, my lord, that 
 old John Knox knew us very well ; and, if he 
 had not reformed us violently, he would never 
 have reformed us at all. 
 
 Your lordship will remember that you permitted 
 me to dedicate to your lordship my " Scarce Scot- 
 ish Poems Reprinted.'''' That work is now in the 
 press, and will be out next spring. If your lord- 
 ship wishes to see the dedication before it be 
 printed, let me know, and it shall be sent. It will 
 contain just compliments on your attention to our 
 antiquities in general, and to my labors in parti- 
 cular. 
 
 Barbour will soon be published. I have dropt 
 all thoughts of Wallace ; and I wish much that
 
 238 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 your lordship would recommend to the Morisons 
 to print it from the same manuscript as Barbour. 
 I have drawn out arguments for the twelve books, 
 which are at their service. As Wallace is even 
 more popular than Bruce in Scotland, there is no 
 doubt but the edition would be a matter of gain, 
 and not of loss. If Wallace were thus printed, 
 very little remains to be done for our old poetry. 
 
 Your lordship having good friends at the Vati- 
 can, I am induced to mention a discovery, which I 
 had from a gentleman just returned from Rome. 
 There is in the Vatican a " Historia Britannia?,"* 
 written by a Marcus, or Malchus, Anachorita, 
 about tlie year 990, as appears from calculations 
 in it. It is very short, and might soon be copied ; 
 and it certainly would be a matter of glory to im- 
 port it into this country. If your lordship caused 
 it to be published here, I should willingly super- 
 intend the press. 
 
 MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dunnichen, Nov. 25th, 1789. 
 
 Immediately on receipt of your favor of the 
 17th, I wrote to Mr. David Erskine, the first 
 solicitor in Edinburgh, on the subject of your 
 annuity. There is none to whom the wants of 
 the great are better known ; and, as he is an 
 excellent antiquarian himself, I hope he will 
 
 * This curious work, which is in fact a rifacciamento of Nen- 
 nius, has since been pubHshed with ample notes by the Rev. 
 William Gunn.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 239 
 
 enter with some keenness and kindness into your 
 views, especially as they are so very becoming in 
 a literary man. 
 
 I know no vendible sinecures which yield any 
 thing like nine per cent, for money. Those about 
 St. James's hardly give five ; and in Scotland I 
 do not know of any that are avowedly vendible, 
 except some in Mr. Dundas's disposal, which are 
 all offices of fatigue and attendance in the at- 
 torney line. 
 
 These are the hopes I have of being able to 
 serve you ; and I wish they may be well founded. 
 
 When a man can give little assistance, he is 
 proportionably ready to give advice. To this the 
 following impertinence must be imputed ; and I 
 hope it will be forgiven : 
 
 The expense of housekeeping, however mode- 
 rately kept, is, I know by experience, excessive in 
 London, and worse in its neighbourhood. You are 
 unmarried. Rather than leave Great Britain and 
 London, the best kingdom, and the best residence 
 for a learned man, and rather than go to Switzer- 
 land, where, except in Geneva, (a dear place) one 
 is apt to tire, I should be tempted to become a 
 lodger and boarder in London, somewhere near the 
 Museum. I remember the present Professor Fer- 
 guson boarding and lodging most comfortably on a 
 first floor at 18*. per week. His victuals were 
 sent up to him, or the family table open, just as 
 he pleased. Our friend, Thorkelin, I presume, 
 lives on very easy terms in London ; and to a 
 man so spiritually employed as you, bodily consi- 
 derations are not of much consequence. The
 
 240 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Spectator and Tatler, and, I believe, half the 
 Members of Parliament in Queen Anne's time, 
 lived so. Dr. Samuel Johnson lived, many years 
 in London for .30/. a-year — I once heard him 
 detail the system and style of life. 
 
 Enough of this from one of the v^orst econo- 
 mists in Europe ; but I don't like that Switzer- 
 land, the government of which you'll find an 
 arbitrary, corrupted, oligarchical, aristocratical re- 
 public, where the only road to fortune is by the 
 judges selling justice for seven years in their 
 bailiwics. The winter is cold — no coal, and 
 wood very dear. Enough of this also from one 
 who never was in the country he abuses. You 
 will find much comfort in adhering to your true 
 Whig principles ; because they are founded in 
 reason, and, thank Heaven, are become at length 
 fashionable in Europe. I fear, however, it will 
 always be a Tory party that will govern Great 
 Britain : the executive government seems of right 
 to belong to Tories : the legislative and controlling- 
 part to the Whigs; for a true Whig is not in his 
 true element, unless in a situation of inde- 
 pendency, to watch and censure even his own 
 brother, become a minister. All the Whigs, who 
 in my time have departed from the watching 
 system, have died dispirited and broken-hearted ; 
 for 1 doubt if kings have found an adequate re- 
 compense for the misery of thinking right, and 
 from servilely speaking alid voting wrong. 
 
 Don't abandon your History of Scotland. I 
 expect much from it. When you have finished 
 a moderate period, give us a volume, and try the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 241 
 
 pulse of the public. Your latter volumes may, 
 by their sale to the bookseller, make you very 
 rich. I knew David Hume, when he had not 
 above thirty pounds a-year to spend. Your 
 natural succession to a mother, whose life I join 
 with you in wishing to be long and happy, secures 
 an addition as years draw on. What a child you 
 are! I was born twenty-six years before you, 
 and have hitherto fancied I was writing to an 
 older man : having discovered my mistake by 
 your last letter, you see I presume upon it, and 
 offer advice. 
 
 HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Berkeley Square, Dec. 15th, 1789. 
 
 You will probably have been surprised at not 
 hearing from me so long : indeed, I hope you will 
 have been so ; for, as it has been occasioned by 
 involuntary neglect, I had rather you should have 
 reproached me in your own mind than have 
 been thoughtless of me and indifferent. The 
 truth is, that, between great misfortunes, ac- 
 cidents, and illness, I have passed six most 
 melancholy months. I have lost two of my 
 nearest and most beloved relations, Lady Dysart 
 and Lord Waldegrave. Her illness terminated 
 but in September : his, besides the grievous loss 
 of him, left me in the greatest anxiety for his 
 widow, who thought herself at the end of her 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 -42 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 pregnancy, but was not delivered till, (above two 
 months after his death,) a fortnight ago. 
 
 In the midst of these distresses, I had two very- 
 bad falls in June and September, by which I 
 bruised myself exceedingly; and the last of which 
 brought on a fit of the gout. In such situations, 
 I was very incapable of entertaining any body or 
 even of being- entertained, and saw few but of my 
 own unhappy family, or I should have asked the 
 favor of your company at Strawberry Hill. 
 
 I am now pretty well, and came to town but to- 
 day, when I take the first moment of telling you 
 so, that, whenever you come to London, I may 
 have a chance of having the pleasure of seeing 
 you. 
 
 I did not miss the pleasure of reading your 
 solid confutation of one of your antagonists, 
 in the Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
 MR. GEO. CHALMERS* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Green Street, Feb. 22d, 1790. 
 
 I thank you for your note of Saturday, which 
 mentions Lindsay and a Harley manuscript : the 
 first I received safe and sound ; the second I am 
 obliged to you for mentioning, though it be 
 
 * Geo. Chalmers, Esq., author of Caledonia, &c. &c. &c. a 
 very voluminous author on a great variety of subjects, and a 
 very useful one, notwithstanding the sneers in the Pursuits of 
 Literature upon his leaden mace.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 243 
 
 published in Hackluyt, vol. i. p. 187, edit. 1598, 
 of my copy, which I bought at Peirson's sale. 
 
 The Harley manuscript is said to be the '* Bibel 
 of English PoUcie ;" Hackluyt's is the Libel of 
 EiigUsh PoUcie. This leads me to wish that the 
 whole of so curious a poem were collated. 
 
 But the great affair would be to discover when 
 and by whom this instructive tract was written. 
 It cannot be of the reign of Ed. IV. ; because it 
 was written while Sigismond, the great emperor, 
 was j/e^ reigning. Now Sigismond died in 1438. 
 It mentions our Henry V. This leads us to infer 
 that it was composed in some year between 1423 
 and 1438. I would give the world to know the 
 author, to whom we are obliged for so early an 
 account of our shipping and traffic. 
 
 I shall be thankful to you for any other hint. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. HERBERT.* 
 
 Kentish Town, Feb. 22nd, 171)0. 
 
 I have just received, by the favor of your ne- 
 phew, that part of your third volume which 
 concerns Scotish typography, and which 1 was 
 very desirous to see. The books from 1509 to 
 1541 (if you except the * Ad Serenissimum,' &c. 
 
 * Mr. William Herbert, an eminent typographical anti- 
 quary, well known for his valuable edition of Ames' History 
 of Printing-. An interesting memoir of him is given in Nichols' 
 Literary Anecdotes, vol. v. p. 2G4. He died in 1795, aged 7G.
 
 244 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 p. 1472) are perhaps inserted to humour my 
 countrymen, for they belong not to Scotish typo- 
 graphy; and, perhaps, the more apparent the 
 chasm, the more exertions would have been used 
 to discover books to fill it. The ' History,' 1536, 
 cannot stand upon Mackenzie's authority only ; 
 for he is grossly inaccurate, as the next article 
 proves; and it is supposed by some, that there 
 were two editions of that work. I am glad you 
 have the only real edition of it ; and, if you lived 
 nearer town, I should have esteemed it a most 
 particular favor if you could have lent it to me 
 for one month ; as I am engaged in writing the 
 History of Scotland, and learn that Bellenden is a 
 free translator, and has matters not in his original. 
 There is a copy in the King's Library, Bucking- 
 ham House ; but there we can only consult with 
 propriety. 
 
 The Complaint of Scotland in Major Pierson's 
 Ballads, I am anxious to have a copy of, and 
 should be obliged to you for information in whose 
 hands they now are. I still think of reprinting 
 Wcdderbiirns Complaint, You w:ill excuse my 
 differing from you as to the Harleian copy having 
 a manuscript title, which, in so full and accurate 
 a catalogue, would, in that case, have been men- 
 tioned. As to Mackenzie, I know no term strong 
 enough for his inaccuracies and bold assertions. 
 It is not unusual, nor has been from the com- 
 mencement of printing, for a blank to be left at 
 the end of a dedication, for the author to write in 
 his name with his own hand in the presentation 
 copy, which was thought more respectful. I sus-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 245 
 
 pect, after all, that this book was printed in 
 France, and that the many castrations proceeded 
 from the author's total ignorance of the language. 
 Another copy, but very imperfect, is in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. Macgowan, Edinburgh. 
 
 I must retract what I have said in List of 
 Scotish Poets p. 105, that no Protestant books 
 could be printed in Scotland till 1568. From 
 your work it is clear they began in 1560; and 
 your reasoning on the Copenhagen Lindsay is 
 very probable. The Lindsay, Paris, 1588, is in 
 the King's Library, Buckingham House, complete. 
 It contains the Monarchy, at the beginning, and 
 the Tragedy of Betoven at the end, both wanting in 
 mine. In the same volume is bound the Papingo, 
 London, by John Byddel, 1538. I have since 
 picked up the tragedy of Betoven, Paris, 1558, 
 separately, and added it to my copy. 
 
 Do you know who has Rauf Coilyear, p. 1495 ? 
 I have Against Sacrilege, 1599, p. 1519. If you 
 wish to see this, or any other book in my posses- 
 sion, they shall be left with your nephew at 
 Mr. Hayes's. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your repeated 
 mention of what little I could do for Scotish typo- 
 graphy ; and, hoping you will excuse these trifling 
 remarks, I remain, &c.
 
 246 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE EAUL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 March 5th, 1790. 
 I have caused to be transcribed the manuscript 
 1488 of Henry the minstrel's Aletrical History of 
 Wallace for the Morisons at Perth, who have en- 
 gaged some of the gentlemen of the Literary 
 Society there to accompany the proposed edition 
 with historical and topographical notes. I pro- 
 pose to send them (along with the copy corrected 
 and compared) fac-similes of the original manu- 
 script, and a drawing of the portrait of Wallace 
 from the picture in the possession of Sir Philip 
 Ainslie, knight ; which was bought at a great 
 price in France by his father, Mr. Ainslie, mer- 
 chant at Bordeaux ; and which bears the mark of 
 originality, both from the manner of the painting 
 agreeing with that of the fourteenth century, and 
 its having undoubtedly been preserved in the 
 family, who sold it, for more than two centuries, 
 as an original. The dragon is on his helmet; 
 and that side on which he had a wen is averted 
 from the eye, which last circumstance would have 
 been avoided in a fictitious picture of the hero. 
 
 The books in this manuscript of Wallace are 
 regularly marked ; and the whole is concluded 
 with an attestation by Maister Jhone Ramsay, 
 the clerk, who wrote the copy, of its authenticity. 
 
 I shall be glad to know what progress Barbour 
 and Lindsay have made at your press, and if your 
 History of Scotland is advancing. In the cloisters 
 at Westminster you will find ample materials for 
 correcting the Annals of the Reign, of James L 
 n. in. IV. and V.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 247 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 March 27th, 1790. 
 
 I was duly honored with both your lordship's 
 favors of the 5th and 10th instant,* and am 
 always very happy to hear of your lordship's 
 exertions in favor of our ancient literature. The 
 intelligence concerning Wallace pleases me par- 
 ticularly ; and, in compliance with your lordship's 
 desire, prefixed are the arguments which I com- 
 posed for my own satisfaction, and which the 
 editors may make what use of they please. The 
 portrait of Wallace is surely a mistake. Even in 
 France, paintings of monarchs can hardly be got 
 of the fourteenth century. If this piece be in oil 
 colors, its falsehood is evident, or if on canvass. 
 If in distemper, and on board, it may be of the 
 fourteenth century ; but surely not of Wallace, 
 who only shone for eighteen months, then sunk 
 into a most obscure situation. By the by, it 
 would be a favor, if your lordship would give me 
 some account of the portrait of James I. pub- 
 lished by the Morisons, by what means it got 
 into Germany, and was discovered there. Sec. 
 
 Barbour's poem will be published in a fort- 
 night : Lindsay's pieces, &c. in not less than four 
 months. I thank your lordship for the hint about 
 the Westminster cloisters ; and any other hints 
 that can serve my proposed history will be very 
 acceptable. Is there any thing of much im- 
 portance in the papal Bulls recovered by your 
 lordship ? I should be happy to know if Lord 
 
 * This letter is not preserved.
 
 248 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Hailes made any collections about the Stuart 
 family. 
 
 The Morisons, if they choose, may leave Drum- 
 mond of Hawthornden to me : I mean in time to 
 give an edition, with the parallel passages of the 
 Italian Poets, &c. But an edition by them will 
 do no harm, especially if they can get any fresh 
 anecdotes of his life from his papers. If they 
 would print the best unpublished pieces in the 
 Bannatyne manuscript and in that of the late Lord 
 Auchinleck, they would do great service, and ac- 
 quire the additional merit of original editors. 
 They are very welcome to print the second part 
 of Dunbar's Poems, from the Maitland Pieces. 
 All my publications are pro bono publico. 
 
 I shall with pleasure superintend the pub- 
 lication of Winton's Chronicle, in any shape 
 that the subscribers would prefer. I have a copy 
 of that in the Advocates' Library, compared 
 with other copies in Scotland, and prepared for 
 the press by Mr. Seton in 1724 ; but I must 
 inform your lordship that it would be Cheat- 
 ing the subscribers to publish from any but the 
 Royal manuscript, which is infinitely superior in 
 accuracy to all the others. If your lordship and 
 Mr. Davidson would patronise the work, by pro- 
 curing subscriptions, it might be printed com- 
 plete, in four volumes, 8vo. ; and one hundred 
 subscriptions at two, or fifty at four guineas each, 
 would defray the expense, with what subscriptions 
 I might get here.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 249 
 
 THE EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dryburgh Abbey, April 9th, 1790. 
 
 I have written to Mr. Davidson on the subject 
 of my proposed publication of Winton's Chronicle, 
 from the manuscript in the King's Library, with 
 your generous assistance ; and, if I find a suffi- 
 cient number of subscribers to meet your proposal, 
 I shall lose no time in informing you, that the 
 transcript may be set on foot by your inter- 
 vention. 
 
 When I have the pleasure of corresponding 
 with Lord Hailes, I shall sound him on the sub- 
 ject of his history of the Stuarts of the Scotish 
 line, which, from his age and scruples about 
 some disputed points in the Annals of Robert IL, I 
 believe he does not intend to produce. 
 
 By the liberal assistance of the worthy Mr. 
 Astle, I have no doubt of your collecting ample 
 materials for your history of Scotland from the 
 accession of the Earl of Carrick to the throne of 
 the Scots, to the death of James V., where I hope 
 you intend to finish your narration. 
 
 Afterwards, you would get into beaten tracks 
 and into controversy, which I wish you to avoid. 
 I send you,' subjoined to this letter, a list of papers 
 in the cloisters at Westminster, which I had in 
 the year eighty -six from Mr. Astle;* and there, 
 
 * A few of the most interesting papers in the cloisters relative 
 to the reigns of James III. IV. and V. of Scotland. 
 
 148G. July 3. Confirmation of Peace between the Kings. 
 An answer to a solicitation, or letter of advice, of Henry
 
 250 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 in the Paper-office, and in the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe's Library, you will meet with excellent 
 materials for your work. 
 
 Whatever I can do for you in Scotland you 
 may freely suggest. Uniformly desirous of pro- 
 moting the advancement of useful learning, I re- 
 joice in being superior to vulgar prejudice, which 
 is found as commonly among the great as among 
 the people. 
 
 The Papal Bulls hitherto transcribed for me 
 at Rome, contain no new historical facts.* They 
 
 to the Scotish Xobles, to remove the Duke of Albany from the 
 government of the young King — sealed with the seals of the 
 chiefs of the Scots. 
 
 1492. Writings about the Truce. 
 
 1499. The Lord Bothwell and Sir Thomas Tod promise to 
 deliver to Henry, the young King of Scots, for which they 
 acknowledge to have had an advance of IQGl. VSs. Ad. 
 
 1493. June 25. Sir William Tyler's bond to pay the 
 Abbot of Cambuskenneth fifty pounds. — (A bribe.) 
 
 1502. Letter of James IV. to Henry, wherein he declares, 
 that whereas, in a certain Treaty, he had named the King of 
 England King of France, he had done it unawares. Tliis 
 done by the advice of his ambassador in France, Bishop 
 Foreman. 
 
 1504. An account of the honorable treatment of Margaret, 
 and of the adorning of her person. 
 
 1516, Jan. 8. Articles of agreement between James and 
 Henry VIIL, made by the Duke of Albany during the mi- 
 nority — sealed with the seals of thirty-four of the nobility of 
 Scotland. 
 
 These are a few only of a large bundle which you will ex- 
 amine. 
 
 * In a subsequent letter, which I have not printed, Lord 
 Buchan tells Mr. Pinkerton that he has found among these 
 Bulls, " a pardon for the burning of a Bishop, and killing his
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 251 
 
 are from the middle of the reign of Alexander II. 
 to that of Alexander III. Whatever I have, or 
 shall come to my hands that can serve your pur- 
 pose, shall be transmitted. 
 
 I have reason to believe that the portrait sent 
 me from Kielberg near Tubingen in Suabia by 
 Mr. Goguel the younger, counsellor of the Duke of 
 Wirtemberg, is of James III., and not James I., 
 as he supposed ; because the portraits in the 
 gallery are all of them of contemporary sovereigns, 
 Edward IV., Henry VI., &c. 
 
 Mr. Van Lytram, the former proprietor of Kiel- 
 berg, had an ancestor, who was passionately fond 
 of foreign travel, and visited most of the courts in 
 Europe, whence it was his pride to bring portraits 
 of the reigning princes and reigning beauties, 
 which he placed in a Gallery at Kielberg, where 
 they yet remain, and were pointed out to me by 
 my maternal uncle, the late Sir James Stewart 
 Denham, Bart., who resided some time at Tiibin- 
 gen on account of the education of his son. 
 
 people, in Caithness, in the thirteenth century;" and, speaking 
 of the state of the Advocates' Library at that period, he says, 
 " I shall be ready to cause this Library to be ransacked, if 1 
 learn in what point it may be useful ; for such is the scandalous 
 disorder of that collection of manuscripts, that nothing but the 
 wish to illustrate the history of my country in your hands or 
 in the hands of a person of equal ability would induce me to 
 undertake it."
 
 252 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, May 2Gth, 1790. 
 
 I am sorry I was out of town when you did me 
 the favor of calling. I could have shown you a 
 very Jesuitic letter from the prelate in answer to 
 Lady D.'s application at my request; and of 
 which I should have told you, if I had conceived 
 any hope from it. 
 
 I did not at all expect any success from her 
 or my application : I would not refuse you to 
 apply, but I know that I have no credit ; and, as 
 I obtain nothing but denials or evasions, I am 
 always most unwilling to solicit what I have no 
 chance of procuring, and what, I assure you, no- 
 thing should make me ask for myself. I have not 
 been averse from proving to you that I would 
 have served you if I could ; but interest, you per- 
 ceive, I have none at all. I heartily wish your 
 merit may find more substantial friends than your 
 very insignificant humble servant, &c. 
 
 THE EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dryburgh Abbey, July 16th, 1790. 
 
 I am much pleased with your edition of the 
 Bruce,* which I only received a few days ago, 
 owing to the parcel having remained some time at 
 
 * The Bruce, or the History of Robert J., King of Scotland, 
 written in Scottish verse, by John Barbour: The First Genuine 
 Edition, published from a Manuscript dated 1489, with Notes 
 and a Glossary. London, 1790, 3 vols. 8vo.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 253 
 
 my brother the dean of faculty's, before it was 
 forwarded to the country. I shall cause the prmted 
 copy to be again compared with the manuscript ; 
 that the work may be rendered more correct if it 
 shall be reprinted. I differ from my respectable 
 friends. Lord Hailes and Mr. Davidson, about the 
 publication of Winton's Chronicle, and agree with 
 you in thinking it better to trouble the public 
 with no more than the latter part, from David II. 
 to J 4 14, filling up the space from thence to 1437 
 from Bellenden ; for which end I wish you to 
 cause your bookseller to offer proposals to the 
 public, which I will second with all my friends and 
 correspondents, to fill up a subscription for 250 
 copies to defray the expense of printing, and 
 should wish the book to be printed with the same 
 type, and of the same form and size with Bruce, 
 whereby, with Mr. Morison's editions, we may 
 have a Scotch poetical library. Let me know 
 wherein I can be useful to your noble undertaking 
 of a History of Scotland from the accession of 
 Malcolm III. to the death of James V., where, I 
 suppose, you may choose to pause before you ven- 
 ture to proceed on the controversial annals of Mary. 
 I formerly pointed out to you the cloisters at West- 
 minster, as containing many State Papers of high 
 importance, which have been partly examined by 
 Mr. Astle of the Records, who will, I know, at 
 Mr. Walpole's request, render you useful assist- 
 ance in the investigation. The Marquis of Lans- 
 downe has many volumes of State Papers and 
 letters relating to Scotland ; as has the Earl of 
 Hardwicke. I have copies of all the letters and
 
 254 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 instructions of State that are in the Cotton Library 
 of the years 1581-2, which will be imparted for 
 your use when you desire ; and I shall with 
 continued attention do every thing in my power 
 to forward a design which I think so commenda- 
 ble, and so likely both to gratify the public and to 
 increase your reputation, which, in my opinion, 
 has been no way shaken by the ill-humor of our 
 antiquarian enthusiasts. 
 
 If you choose to give engraved portraits of the 
 most eminent statesmen, &c. in your History of 
 Scotland, for the decoration of the work, I advise 
 such only to be given as have not been hitherto 
 engraved : such as the regents Mar and Moray, 
 Maitland of Lethington, Sec, some of which are in 
 my collection, and would be cheerfully copied for 
 your use, and an appendix of curious and charac- 
 teristic original Scotch papers not formerly printed, 
 which would much increase the number of pur- 
 chasers of the book. 
 
 I thank you for the handsome and acceptable 
 manner in which you have mentioned my name 
 in your preface to Bruce ; and I shall endeavour 
 to deserve the ratification of your sentence by the 
 public and by a more impartial posterity. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Kentish Town, July 19th, 1790. | 
 
 I expected that Mr. Nicol would have sent you 
 a copy of Barbour before now ; but, as his many 
 avocations have made him forget it, I have written
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 255 
 
 to tlie Edinburgh booksellers, Messrs. Bell and 
 Bradfute, to forward one to your lordship, of 
 which I request acceptance, as a small return for 
 your attention to our old bard. 
 
 Your lordship has, I dare say, seen the curious 
 collection of Old Scotish Poems, printed 1508; 
 lately lodged in the Advocates' Library. I spoke 
 to M. Cardonnel, when up here, to get me copies 
 of the chief articles. I should take it very kind, if 
 your lordship will recommend this to Mr. C, and 
 if you could procure for me copies of two poems, 
 the Houkt, and the Bliidi^ Sark, from the Banna- 
 tyne manuscript, fol. 302 and 325. 
 
 My Scarce Scotish Poems, Reprhited, including 
 Lindsay's Plays, &c., will not appear till next 
 winter. 
 
 I beg leave to recommend to your lordship's 
 inquiries "The Memoirs of Lockhart of Lee," 
 Cromwell's Ambassador to France, printed by 
 Uric at Glasgow, about 1760, but, I believe, 
 called in by the family ; for, though I read this 
 book when a boy, I can now hear of no copy, 
 except one in the hands of Dr. Adam Smith. It 
 is a pity that it is not republished. If your lord- 
 ship happens to see your worthy friend, Lord 
 Hailes, have the goodness to mention this ; and it 
 will be a favor, if you will also ask him if he did 
 not write an account of Michael Scot of Palwierie, 
 in the Edinburgh Magazine, and for what year; 
 for I wish much to see it. 
 
 This letter was written before your lordship's of 
 the 16th came to hand. As to Winton's Chro- 
 nicle, it will require the copies to be sold at 1/. 1^. 
 each, to make 250 pay expenses, if printed as the
 
 25G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Bruce, of which 750 are printed, and yet will 
 hardly pay expense of printing, plates, &c. But 
 the Winton must stand over for a few years. 
 
 I am extremely obliged to your lordship for 
 your liberal and polite offers to assist my history 
 of Scotland, which at present engrosses all my 
 attention. I mean the collecting of materials ; for 
 as to the work itself, I have not yet put pen to 
 paper in it. When occasion arises, I shall beg 
 leave to avail myself of your lordship's offers. 
 
 I never expected that my " Inquiry into our early 
 History" would find great success among the pre- 
 sent generation of our countrymen. Deep pre- 
 judices can hardly be done away, even in a second 
 generation. But I should be glad to know if any 
 one has written against it ; or what are the chief 
 objections which your lordship hears. My coun- 
 trymen here object to my saying, that Scotland's 
 chief merit is defensive war ; and that she has 
 produced no man of erudition. But what is so 
 easy as to confute me, by naming any one con- 
 quest we ever made, or any one book of erudition 
 written by a Scotchman ? If we sit down idle, 
 in the idea that we have done great things, it is 
 wrong. The object with a true lover of his 
 country, is to sow the seeds of future spirit. As 
 to the real contents and essence of my book, I 
 have heard no objection here. 
 
 Mr. Napier in the Strand is publishing Old 
 Scotish tunes with the words. If your lordship 
 knows any unpublished, it will be a favor if you 
 will communicate them to him. His address is 
 " Music Seller to their Majesties."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 257 
 
 EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dryburgh Abbey, Aug. 5th, 1790. 
 
 I have written to M. de Cardonnel about the 
 transcript you desire to be made from the book 
 of Old Scotish poems in the Advocates' Library, 
 in which, if any difficulty should be found, I shall 
 intervene to have it done, and cause the copies to 
 be sent under the cover of a member of Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 I remember to have seen the Memoirs of Lock- 
 hart at Glasgow, when I was engaged in the study 
 of civil law and jurisprudence at that university, 
 with Messrs. Millar and Smith, in the year 1760; 
 and I have heard my uncle. Sir James Stuart 
 Denham, speak of it as having been called in by 
 the instigation of the late Mr. Lockhart, Dean of 
 the Faculty of Advocates, afterwards a Lord of 
 Session, by the name of the Lord Covington, who, 
 with others of his family, was a Jacobite and a 
 foe to the principles wliich raised the ambassador 
 to his station under Cromwell and the common- 
 wealth of Britain. As soon as I received your 
 letter, I wrote to my cousin, the present Sir James 
 Stuart Denham, member of Parliament for the 
 county of Lanark, begging he would procure me 
 three copies of the book, one of which I shall 
 send you as soon as I receive them ; as I agree 
 with you in thinking the book should be pub- 
 lished, and wish it to receive such illustration as 
 may be derived from the examination of the Paper- 
 office and other repositories at London, that may 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 258 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 contain his correspondence with Thurloe, and 
 other ministers of state, which have not been ac- 
 cessible to the writer of the Memoirs in question. 
 
 I shall obtain leave from the family to put the 
 book into your hands, to receive your notes and 
 illustrations, and to be at your disposal for the 
 press. I propose, likewise, to send you a draw- 
 ing of Lockhart's portrait from the picture by Sir 
 Peter Lely, which is at Lee in Lanarkshire, the 
 chief residence of the family. I have consulted Sir 
 David Dalrymple about this business ; and, when 
 I have his opinion, I shall inform you of the result ; 
 and with respect to the poems in the Bannatyne 
 manuscript &c., if I find that M. de Cardonnel is 
 too much engaged to be able to follow out the ex- 
 tent of your queries, I shall take care to superin- 
 tend this or any other transcripts you may wish 
 to have made in the Advocates' Library, or any of 
 our libraries in Scotland. 
 
 It is my earnest desire to push vigorously for- 
 ward the literature of Scotland, at a time when we 
 have excited some taste for it among ourselves, 
 and have in you so indefatigable and so excel- 
 lent an editor, whose merit will be as much exag- 
 gerated hereafter as it is detracted from at pre- 
 sent. 
 
 I suppose the Scots college at Paris, if the new 
 government of France shall in the end be fully 
 established, will either sell their effects, or cause 
 their valuable manuscripts to be printed or sold 
 to a bookseller. Gordon, their principal, is be- 
 come old and indolent ; but the house must cause 
 some person of erudition and taste to be engaged 
 to arrange the manuscripts, and superintend the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 259 
 
 printing of a catalogue, in which case, as you 
 might carry on your work as well at Paris as at 
 London, I should wish to recommend your assist- 
 ance, if you have no objection to the performance 
 of the task. 
 
 There is a whole room full of old letters and 
 papers that were placed in the college by Arch- 
 bishop Bethune ; and the collection of Lesly, 
 Bishop of Ross, is in the same apartment, contain- 
 ing much information with respect to the ancient 
 history of Scotland. 
 
 To conclude — Use freely every aid that I can 
 afford you in the prosecution of your researches: 
 *' Ask, and you shall receive : knock, and it shall 
 be opened to you." 
 
 I shall be happy to hear of the re-establish- 
 ment of your health : I wish death to keep off 
 such quarry. I could let him have plenty of gen- 
 tlemen at a shilling a dozen, that would fill his 
 maw much better than our historian. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Newhailes, Sept. 28th, 1790. 
 
 This day 1 had the favor of your letter: I have 
 no view of beginning where I left off in the His- 
 tory of Scotland. I have not made any collections 
 worth mentioning as to Robert II. and III. 
 Extracts from Froissart, and those very super- 
 ficial, compose the chief part. Had I meant to 
 write that part of the Scotish History, I should
 
 260 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 certainly have exerted myself to get the manu- 
 script of Froissart, at Breslau in Silesia, inspected ; 
 for I imagine that more will be found respecting 
 Scotland in it than in the printed copy. 
 
 Any thing that I have as to the Jive James's and 
 Queen Mary, will come in properly among my 
 notes on their Acts of Parliament ; a work which 
 has been long under my hands, and which I am 
 unwilling to lose sight of. 
 
 I remember that Mr. Boswell told me, some 
 years ago, that he meant to write the life of 
 James IV. : whether he made any progress in it, I 
 know not. 
 
 From your purpose of undertaking so large a 
 work as that which you mention, I judge that 
 you are resolved to let Mr. Whitaker alone : some- 
 body told me that you intended to examine him. 
 Mr. Tytler and he have dispersed all the birds of 
 ill omen which hovered round the royal body. 
 Accept my thanks for the civilities shown to me in 
 your late book. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO LORD HAILES. 
 
 Kentish Town, near Loiulon, 
 Feb. 1st, 1791. 
 
 I was duly honored with your lordship's obliging 
 answer to my last, to which I did not reply, 
 because I was apprehensive of being troublesome ; 
 but I am now induced to beg your lordship's
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 261 
 
 opinion upon a very important department of our 
 history, the old laws of Scotland. 
 
 The statutes of Malcolm II. I give up with your 
 lordship ; and the Regiam Majestatem with Mr. 
 Davidson. But some parts of the latter strike me 
 as real ancient Scotish laws, preserved in that 
 treatise; as for instance, lib. i. c. 16 to 20, which 
 are clearly referred to in stat. Alex. c. 12, and 
 lib. iv. c. 36, 38, 39, 40. The former part is 
 ascribed to David I. by stat. Alex. c. 12; and the 
 latter, from its intrinsic evidence, seems to contain 
 some of the oldest laws. Skene mentions that, in 
 some manuscripts, the latter chapters are titled. 
 Leges inter Brettos et Scotos ; and your lordship 
 will remember, in your Annals an instrument of 
 Edward I. is mentioned, referring to the laws inter 
 Brettos et Scotos. Most of the other passages in the 
 Regiam Majestatem wot in Glanville, I suppose to be 
 later laws, inserted when the Regiam Majestatem was 
 really compiled under David II. I can discover no 
 manuscript older than the fifteenth century, which 
 is another argument for its not being more ancient 
 than the fourteenth; and under James I. it is 
 regarded as established law ; so it hardly can be 
 more modern than David II. But this is sub- 
 mitted to your lordship. 
 
 In the Harleian Library is a good manuscript of 
 the old Scotish laws, written about 1430; and it is 
 believed as ancient as any extant. I have com- 
 pared it carefully with Skene's edition, and find 
 that your lordship is perfectly right in blaming 
 Skene for gross errors, omissions, and interpola- 
 tions. The statutes of Robert II. are not in this
 
 262 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 manuscript; but the first statutes of Robert I. are 
 erroneously called Statuta Roberti de Bi^uys SecuncU 
 ejus nominis. 1 beg your lordship's opinion as to 
 the authenticity of the statutes of Robert II. in 
 Skene. The concluding chapter is a great evi- 
 dence in their favor. 
 
 The Leges Biirgorum seem to be of David I., 
 but with later interpolations. It is natural to 
 think that our burghs had the first regular laws. 
 
 The Qiw??imn Attachiamenta seem far later. In 
 a brieve in this manuscript the style is *' Ro- 
 bertus Dei gratia," &c. Skene has only " Rex," 
 &c. This manuscript differs much from Skene. 
 
 Next in this manuscript are the statutes of 
 David II. totally different from those in Skene. 
 They are a mixture of those ascribed to Alex. II. 
 and Robert I. in Skene, with many not in Skene 
 at all. 
 
 The Leges Forestarum here fill near eighty 
 pages : in Skene about eight. Many of them in 
 this manuscript refer to burghs, sailors^ &c. 
 May not these laws be those of the forests, or 
 south of Scotland, about Jedburgh and Selkirk ? 
 At any rate they should have been published as in 
 the manuscripts. They seem from this manu- 
 script to belong to Alexander II. 
 
 The first statutes of Robert I. are not so nu- 
 merous as in Skene; and yet there are some here 
 that are not in Skene. I follow the order of the 
 manuscript. 
 
 The statutes of William differ almost entirely 
 from Skene. Those of Alexander II. agree pretty 
 well ; but the order differs.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. ^G^ 
 
 The second statutes of Robert I. agree to ch. 21. 
 with the first in Skene : then they vary much. 
 
 Those of Robert III. agree better than any of 
 the rest ; but they also vary towards the end. 
 
 From this detail your lordship will perceive, that 
 the differences between this manuscript and Skene 
 are prodigious. I should wish very much to know, 
 if the manuscripts examined by your lordship vary 
 as much ; and if any of our lawyers or antiquaries 
 have critically examined our old statutes, and en- 
 deavored to ascertain them to the proper mo- 
 narchs. This can only be done by collating the 
 manuscripts and preferring the most ancient. I 
 suspect, however, that Skene's work is an abstract 
 digested by him ; and that the old manuscripts 
 agree much among themselves. 
 
 I am much obliged to your lordship for the hint 
 concerning Froissart, but beg leave to mention 
 that the best manuscript of his work is in the 
 British Museum ; and that all Ithe editions en 
 kttre Gothique, (there are about ten,) are far fuller 
 than the editions by Sauvage. 
 
 LORD HAILES TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 28th, 1791. 
 
 I am favored with your letter : the present 
 state of my health will not permit me to make 
 a long answer. You appear not to be acquainted 
 with my tract on Regiam JMajestatem. Many 
 years ago I projected an edition of our laws ; but
 
 264 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 different avocations prevented me from making 
 much progress in it. I met w^ith a copy of the 
 laws of Robert I. in the chartulary of Moray; 
 and, that manuscript being of the age of that king, 
 I considered it as the most authentic. I collated 
 all the good manuscripts which I could find ; and 
 I drew up some explanatory notes ; and there the 
 matter rested. There is a confusion in our ancient 
 statutes, which I never had time to unravel : for 
 example, there is somewhere in. the statutes of 
 William, the Lion, a law similar to one in the 
 Friderician Constitutions later than the days of 
 WiUiam ; and I see many examples of the same 
 laws ascribed to different kings. Lord Karnes 
 thought favorably of the second statutes of Ro- 
 bert L : I did not think so favorably of them. It 
 is hard to say what of Leges Burgorum are Sco- 
 tish, what English : the truth is, that the laws and 
 regulations of the two kingdoms were nearly 
 similar. I cannot enter into a detail of the rea- 
 sons of their similarity. 
 
 DR. JOSEPH WARTON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Winchester, April 28tli, 17J)1. 
 
 I am confident you will pardon me for availing 
 myself of that freedom, which lovers of literature 
 sometimes take with one another, in troubling you 
 with a letter on a passage in your excellent and 
 valuable Collection of Ancient Scotish Poems. 
 You say, page 138, Vol. L, that Dr. Beattie has
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 265 
 
 informed you, that the Ode on the approach of 
 Summer, published in the Union, was written by 
 a Mr. Seton. I must beg to inform you that it was 
 written by my brother, the late Mr. Thomas 
 Warton, and that I saw it, at the very time it was 
 written, forty years ago, and have, this moment, 
 lying before me, the first original rude draught 
 of it. I often pressed him to own it ; and, as I 
 have just collected all his poetical pieces, I have 
 inserted it in the collection to be immediately 
 published. I imagined you would like to be in- 
 formed of this ; and I must assure you I shall be 
 happy to see you, if you ever come this way, and 
 shall be glad of finding some opportunity of visit- 
 ing you in town. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, Aug. 29th, 1791^ 
 
 " Praise from thy lips 'tis mine with pride to boast: 
 " He best can give it, who deserves it most." 
 
 Accordingly, I esteem your encomiums on my 
 Sketches as the most illustrious mark of your 
 friendship toward me and my native country. In 
 my judgment, indeed, you have conferred on me a 
 service in so generous a manner, that it alone de- 
 mands my highest gratitude. But how far I may 
 be able to give you proofs of my obligation, time 
 will learn. Since I came here, I have been busy 
 in getting my things in order ; and yet two years 
 at least will expire till every thing is settled.
 
 206 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 The archives require an immense time ; for, as I 
 am a stranger in that honorable office, I have 
 thought it prudent to petition his majesty for the 
 appointment of a committee, through the hands of 
 whom I may receive the records, and know for 
 what I am to become answerable. In the mean 
 time, that is to say, till the archives shall thus be 
 delivered, you will think my leisure hours are not 
 very few ; nor are they few, I must confess ; but 
 these are sacred to the continuation of the di- 
 plomas of the Arnea Magnean Legacy. Besides, 
 I intend writing some sketches of my tour in 
 Scotland. The people here are mighty fond of 
 knowing distant countries, while they are charged 
 with forgetting their own home. However, the 
 liberty of the peasantry is at length settled in a 
 manner, which will, in all probability, never suffer 
 any inroads. In my Sketches, I mentioned that 
 some of the Jytlandish nobles had complained of 
 the proceedings of those, who were appointed 
 commissioners. The attorney-general answered 
 these complaints; and the nobles found them- 
 selves violently hurt, and filed an action against 
 him before the High Court of Justiciaries. The 
 attorney-general, too, was not idle : the cause was 
 tried, and the gentlemen totally defeated. Be- 
 sides pecuniary fines to a considerable amount, 
 two of the plaintiffs have lost their badges of dis- 
 tinction (obtained formerly from the Court,) on 
 account of their behaviour unbecoming gentlemen. 
 The whole affair on both sides is published and 
 laid before the public. In fine, the liberty of the 
 press gets new friends every day, under the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 267 
 
 fostering auspices of the prince royal, whose 
 answer to every one complaining of the press, is 
 by no means favorable to their wishes. He has 
 lately told some gentleman, who advised him to 
 procure his father's consent to certain declaratory 
 laws in this respect, the common law of the land 
 was the best guardian of personal and real secu- 
 rity : if any body found himself injured through 
 the press, he had recourse to the author and the 
 printer, cited before a court of justice — so this 
 matter rests. The king and his beloved son are 
 now about to abolish the ill-fated feodal services, 
 which have proved the greatest ruin of this coun- 
 try. But, in order to effect this salutary affair in 
 the most equitable manner, both the lords of 
 manors and their tenants are ordered to enter into 
 a friendly agreement in this point among them- 
 selves. In case of a difference, the cause is to be 
 submitted to arbitrators, and the covenants thus 
 made shall be kept inviolable to eternity. In 
 order to lead the way, the king and the prince 
 have begun on their own estates, many of which 
 are already parcelled out to the peasants, and the 
 parcel sold to the tenant, who, having already 
 paid the full sum for it, is now a freeholder 
 instead of a wretched slave. I wish you could 
 read Danish, and satisfy your generous heart with 
 the writings of Count Cristian Reventlow and 
 Messrs. Colbiornsen in the cause of liberty. 
 These writings are printed in a collection of 
 papers bearing title, " Transactions of the Royal 
 Committee appointed to inquire into the present 
 state of the Peasantry in Denmark." Copenhagen
 
 268 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 1788-89, 2 vols. It is remarkable that the last 
 spark of liberty among the peasants was extin- 
 guished in 1742, under a king who has been 
 extolled to the skies on account of his piety; 
 and deservedly indeed, for it can never be sup- 
 posed that he knew the least of the matter. Thus 
 the feudal slavery has been advancing by degrees 
 from the thirteenth century down to the present ; 
 for in the thirteenth century all men were free in 
 Denmark, in case they held land. I send you a 
 curious tract " De Matrimoniis Veterum Septen- 
 trionalium;" the Voyage under ground of Nicolai 
 Klim, by Baron Holberg, containing a Satire on 
 the University, with prints ; and the Landnama 
 Book. Pray give my best compliments to Mrs. 
 Pinkerton and the two young ladies. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, Nov. 1st, 1791. 
 
 Since my last letter, directed to you under the 
 care of Mr. Silberschildt, the Royal Icelandic 
 Society of Sciences have elected you their hono- 
 rary member. Accordingly, I have the honor to 
 transmit along with this the diploma, which my 
 friends wish you will receive as the basis of a 
 mutual correspondence and good offices. 
 
 As to myself, I heartily rejoice at finding your 
 literary merits meeting in Denmark with that 
 esteem which is their due. Your Essay on Coins 
 and Medals and your Introduction to the History
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 269 
 
 of Scotland are read and read again with applause 
 and pleasure. Should a new edition of the former 
 enrich the world, which I sincerely hope, I beg 
 you will consult the description of our royal 
 cabinet, containing the Danish coins. Two copies 
 have already been sent to England, one to his 
 Grace of Canterbury, the other to the Duke of 
 Marlborough, as presents from the prince royal, 
 accompanied by letters of his excellency the 
 Marshal Bulow, agreeably to the orders of his 
 royal highness. 
 
 Besides, I am well informed by Count Revent- 
 low, the president of his majesty's library, that the 
 said work has been at length transmitted, along 
 with some other literary productions, to the 
 Honorable Mr. Walpole, whose regard to his 
 majesty is conspicuous in the works of Strawberry 
 Hill, the much valued ornaments of the royal 
 library. Now to yourselves. — The Scriptores Da- 
 oiici you will receive as soon as the navigation 
 shall be opened in the next spring ; provided you 
 will favor me, in the mean time, with a proper 
 direction of a friend in London, who is to make 
 them free of the Tower ward, and to prevent them 
 falling among robbers, when I shall be so happy 
 as to receive your commands. 
 
 Pray inform me about the laws still observed in 
 Scotland, and the method of studying and prac- 
 tising that divine science in the courts. But, 
 above all, give me your advice relative to a matter 
 which I wish to execute : this is a new edition 
 of my Sketch of the Character of the Prince Royal of 
 Denmark. You would infinitely oblige me by
 
 270 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 showing me your good offices on this occasion, not 
 only in concerting the plan with Mr. Ridgeway, 
 but likewise to peruse the performance with the 
 pruning arm of criticism. I have some additions, 
 besides, to make to the whole. Above all, and 
 first of all, I conjure you to draw a categorical 
 answer from Mr. Ridgeway whether he will, or he 
 will not, make a new edition; and, in case he 
 should decline it, then to cause him to declare 
 that he will have no objection against any other 
 who may reprint the said pamphlet. In a word, 
 I am determined to have a new edition, provided 
 I may meet with your concurrence : at any rate, 
 I beg you will consider the business, and so let 
 me know to what sum the expense of a new 
 edition may amount, that I can act accordingly. 
 This you will please to tell Mr. Ridgeway, that 
 he will receive orders for fifty copies ready paid 
 from Denmark, as soon as a new edition, improved 
 and reviewed by you, shall have passed the boun- 
 daries of the press. Till I have the good fortune 
 of hearing from you, I dare not trouble you with 
 more news; and therefore I will content myself 
 with adding that Mr. Silberschildt will be happy, 
 on my account, to forward your letters to me. 
 
 In the mean time let me intreat you to allow 
 me your wonted affection. 
 
 P.S. I have mentioned your name, and your 
 affection towards my country, to the vice-president 
 of the Royal Society of Sciences established in 
 Norway, under the presidency of his royal high- 
 ness, brother to his Majesty. I wish you to 
 become a member of that learned body. Pray
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 271 
 
 let me know how far it meets your inclination. 
 And so fare you well. 
 
 MH. PINKEKTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN.* 
 
 Kentish Town, Nov, 21st, 1791. 
 
 I was honored with three of your lordship's 
 in one day, and am infinitely obliged by your 
 attentions. The miniature is safe at Mr. Nichols's, 
 and shall be soon carefully returned. I expected 
 either portrait or costume of the royal dress of 
 Scotland from it, but am rather disappointed. 
 That Alexander III. was present at the corona- 
 tion of Edward I. is an historical fact ; but the 
 present seems an unreal delineation. How can 
 we account for Alexander, nay, and Llewellyn, 
 Prince of Wales, being dressed in the identical 
 robes and color of the English king ? The dif- 
 ferent monarchs of Europe had dresses, colors and 
 embroidered figures appropriated : for instance, 
 France blue with fleurs-de-lis of gold. At the 
 
 * Upon this letter Lord Buchan has made the following indorse- 
 ment. — " Pinkerton on Lord Buchan 's limning of the Corona- 
 tion of Edward I. I furnished about sixty drawings, most of 
 which were by my own hand, to Pinkerton for his Iconographia 
 Scotica, and procured artists and correspondents for his under- 
 taking ; but he, being no wise skilled in the fine arts, allowed 
 the undertaking to be bungled by the employment of incorrect 
 and inferior engravers. He acknowledged his obligations to 
 me in very sparing and general terms in his preface."
 
 272 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 same time it might be, that the robes being fur- 
 nished by the English monarch, he in compliment 
 ordered the same with his own. But I hesitate. 
 The drawing is however extremely curious ; and, 
 should an engraver undertake our Scotish portraits, 
 this should form the frontispiece. 
 
 As to adorning my history with portraits, that 
 will depend on the bookseller to whom it is sold ; 
 and it will not appear these three years. I have 
 no such intention, but doubt not to find an en- 
 graver who will undertake the series of portraits 
 without any assistance from our nobility or gentry, 
 except from your lordship. I should be happy 
 to know if your lordship would lend your draw- 
 ings for such a plan : every care would be taken 
 of them ; but all such as are framed should be 
 taken out before they are sent. 
 
 I am much obliged by Lord Saltoun's observa- 
 tions. The variations between Gillies and me (or 
 rather the Irish gentleman who translated the 
 Duain for me) arise chiefly from the fault of Dr. 
 Lorimer, who thought proper, in an unhandsome 
 manner and without my consent, to send an er- 
 roneous copy to Scotland, from which Gillies 
 formed his translation. Mr. O'Conor remitted me 
 this poem from the only manuscript of it extant ; 
 and mine is printed literatim from Mr. O'Conor's 
 writing. If Lord Saltoun be up here and have 
 any curiosity to see Mr. O'Conor's copy, I shall 
 show it him with great pleasure. 
 
 I am glad to see Dr. Anderson's Bee improve 
 so fast, and wish he w^ould give us plates of the 
 New South Bridge, and other new buildings at
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 273 
 
 Edinburgh. I am desired to request his permis- 
 sion to copy some articles of his work into a pe- 
 riodical publication of credit here, with the editor 
 of which I am acquainted. As he is known to 
 your lordship, it will be a favor if you will men- 
 tion this any time you see him or write to him. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec, 1791. 
 
 I hope you have received my letter put to the 
 care of Mr. Silberschildt, besides a later one of 
 the 30th of last month, with Mr. Cruse, governor 
 to the children of his excellency the Danish am- 
 bassador. 
 
 Of the contents of the last letter I have only to 
 say this, that I once more conjure you to speak 
 with Mr. Ridgeway about a new edition of my 
 Sketch of the Character of His Royal Highness the 
 Prince of Denmark. I wish to have it reprinted ; 
 both on account of several additions which can be 
 made ; and, still more, in order to get the per- 
 formance cleared of its present imperfections. 
 The sketch is read with great applause in Ger- 
 many ; and I am not able to satisfy the many 
 applications which I receive by every mail. In 
 case Mr. Ridgeway should decline the printing, 
 pray let me know to what sum the expense may 
 amount. Fifty copies I will take, and pay ready 
 money ; and the rest serves to satisfy the cor- 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 274 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 rector. In a word, I entreat you to give me your 
 full advice how to go about the matter ; but, 
 above all, to purify the pamphlet from its imper- 
 fections, grammatical and verbal. 1 want to have 
 the paper and type as neat as the former editions, 
 and the number of copies as great as you may think 
 meet. All these things you will, I hope, consider, 
 and write to me, that I may take a final resolu- 
 tion. 
 
 How do you like the diploma of the Royal Ice- 
 landic Society of Sciences, which I sent to you with 
 Mr. Cruse : will you have the laws and transac- 
 tions of the Society ? You have only to com- 
 mand. In the ensuing spring, the Scriptores 
 Dauici, so long promised, shall be transmitted, 
 accompanied with some other literary matters. We 
 are going on pretty well : the prince royal is inde- 
 fatigable ; the peasants are free ; the rents are to 
 be paid in money ; feudal service is abolished ; and 
 the army is, from the end of December, to consist 
 of native Danes, Norwegians, and Holsteiners ; all 
 hirelings being banished from the Danish banners. 
 The prince indeed deserves that grateful monu- 
 ment which the nation is raising to his father. 
 Heaven grant that his royal highness may never 
 suffer himself to abate his patriotic pursuits ! Nor 
 is there any doubt of his pursuing his wonted line 
 of conduct, as long as he continues to use the 
 advice of Count Bernstorff, his excellency the 
 Marshal Bulow, and Count Reventlow, men who 
 sacrifice their case and advantages to the public 
 welfare. What do you say about the treaty of 
 Russia with Sweden ? Who would have thought
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 275 
 
 that the magnanimous Catharine could have been 
 so perfect a master of her passions, after having 
 perused the King of Sweden's pamphlet on the 
 Balance of Power ? You ou2;ht indeed to use us 
 well ; us who never have failed to be the faithful 
 friends of England, though sometimes treated 
 with little kindness. We are sensible of it, and 
 therefore ascribe the destruction of the Icelandic 
 colonies in Greenland, at least, to your dear North 
 Britons. Some accounts we have discovered, 
 which state, that the Scots have fitted out ships 
 and made a descent on Greenland in the four- 
 teenth century. Have you ever heard such 
 things ? — Tyme tryeth truth. It will for ever 
 prove to you that I am, with the most sincere 
 esteem for you and Mrs. Pinkerton, &c. &c. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec. I4th, 1791. 
 
 Your observations concerning the chronology of 
 our kings, appear to be well founded. Our kings 
 generally dated their instruments from the day 
 of their respective accessions. I have observed 
 the mistakes you mention respecting the years of 
 the reigns of our kings. 
 
 There are upwards of seventy seals of the kings 
 and magnates of Scotland, drawn from original 
 instruments in the Chapter-house and elsewhere ; 
 and I have already illustrated about twenty of 
 them by historical observations, which have been
 
 27G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 read at the Society.* There are some curious 
 seals of towns, as Berwick, Perth, &c., appendant 
 to deeds dated temp. Edward I. I shall be 
 glad of your assistance in illustrating the figures 
 and ornaments on them. They are at present at 
 Mr. Lcngmate's, the engraver's, in Noel-street, 
 Wardour-street. I shall be glad if you can call 
 on him, and tell him I wish you to see them as well 
 as the rest of the drawings. I have left a disserta- 
 tion on a curious instrument, dated at Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, Jan. 2, 1292. I have directed Mr. 
 Haynes to show it you at the Paper-office, to- 
 gether with the drawings of the seals, in case you 
 should call there. I agree with you in opinion 
 that the deed which we saw at the Chapter-house, 
 attributed to King David II., is one of Harding's 
 forgeries, for which he obtained a pension from 
 King Henry VI. I have much to say on the 
 subject of the forgeries. Can you contrive to see 
 the seals at Longmate's, in the course of this 
 week, and to meet me at the State Paper Office 
 on Tuesday next ? 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN.f 
 
 Kentish Town, Dec. 19th, 1791. 
 
 I am honored with both your lordship's letters, 
 
 * Five plates of the seals of kings, magnates and royal 
 boroughs in Scotland, with an account by Mr. Astle, were 
 published by the Society of Antiquaries, in the 3rd vol. of 
 the Munimenta Aniiqua, No. 2G — 30. 
 
 t Indorsed by the Earl of Buchan — " Homoumhrulilis — 
 se ipse dixit. It is his best apology; yet, undoubtedly, he 
 has been a benefactor to literature."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 277 
 
 and have a due sense of your goodness on this 
 and other occasions. It will take some little time 
 to find out a proper engraver of some substance to 
 undertake the work, and perhaps I may not 
 succeed ; but I shall in this case be equally 
 obliged by your lordship's condescension. 
 
 I am indebted to Dr. Anderson for his hand- 
 some permission to my friend ; and the condition 
 was previously intended, though I forgot to men- 
 tion it, or imagined it implied. 
 
 Being a homo umbratiUs, of a hypochondriac, 
 unsocial disposition, I have hitherto abstained 
 from any intention or exertion to become a mem- 
 ber of literary societies ; but, having received a 
 diploma of election as an honorary member of the 
 Royal Society of Icelandic Literature at Copen- 
 hagen, under the patronage of the Prince of Den- 
 mark, and being about to be elected a member of 
 the Royal Society of Sciences in Norway, under 
 that of the Danish king's brother, I should wish to 
 be a member of your Antiquarian Society at 
 Edinburgh, as I am of that of Perth. I must 
 confess I should prefer such titles from my own 
 country to those from any other ; but I leave this 
 matter entirely to your lordship's discretion, and 
 believe that your lordship will not propose it, if 
 not certain of success ; for I have, it seems, ene- 
 mies at home, who prefer what is sweet in the 
 mouth to those bitter draughts which invigorate 
 the body.
 
 278 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE EARL OF ORIORD* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Berkeley Square, Dec. 26th, 1791. 
 
 As I am sure of the sincerity of, your congratu- 
 lations, I feel much obliged by them, though 
 what has happened destroys my tranquillity ; and, 
 if what the world reckons advantages could com- 
 pensate the loss of peace and ease, would ill in- 
 demnify me, even by them. A small estate, 
 loaded with debt, and of which I do not under- 
 stand the management, and am too old to learn, a 
 source of law-suits amongst my near relations, 
 though not affecting me, endless conversations 
 with lawyers, and packets of letters to read every 
 day and answer, — all this weight of new business 
 is too much for the rag of life that yet hangs about 
 me, and was preceded by three weeks of anxiety 
 about my unfortunate nephew, and a daily corre- 
 spondence with physicians and mad doctors, falling 
 upon me when I had been out of order ever since 
 July. Such a mass of troubles made me very 
 seriously ill for some days, and has left me and 
 still keeps me so weak and dispirited, that, if I 
 shall not soon be able to get some repose, my 
 poor head or body will not be able to resist. For 
 the empty title, I trust you do not suppose it is 
 
 * The Hon. Horace Walpole succeeded to the title of Earl 
 of Orford, Dec. 5th, 1791, upon the death of his nephew, 
 George, the 3r(l I'^arl. He died, unmarried, Mar. 2nd, 1797, 
 at the age of 79.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 279 
 
 any thing but an incumbrance, by larding my 
 busy mornings with idle visits of interruption, and 
 which, when 1 am able to go out, I shall be 
 forced to return. Surely no man of seventy-four, 
 unless superannuated, can have the smallest plea- 
 sure in sitting at home in his own room, as I 
 almost always do, and being called by a new 
 name. 
 
 It will seem personal and ungrateful too, to 
 have said so much about my own triste situation, 
 and not to have yet thanked you. Sir, for your 
 kind and flattering offer of letting me read what 
 you have finished of your History ; but it was 
 necessary to expose my position to you, before I 
 could venture to accept your proposal, when I am 
 so utterly incapable of giving a quarter of an hour 
 at a time to what I know, by my acquaintance 
 with your works, will demand all my attention, if 
 I wish to reap the pleasure they are formed to 
 give me. It is- most true that for these seven 
 weeks I have not read seven pages, but letters, 
 states of account, cases to be laid before lawyers, 
 accounts of farms, &c. &c., and those subject to 
 mortgages. Thus are my mornings occupied : in 
 an evening my relations and a very few friends 
 come to me ; and, when they are gone, I have 
 about an hour to midnight to write answers to 
 letters for the next day's post, which I had not 
 time to do in the morning. This is actually my 
 case now. I happened to be quitted at ten 
 o'clock, and would not lose the opportunity of 
 thanking you, not knowing when I could com- 
 mand another hour.
 
 280 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I by no means would be understood to decline 
 your obliging offer, Sir: on the contrary, I 
 accept it joyfully, if you can trust me with your 
 manuscript for a little time, should I have leisure 
 to read it but by small snatches, which would be 
 wronging you, and would break all connexion in 
 my head. Criticism you are too great a writer to 
 want; and to read critically is far beyond my 
 present power. Can a scrivener, or a scrivener's 
 hearer be a judge of composition, style, profound 
 reasoning, and new lights and discoveries, &c. ? 
 But my weary hand and breast must finish. May 
 I ask the favor of your calling on me any morning, 
 when you shall happen to come to town? You 
 will find the new-old lord exactly the same ad- 
 mirer of yours. 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, January 18th, 1792. 
 
 Nothing but illness could have prevented me 
 from returning my warmest thanks to you for your 
 very kind letters of Oct. 24th and Nov. 26th. 
 Nothing indeed else could have withheld me so 
 long from testifying the inward joy which I sin- 
 cerely feel on account of the increase of your 
 family, and tli,e prosperous state which your 
 family enjoys, and which, I pray Heaven, you 
 may long share with the best partner, and those 
 blooming roseate pledges of conjugal affection 
 which surround you.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 281 
 
 Voluspa and Diariiim Wadstenense I have got for 
 you, and will send both in the spring. Colgan's 
 Acta and Trias are not to be had here ; nor can 
 they be suffered to go abroad, even if they should 
 appear; because these legends are wanted in 
 every one of our libraries. I am certainly willing 
 to translate the Russian Annals of Nestor, pro- 
 vided I could get an editor who would pay the 
 labor. In the mean time I am setting about to 
 publish the ancient laws of Norway and Iceland, 
 under the auspices of his excellency Count Bern- 
 storff, and the Royal Society of Sciences, who have 
 done me the honor of receiving me as a fellow. 
 For which reason I have been obliged to write an 
 essay, without which the society does not admit 
 anybody. The subject of my writing is the state 
 of Ireland, previous to and about the coming of the 
 Ostmen to that unhappy country. Your intro- 
 duction has on this occasion been of much use to 
 me, which I will not fail to acknowledge, and at 
 the same time concur publicly in that praise, 
 which every man of solid erudition pays it as due 
 among us. The chamberlain, Suhm, is entirely 
 of your opinion, which is no small encomium. 
 He is at present divided between his History of 
 Denmark in the 13th century and Scriptores 
 Danici. He requests me to give you his best 
 compliments, and to conjure you to publish, as 
 soon as possible, your History of Scotland. 
 
 As to the rest, you will see, about September 
 next, a large body of the Icelandic Annals from the 
 birth of Christ to the middle of the 13th century ; 
 and perhaps the fourth volume of Suorro will then
 
 282 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 be ready. So much for the history ; in which 
 perhaps we do faintly copy and follow you Bri- 
 tons. I say copy you, this is our study; and truly 
 our literary ambassade to the interior parts of 
 Africa owes its birth to your African Society. 
 Thus his excellency the Chevalier Bulow, Mar- 
 shal to his Royal Highness the Heir-apparent, 
 has, at his own expense, sent a gentleman well 
 versed in natural history and drawing to the re- 
 moter parts of Africa, in order to convey to the 
 public a true and clear account of those unknown 
 regions. The accounts which this nobleman has 
 already received are very promising, and will no 
 doubt prove acceptable to the public. Happy it 
 is, that the above-mentioned gentleman is a confi- 
 dential friend of his Royal Highness, who conti- 
 nues with unabated zeal to support the learning 
 and rising spirit of his country. 
 
 Thousand thanks for your kind offers with 
 respect to the sketch of the character of his Royal 
 Highness, &c. : for certain circumstances I must 
 defer the execution of my intention till the begin- 
 ning of March. In the mean time I will collect 
 materials and desire you to make mention in your 
 review of the last letter of the Sketch. Besides, 
 I beg you will order Mr. Ridgeway to send me 
 five copies. 
 
 I am astonished to see in the London Chroni- 
 cle, that Denmark is said to have entered into a 
 treaty with the Princes at Coblentz. Here is 
 that affair unknown ; and we are sure of leaving 
 every thing what concerns France to Providence, 
 without interfering in matters which do not con-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 283 
 
 cern us. The truth is, that the Prince Royal and 
 his friends have nothing more at heart than the 
 real happiness of our country, which is never pro- 
 moted by wars. In short we take neither an 
 active or passive part in the troubles of France : 
 we only lament that the natives shall cut their 
 throats and seek to ruin the fairest part of Europe. 
 The next month will be productive of many news. 
 The Diet at Geffle, a wretched sea-port on the 
 confines of Finland, is the topic of the day : un- 
 doubtedly Gustave IIT. will move every stone 
 against the rebellious French ; and you, I hope, 
 will at once blow away the storm, which threatens 
 your shores : " nam tua res agitur paries cum 
 proximus ardet." 
 
 I long to hear from you, from Mr. Southgate, 
 Mr. Douce, and others of our friends, to whom I 
 beg I may be respectfully remembered. The 
 Greenland affairs disturbed by your countrymen, I 
 will send explained, along with the books. 
 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Jan. 25th, 1792. 
 
 I thank you for your obliging letter of the IGth 
 inst., and am much obliged to you for your 
 
 * James Anderson, LL.D. of Edinburgh, .a writer of much 
 celebrity, especially on the subject of agriculture, died 1808, 
 aged G9. Among his publications, which are very numerous, 
 arc selections from his correspondence with Concral Washing- 
 ton ; six volumes, entitled Recreations in Agriculture, Natural
 
 284 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 friendly hints, of which I shall endeavor to avail 
 myself to the best of my power. I am no stranger 
 to your abilities, and shall think myself much 
 favored by any communications you shall think 
 proper to send me. 
 
 You cannot have a poorer opinion of the spirit 
 of our countrymen than I myself have. I never 
 yet could find words that could sufficiently express 
 the contempt I feel for that time-serving mean- 
 ness which so generally pervades the whole mass. 
 Yet I see symptoms of its beginning to decline. 
 Our manufacturers are beginning to get wealth in 
 spite of John Bull; and some of them already feel 
 the weight that gives them. They will, by and 
 by, think for themselves, in spite of lairds and 
 lords, and ministerial servants, who have for' so 
 many ages borne sway in Scotland. But they 
 have been so long accustomed to think in a grovel- 
 ling manner, that these first eff'orts at indepen- 
 dence are conducted in a grovelling style. I shall 
 do the best I can to help them forward ; but un- 
 pleasant is the lot of that man whose ideas get a 
 little before the mode of thinking of those among 
 whom he lives. There is scarcely a man in 
 Scotland can comprehend that there can be any 
 intermediate line of conduct to be pursued between 
 that of supporting a minister per fas et nefas, or 
 of opposing him in all things. Hence it is that I, 
 
 History , Arts, and Miscellaneous Literature; and the singu- 
 larly interesting collection of Essays, Philosophical and Mis- 
 cellaneous, which appeared in G vols. 8vo. 1791 — 171)4, under 
 the name of the Bee.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 285 
 
 who have no sort of ill-will to any individual 
 member of administration, nor any favor for their 
 opponents, make use of a language that is neither 
 understood nor believed. I know, that a minister, 
 as such, is one of the most destructive animals on 
 the face of the globe, and, like a tiger, ought to 
 be kept perpetually chained ; otherwise there is 
 no depending upon his good conduct : but, when 
 I speak of watching the minister, it is understood 
 by my countrymen I wish ill to the man ; though 
 nothing can be farther from my intention. When 
 I expose the bad conduct of revenue officers, I 
 am supposed to have no good-will to the raising a 
 revenue from the people ; though no construction 
 could be farther from the truth ; for I know that 
 the revenue can only be augmented by promoting 
 the industry of the people. What a glorious sys- 
 tem of financiering would this afford, could the 
 empire of reason be established on the ruins of 
 oppression ! But this I am not doomed to see. I 
 shall at least, however, have the satisfaction of 
 knowing that I am imperceptibly contributing 
 towards that end. To do this, I am obliged to 
 speak obscurely, and only to give gentle hints, 
 instead of uttering bold truths : not that I have 
 any fear of giving offence to any great men, or the 
 heads of any party ; for thank God I hold them 
 all in equal contempt ; but merely that I may not 
 frighten away my readers ; for if I have not 
 readers, then my whole power is gone. 
 
 These, my good Sir, were the principal motives 
 that determined me to undertake the laborious
 
 28G 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 task in which I have engaged ;* and these con- 
 siderations have induced me to put up w^ith 
 difficulties in the execution of it, that, I think, no 
 other consideration could have made me bear : 
 difficulties indeed of such an extraordinary kind 
 as I am ashamed to mention, because no person 
 could conceive them possible. In consequence of 
 these embarrassing circumstances, my little work 
 has hitherto been conducted in a manner that 
 would make me blush to acknowledge it as my own, 
 did I not hope to be still able to retrieve its charac- 
 ter among men of liberal sentiments at least. Of 
 two things I am very ambitious at present : the 
 first is, to render the work not undeserving the 
 notice of good sense and upright dispositions ; 
 the other is, to make it attractive to such as seek 
 only for amusement. The last must ever be by 
 far the most numerous class of readers, and those 
 who have the most need of information. To 
 them my chief attention ought to be directed ; 
 but, alas ! I possess not the talents necessary for 
 accomplishing this myself in almost any degree. 
 I am anxious therefore to obtain assistance in that 
 line from others ; and with that view I have ap- 
 plied to every person I knew to aid me in finding 
 light attractive articles, that are not mere froth and 
 flummery, either for love, or favor, or money : 
 hitherto, I am sorry to say, with very little suc- 
 cess. If you can aid me in this respect among 
 your literary friends, you will oblige me very 
 
 * He alludes to the Bee, which was at this time in the course 
 of publication.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 287 
 
 much. I know that, in sjiite of your activity, 
 you have not leisure yourself to do much in that 
 line ; but I have no doubt, from the motives I 
 have explained, but you will assist me all you 
 can. 
 
 Literary persons in Scotland — those at least 
 who have attained any name — are in general 
 vain, indolent, and necessarily timid. They justly 
 think, that, if the world will be pleased with such 
 publications as cannot bear a deep investigation, 
 it is more safe for them to keep up the veneration 
 of the public by withdrawing themselves from 
 view, than by coming familiarly among them ; as 
 in this last way imperfections would be more 
 easily discoverable. Rousseau's judgment of 
 authors in general was but too well founded : for 
 one man who writes with a bond Jide desire of 
 serving his readers, a hundred write with an in- 
 tention to exalt their own fame, and swell their 
 self-importance ; and, provided this last can be 
 done, they are little scrupulous about the means 
 of doing it. Hence, Sir, I have nearly the same 
 veneration for grandeur in literature, as I have for 
 grandees in civil polity ; so that I am neither a 
 favorer of the one nor a partisan of the other. 
 In this way I cherish a spirit of independence 
 myself, and wish to promote the like, with a due 
 subordination to government, among all my coun- 
 trymen. But you will easily see that I can 
 neither become the right-hand man of a minister, 
 nor the Atticus of any living author ; and, though 
 I live on very good terms with all of these, yet I 
 can lay no claim to any share in that copartnery of
 
 288 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 good offices, which Gilbert Stuart used to call 
 the inceme of the fuffing club. Yet the public at 
 large are so obliging as to receive my little efforts 
 with a kind indulgence ; and I have nothing to 
 fear from the attacks of any one ; but I have as 
 little to hope for from the assistance of the jitie 
 gemuses of Scotland. 
 
 MR. W. G. BROAVNE* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Alexandria, Jan. 30th, 1792. 
 
 If a letter, like the camel so much used in this 
 country, were qualified to travel only in propor- 
 tion as it carries the materials of renovation in 
 itself, I much fear that mine w^ould scarcely sur- 
 vive the third day's journey : yet I am resolved 
 to hazard its passage, though its original imbe- 
 cility should be increased by the fatigues of the 
 way. But an end shall be put to apologies, 
 which have generally the reputation of being 
 insincere, by adding only that I should with 
 difficulty excuse myself for not complying with 
 the desire you have been kind enough to express 
 
 * Mr. Browne, so well known for his travels in Africa, 
 Egypt, and Syria, from the year 1792 to 1798, and particularly 
 for his singularly interesting account of Darfur, where he was 
 long detained in captivity, was, unhappily for science, mur- 
 dered by robbers in Tartary, July, 1813, during a journey 
 which he had undertaken to explore the shores of the Caspian 
 sea. It was stated, at the time of his death, that the memo-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 289 
 
 of hearing from me an account of the progress I 
 should make. After the loss of a complete 
 month by contrary winds on the coast of England, 
 the rest of the voyage was expeditious and plea- 
 sant, having extended only to twenty-six days 
 between Torbay and Alexandria. The vessel I 
 sailed in being a merchantman, though cleared 
 for Naples, owing to some commercial finesse, did 
 not touch at that place ; a circumstance from 
 which I felt little inconvenience, as the detention 
 of a ship on those occasions is so precarious as not 
 to afford much opportunity for observation. I 
 have therefore not repented having chosen that 
 mode of conveyance. 
 
 It was indeed with no small reluctance, as you 
 will readily conceive, that I forbore to use so fair 
 an opportunity of revisiting France ; and if, ac- 
 cording to the report current in this place, the 
 aspect of affairs in that country is daily growing 
 so much less favorable, as to promise no long 
 duration to the constitution, my regret at having 
 done so will not be easily removed. 
 
 My discoveries here have not been great. In- 
 deed it seems to me very difficult, from the re- 
 mains of antiquity which now exist, to fix the 
 site even of those buildings which have been 
 considered as ascertained by travellers. I think I 
 have found a few Greek letters on the column 
 
 rancla made by him in the course of his last journey had been 
 preserved ; and it is to be lamented that any observations, how- 
 ever imperfect, from the pen of so enterprising, so acute, and so 
 enlightened a traveller, should be withheld from the public. 
 VOL. I. T
 
 290 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 called Pompey's,* which, perhaps, have not yet 
 been mentioned. 
 
 It will hardly be saying any thnig new to tell 
 you, that the greater part of the Europeans here 
 are out of the dregs of Venice, Ragusa, Leghorn, 
 &c. and in general low enough in point of know- 
 ledge and of principle. I feel a considerable ob- 
 stacle in not being able to speak Arabic, but do 
 not despair of attaining it. I have observed 
 the language to be pronounced least gutturally 
 by those, who, from their situation, may be sup- 
 posed to speak it most correctly. Previously 
 to leaving London, I mentioned to you having 
 called on Sir Joseph Banks without being fortu- 
 nate enough to see him. I was referred to Beau- 
 foy, whom I also called on, but without success ; 
 a circumstance that gave me no anxiety, the 
 volume of African Transactions being already in 
 my possession. If this book should fall into your 
 hands, you will perhaps agree with me that it 
 contains but little that merits perusal. Ledyard, 
 the man employed by the society on the Seunaar 
 expedition, was a very unfit person ; and, though 
 he had lived, would not have advanced many 
 leagues on the way, if the judgment of people in 
 Egypt concerning him be credited. In visiting 
 
 * Upon this subject Mr, Browne says no more in his Travels 
 than that " not even so much of the inscription as Pococke 
 copied is now to be distinguished." I need scarcely add, that 
 the ultimate elucidation of this inscription was reserved for 
 Colonel Leake, Mr. W. Hamilton, and Lieut. Squire, whose 
 account of it is recorded by Dr. Raine in the fifteenth volume of 
 the Archreologia, p. 59 — 64.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 291 
 
 Abyssinia, one of the chief difficulties arises from 
 the odiwn theologicum, with which those of tiie 
 Greek church persecute the missionaries of the 
 Romish, whose conduct under the Portuguese is 
 still preserved in remembrance, and whom they 
 expect to find, under whatever appearance a tra- 
 veller may assume. I do not design easily to 
 relinquish my plan, but can as yet form no pre- 
 dictions as to its success. Cairo will be the next 
 stage, where I mean to proceed in a few days. I 
 was sorry to be obliged to transport your books 
 with me : their presence is not necessary to re- 
 mind me of the owner, or to keep alive the esteem 
 I feel for him. Not knowing the period of any of 
 my motions, I can only say that a line directed 
 to me, to the care of G. Baldwin, Esq., British 
 consul, Alexandria, will most probably find me 
 in Egypt or Syria. 
 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb 12th, 1792. 
 
 I wrote to you about ten days ago, which I 
 hope you received. The reason I trouble you at 
 present is to beg your assistance in forwarding a 
 Bill, T. Johnes, M.P. for Radnorshire, means to 
 bring into Parliament this session, about which he 
 has written to me just now, and which I think you 
 must approve of. It is intended to establish a 
 universal repository for printed papers in London, 
 somewhat on the plan that was mentioned in one
 
 292 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of the numbers of the Bee. He wrote to me, to 
 make out a scroll of what clauses I should think 
 necessary to be inserted in the Bill, which I have 
 sent to him. A copy of this I also transmit to 
 you for your inspection and correction.* I have 
 
 * As the opinion of so eminent a man as Dr. Anderson can 
 scarcely be considered otherwise than worth recording, upon a 
 subject so closely affecting the vital interests of literature, I 
 here transcribe what he inclosed to Mr. Pinkerton, intitled 
 
 " Scroll to be altered and amended as shall be thought proper. 
 
 " Whereas it would contribute much to the advancement of 
 literature, if a general repository were established in this 
 country, where every book, pamphlet, or paper of any sort that 
 shall be in future printed in Great Britain, might be preserved 
 for the use of the public, may it therefore please your 
 majesty, &c. 
 
 " It is hereby enacted, &c., That, from and after the first 
 day of June next, all printers in Great Britain, and in the 
 islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, Man, and the 
 northern Scottish Isles, shall deliver to (say the collector of 
 stamp-duties in the district where such printers reside, or in 
 some other district in Britain, or to any other person whom the 
 lords of his majesty's treasury shall nominate for that purpose,) 
 two copies of every book, pamphlet, or paper, without receiving 
 any price for the same, that shall be printed by them or their 
 servants, and that within the space of one kalendar month 
 after the last sheet of such book or pamphlet, or the last copy 
 of any paper smaller than one sheet shall have been worked 
 off. These two copies to be furnished at the expense of the 
 owner of such book, pamphlet, or paper; and, if any printer 
 shall fail to deliver such two copies of such book, pamphlet, or 
 paper, as above set forth, he or she shall forfeit and pay, as a 
 penalty for such transgression, one guinea for each sheet of 
 paper contained in one copy of such book, pamphlet, or paper 
 so printed, if it amounts to one or more sheets; and in like 
 mannei one guinea for each paper, however small in size it may
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 293 
 
 not the honor of being personally known to Mr. 
 Johnes ; but, from his letters, he appears to be one 
 
 be, that shall have been so omitted. And, when such books, 
 pamphlets, or papers, shall be delivered to the collector of 
 stamp-duties, or other person authorised to receive the same, 
 the bearer shall be entitled to demand, and the receiver is 
 hereby required to grant, a receipt for the same, without fee or 
 reward ; the person who brings the books or papers being re- 
 quired to bring along with him or her a receipt or receipts 
 ready written out for that purpose. In these receipts shall be 
 specified the day and place of delivery, the complete title of the 
 book or pamphlet, the printer's name and place of abode, the 
 form in which it is printed (that is, folio, or 4to., or 8vo., &c.,) 
 the number of pages, with the first and the last three words it 
 contains, if not exceeding one volume, and, if more than one 
 volume, the number of pages in each volume of which it con- 
 sists, with the three first and the three last words of each 
 volume mentioned seriatim, according to their order, 1st, 2nd, 
 3rd, &c. ; and, if it be a single detached paper with or without 
 any distinct title, the receipt shall specify, in a few words, its 
 nature, with the three first and the three last words, all for the 
 sake of identifying the several articles ; which receipt thus pre- 
 pared shall be copied into a book or books to be kept by the 
 receiver of the papers for that purpose, and then signed by him 
 and delivered back to the bearer, for his exoneration, in case of 
 being afterwards challenged. 
 
 " And it is further ordained, that the receiver of such books 
 and papers shall, once in three months at farthest, or oftener, if 
 need be, transmit to London by some safe mode of conveyance 
 one of the copies he has received of each book, pamphlet, or 
 paper, together with an exact transcript of his book of entries, 
 addressed to the lords of the treasury, or to such other persons 
 as they shall appoint for receiving the same, by whom they shall 
 be bound up in volumes and disposed in a proper form for pre- 
 servation, in a repository to be provided for that purpose. The 
 second copy of such books and papers to be transmitted in like 
 manner to Edinburgh, there to be preserved for the use of the 
 public in a repository to be provided for that purpose ; but
 
 294 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of the most obliging men I have ever met w^ith, 
 and fond of promoting literature. I have sent 
 this under his cover, and informed him that it 
 concerns this business ; so that, if you think it 
 proper to make any remarks or suggest any im- 
 provements, I am persuaded you will find him 
 ready to attend to them. He writes to me that 
 he has spoken already to Mr. Dundas, Mr. Rose, 
 and several other ministerial persons on the sub- 
 ject, who favor the proposal; and that he means 
 to apply to the chancellor and Mr. Pitt as soon as 
 
 under this express limitation, that, in case any of the copies 
 that shall have been transmitted to London shall have been, by 
 any unavoidable accident, damaged or destroyed, the deficiency 
 thus arising shall be supplied from the repository in Edinburgh ; 
 so that the collection in London may be perfectly complete. 
 And, if any of the books or papers, through the carelessness or 
 the inattention of the person veho receives them, shall be omitted 
 to be sent to the general repository, or lost or damaged while in 
 his possession, he shall be liable to the same penalties as the 
 printer would have been subjected to, should he have neglected 
 to deliver them to him. 
 
 And when such a repository shall be provided for receiving 
 these books and papers in London and in Edinburgh, they sliall 
 be there so arranged as to admit of being easily found. For that 
 purpose, catalogues shall be made out in a proper form, and 
 duly continued, and published from time to time, for the infor- 
 mation of the public. The doors of this repository shall be kept 
 open for a certain number of hours each lawful day, during 
 which hours the public shall have admittance to it, for inspect- 
 ing and for making extracts from the papers therein contained, 
 under such regulations as shall be afterwards adopted for that 
 purpose. But on no account, nor by any authority, short of an 
 act of Parliament, shall any book or paper belonging to this re- 
 pository be permitted to be carried out of it."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 295 
 
 he shall have heard from me. I eannot help 
 thinking, that if this institution were established 
 on a liberal footing, it would prove one of the 
 greatest literary improvements that has taken 
 place since the art of printing was discovered. 
 But you will observe, that I have not thought it 
 necessary to embarrass the question at present with 
 the regulations that would be necessary for ren- 
 dering the institution extensively useful. These 
 could more properly be introduced in a future bill 
 for establishing the repository itself. 
 
 I am only afraid of one clause provoking oppo- 
 sition from the fraternity of booksellers. It is 
 one of the least objectionable of the whole ; that 
 which requires that every paper should bear the 
 printer's name. You know well enough that half 
 the books printed in Edinburgh and the country 
 towns in England bear to be printed in London. 
 This is at the desire of the booksellers; and, 
 when a fraudulent practice is once begun, it is dif- 
 ficult to eradicate it. I have written to Mr. 
 Johnes that, should any opposition be appre- 
 hended on this account, it were better to omit it 
 entirely. 
 
 One other objection, I fear, will start forward, 
 and to none more readily than to men of vigorous 
 minds. They will think it folly to heap up great 
 piles of useless rubbish, as they will call them, of 
 temporary advertisements, current letters, and 
 other things of such a local and temporary nature. 
 I am however not inclined to think these will be 
 useless rubbish. They may be easily so arranged 
 as to occupy little room, and cost little expense ;
 
 296 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 so as not to give trouble to any one who does not 
 wish to consult them ; and to those who may- 
 have occasion to examine them they may prove 
 occasionally of great use. But, were they of no 
 use at all, I should be sorry to see any excep- 
 tion made, because the limits of that exception 
 can never be so accurately defined as not to give 
 room for frauds and evasions, the extent of which 
 it is impossible to foresee. There is a vast differ- 
 ence between a perfect and an imperfect col- 
 lection; and the last can never be obtained, should 
 any dispensations be given. 
 
 I hope you will pardon this freedom in a cause 
 that must interest every literary person. How 
 much trouble would you yourself have been freed 
 of, if such an institution had been made 500 
 years ago ! 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Kentish Town, Feb. 20th, 1792. 
 
 In arranging my materials for the History of 
 Scotland, I find a remarkable deficiency in the 
 reign of James II. Fordun ends with James I. ; 
 and the only original author of the history of 
 James II. is Hector Boece, from whom, though a 
 most suspicious authority, and often flatly contra- 
 dicted by records, all later writers have borrowed 
 this reign. Lindsay of Pitscottie only translates 
 Boece : Lesly and Buchanan merely abridge 
 Boece. At the reign of James III., Lindsay,
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 297 
 
 Lesly, Buchanan, Ferrerius, are all original 
 writers, very seldom borrowing from each other. 
 
 It would therefore be deserving of your lord- 
 ship's influence and love of literature, to en- 
 deavor to recover some original account of the 
 interesting reign of James II. It is certain that 
 Drummond, in his History of James III., quotes 
 Bishop Elphinston's History, to show that Mar 
 was not murdered by his royal brother ; and I am 
 in hopes that some copy of Elphinston may be 
 found carried down to James IV. or his own time. 
 The copy in the Bodleian ends with James I. 
 
 The other sources from which original accounts 
 of James II. may be expected, are, so far as have 
 come to my knowledge, 
 
 Extracta e Chronicis Scotise, vel Liber Dun- 
 blanensis {Adv. Lib.) 
 
 Balfour's Annals of James I. and II. (ibid.) 
 Rota Temporum, which, in the time of Bishop 
 Nicolson, {Scot. Hist. Lib.) was in Lord Tarbet's 
 Library. 
 
 Nicolson, p. 130, mentions a French manuscript 
 History of Scotland in the King of France's li- 
 brary, and, p. 157, a History of the Five Jameses, 
 by William Sinclair, advocate, in the Scotch College 
 at Paris ; but the dates are unknown. 
 
 The grand object of inquiry is, whether the 
 reign of James II. in these works be copied or 
 abstracted from Boece, which will appear even 
 upon a cursory view of the paragraphs. It will 
 not only be a great favor to me, but a lasting 
 service to Scotish history and literature, if your 
 lordship can recover an original narration of this
 
 298 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 period. If you are to be at Edinburgh this 
 winter, it will be a great obligation, if you will look 
 at the EMracta c Clironicis and Balfour s Annals ; 
 and, if the accounts of James II. be not taken 
 from Boece, be so good as cause copy what con- 
 cerns that reign at my expense. 
 
 Your lordship's general correspondence will at 
 the same time enable you to discover if any copy 
 of Elphinston be extant carried further than 
 James I., or if any other original account of 
 James II. exist in Scotish or foreign libraries. 
 Original letters, or other documents concerning 
 this reign, would also be very acceptable. 
 
 I should be much indebted to your lordship, if 
 you would point out any good books concerning 
 our public lav^^, constitution, history, &c., pub- 
 lished in Scotland within these ten years. Such 
 books are little known in London. 
 
 Mr. Nicol will, it is believed, publish the por- 
 traits in numbers. He desired me to mention his 
 sense of his obligations to your lordship, and his 
 regret that his many avocations prevented his 
 writing as often as he could wish. Of Cardinal 
 Innes, 1412, I recollect nothing, and should be 
 glad to have a hint from your lordship. 
 
 I have recovered some more Scotish poetry, 
 which delays my book for some months.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 299 
 
 DR. THORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, Feb. 23rd, 1792. 
 
 I have waited for a moment which might enable 
 me to convey my warmest thanks to you for your 
 very obliging letter of January 16th past, and to 
 make it be accompanied by some interesting news. 
 This moment is at length arrived. Indeed I know 
 that nothing will be more welcome to your generous 
 heart than to learn, that yesterday his Danish ma- 
 jesty has been pleased to put an end to the traffic in 
 human blood, as far as it concerns his own subjects. 
 This measure, which is equally honorable to the 
 king, and salutary to the Danish commerce, has 
 been planned and recommended by the Prince 
 Royal and his Excellency the Count Schimmel- 
 man, minister of state, finances, and commerce. 
 The policy of this nobleman has always been to 
 place the mercantile profession in an honorable 
 light, to do away those causes which have ren- 
 dered the union of accumulating money and disin- 
 terested patriotism hitherto impracticable ; and 
 he has now successfully shown what advantage 
 the merchant may derive from becoming a practi- 
 cal philosopher, whose actions are wholly guided 
 by commutative justice ; by self-denial in re- 
 fusing stained riches, even when they could be 
 got by the most secret ways and means ; and by 
 public virtue, in renouncing all traffic which may 
 be injurious, and in forming every connexion 
 which shall be productive of honor and wealth to 
 his country. When the plan shall be published,'
 
 300 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 it will be found that, by abolishing the infamous 
 slave-trade, the commerce will be enlarged and 
 settled on the most exemplary integrity and reci- 
 procal philanthropy. Such are the principles of 
 Count Schimmelman, whose large estates in the 
 Danish West-India Islands give him less concern 
 than the sufferings of the negroes. However, this 
 salutary business is brought about in such a man- 
 ner, as cannot fail to meet with the most cordial 
 approbation of every planter who has his own 
 interest at heart. As to the Prince Royal, you 
 know from facts that he is a good son, a good hus- 
 band, (I wish I could say a good father,) and a 
 true patriot, who sacrifices with alacrity his own 
 views and wishes to the will of his citizens at 
 large. Of all this you, my dear friend, have seen 
 many proofs. Let me but add one anecdote, 
 which particularly characterises the prince's heart. 
 Shortly after his Royal Highness had suffered the 
 loss of his new-born son, a gentleman in the army 
 happened to be deprived of his son, a hopeful 
 youth, who, while attending at the evolutions of 
 the Artillery School, of which he was a member, 
 was killed by the bursting of a shell. The prince, 
 receiving the first account of that mournful ca- 
 tastrophe from the disconsolate father, addressed 
 him thus — *' Sir, I condole with you, and sin- 
 cerely grieve at your loss, a loss which afflicts 
 me the more, as I, rejoicing at being a father, 
 have of late experienced the sorrow of losing my 
 son ;" and, when the gentleman expressed the 
 difference between the heir-apparent of two king- 
 doms and a subject, the prince added, " And I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 301 
 
 myself am truly sensible of this difference ; your 
 son had already shown what you and our native 
 country might expect from him ; mine, on the 
 contrary, (here nature dropt a tear,) departed 
 sooner than that I could have any thing beyond 
 the hope, by which I and others could rest upon 
 in ascertaining how my son would answer to that 
 hope." 
 
 In the fifth letter of my Sketches, I mentioned 
 a scheme for paying off the national debt in Den- 
 mark : that scheme succeeds beyond the fondest 
 hope. One million has already been discharged ; 
 and the beginning is made with the disbursing of 
 another. 
 
 So much of public affairs : now a little of my 
 own. I am extremely concerned at my Lord Or- 
 ford's not having as yet received the royal acknow- 
 ledgments. At the same time I cannot fully satisfy 
 my own duty for your good offices on this account. 
 Nothing indeed hurts me more; nor can I be at 
 ease till this matter be brousrht in order. Hi 
 
 &' 
 
 LIS 
 
 excellency the Danish ambassador is my witness 
 that the fault does not fall to my charge. As 
 soon as the navigation shall begin, you will most 
 certainly receive the Scriptorcs under the care of our 
 friend, Mr. Nicol, to whom I beg you will re- 
 member me most kindly. In the mean time I hope 
 to see a line from you, filled with many literary 
 commands, which will be punctually executed. 
 
 So heaven bless you all, and grant I may soon 
 be favored with glad tidings of your health, and 
 that of Mrs. Pinkerton and your charming family. 
 My best respect and wishes attend you all.
 
 302 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. A. STUART* TO MR. ASTLE. 
 
 London, March 16th, 1792. 
 
 In consequence of your letter desiring informa- 
 tion concerning Sinclair s History of Scotland, I 
 have examined various memorandums taken by 
 me while abroad, and find that, when I was last 
 at Paris in 1789, the Principal of the Scots Col- 
 lege showed to me the manuscript history kept 
 there, written by William Sinclair, which consists 
 of about 1000 pages: it begins about the year 
 1437; but I do not find in my memorandums any 
 mention of the time when it ends. Mention is 
 made of this manuscript History of Sinclair in the 
 Scottish Historical Library, by Bishop Nicolson, 
 page 55, where he says that it was brought from 
 Italy to the Scotch College at Paris. 
 
 I do not recollect to have seen at the Scotch 
 College other histories of Scotland wrote after 
 that of Sinclair. 
 
 I am glad to learn from your letter, that there 
 will soon appear a curious collection of seals of 
 the kings and magnates of Scotland with your 
 historical remarks ; these I shall be very impatient 
 to peruse, and likewise to see the drawings of the 
 seals. 
 
 I have delayed for a few days sending this 
 answer to your letter, because I have from day to 
 day intended to make a morning excursion to 
 
 * Andrew Stuart Esq., M.P. for Weymouth, was author 
 of a Genealogical History of the Stuarts, SfC. Sfc.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 303 
 
 your villa, for the purpose of having the pleasure 
 
 of a little conversation w^ith you, but have so often 
 
 been disappointed by various interruptions that I 
 
 could not think of longer delaying to vs^rite to 
 you. 
 
 DR. JAMES ANDERSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, March 24th, 1792. 
 
 It is a rule with me never to thank any one, 
 unless when I feel myself obliged to them. I 
 thank you sincerely for your judicious remarks on 
 the plan for the repository of printed papers. The 
 circumstance you mention had escaped me : and 
 it would have been a great omission. I so much 
 detest every kind of fraud, that I too hastily con- 
 sidered anonymous publications as too nearly 
 allied to things of that class. I now see they 
 may occasionally serve to support the liberty of 
 the press ; and, though this privilege may, and 
 must occasionally be abused, yet it is much better 
 to tolerate that abuse, than to lose the great be- 
 nefit it brings. The freedom of the press is indeed 
 the great pal/acUiim of liberty, without which all 
 other devices to preserve it are idle chimeras. It 
 is, with regard to the body politic, exactly the 
 same as health is with regard to the natural body. 
 The vigour that each of these bestows is naturally 
 productive of abuses ; but without them there 
 could be no vigour or energy of any sort. Let 
 authors, then, let printers also, conceal them-
 
 304 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 selves, if they please ; but let them do it at their 
 peril. Let a receiving-place be made at every 
 office, like that at the post-office now, into which 
 may be dropped the copy required. In this case 
 the printer cannot have the security of a receipt ; 
 but, if the work should been tered in the register, 
 he will be safe from the penalty, should it even 
 be afterwards discovered that he had been the 
 printer. This, properly expressed, would alto- 
 gether remove the difficulty. 
 
 Lord Buchan told me yesterday you wish to 
 have some papers copied from the Advocates' Li- 
 brary — wishing me to find a person for transcri- 
 bing them, which I shall take care to have done. 
 I have it little in my power to assist literary per- 
 sons in any way, which I regret; but wherever I 
 can do it I do it with pleasure ; where I cannot I 
 never undertake it at all. This is exactly what I 
 wish from others : you may therefore freely let 
 me know any thing of the sort you wish for here. 
 It shall either be done, or you shall be frankly 
 told it cannot. 
 
 I thank you for your wish to forward my literary 
 journal. I now begin to tread with somewhat 
 more firmness than I did ; but I only begin. 
 There is nothing I would have such a desire for 
 as to have the rummaging of the 'porte-feuillc of 
 some men who had grown old in the practice of 
 writing ; for in such a repository many good things 
 would be found, that otherwise run a risk of 
 being lost. — Such a person as Dairies Barrbigton ; 
 but he publishes rather fast, and sometimes things 
 that are crude enough ; so that not so much could 
 
 I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 305 
 
 be expected there, as from the collection oi Horace 
 Walpole: (Lord Orford will always be an inferior 
 title). This extraordinary man is, I think, the 
 greatest character of the present day. I read 
 some of his works when I was very young with 
 great delight ; and it is but of late that I met with 
 his Castle of Otranto, with which I was en- 
 chanted. The wildness of the scenery, and the 
 total abstraction from every other object for the 
 time, produced an effect greatly resembling the 
 fascinating charms of Shakspeare. I hear peo- 
 ple complain every day of the want of power of 
 the language in which they write ; but, to a man 
 of strong genius, there never appears to be any 
 want at all. With tools that other people will 
 say are good for nothing, he produces the finest 
 models of perfection in arts. I am perfectly satis- 
 fied it is want of genius only that makes little men 
 so often complain. If I could fall upon any plan 
 of being introduced to the acquaintance of these 
 or such men, I think I should derive infinite ad- 
 vantage from it ; while at the same time I did 
 them a service. Men of fine talents often hit off 
 a beautiful tiling, which it is not worth their 
 while to publish by itself — it is thrown by and 
 neglected : it is left unfinished, the principal 
 thoughts only being carelessly jotted down for re- 
 membrance. Were such little pieces to be drawn 
 forth occasionally and finished by the author, it 
 would form an agreeable mental recreation : such 
 an exercise is like renewing the acquaintance with 
 the friends of our early years ; with this differ- 
 ence, that friends, as time advances, acquire 
 VOL. r. u
 
 306 COllRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 new connexions and bad habits, that produce in 
 them a disagreeable change ; but no such change 
 is here produced. On the contrary, the scenes 
 which occasioned these thoughts are recollected 
 with all their charms ; and the works themselves 
 which are thus produced, will have the maturity 
 of age superadded to the vigor of youth. If this 
 be neglected, it is probable that many of these 
 pieces will be afterwards ushered to the light 
 with all their sins upon their head, " unhouseled, 
 unanointed, unanealed;" which would be effectu- 
 ally prevented, could I have the good fortune to 
 get such persons prevailed with to draw them 
 forth gradually, as occasion offered and inclina- 
 tion prompted, for this miscellany. I have got a 
 good many very useful, and some very good 
 things thus, from my worthy friend, G. Demps- 
 ter, from Earl Buchan, and Lord Gardenston, 
 which I shall occasionally insert ; but these 
 men, in point of literary excellence, are far infe- 
 rior to what I aim at. Could you help me to 
 any thing of this nature, you would do me an in- 
 finite favor indeed. I cannot ask from yourself, 
 as I know you have too much to do, at your time 
 of life, to think of such a thing. 
 
 I have met with one very important fact of late 
 respecting the rearing of the silk-worm, which, if 
 it shall be confirmed by future experiments, will 
 remove all the difficulties I have had on that head. 
 I learn from Miss Rhodes, that they may be kept 
 entirely on lettuce, without a single blade of the 
 mulberry leaf, and spin upon that food as excellent 
 a thread as on any other. She had suspected it
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 307 
 
 was the coldness of that food that made it disagree 
 with the worms, when long kept upon it, and pre- 
 vailed on General Mordaunt to try what would be 
 the effect of feeding them on it when kept in the 
 heat of a hot-house (a pine-apple stove, I pre- 
 sume) ; and the result was what I have stated. I 
 wish the experiment to be repeated by as many 
 different persons as possible ; for I seldom trust 
 to one experiment. If the fact shall turn out as 
 here stated, we shall soon have some thousands of 
 helpless beings in Scotland usefully employed ; 
 for, as to the expense of a hot-house for the pur- 
 pose, it will be very trifling, since light is rather 
 hurtful than beneficial ; so that glass will be 
 saved, and a flue can easily be formed in most 
 cases behind the kitchen chimney, without any 
 expense for fuel. You may mention this to such 
 of your acquaintance as you think will try the ex- 
 periment, and let me know the result. The great 
 advantage of this mode of feeding them will be 
 that of enabling us to begin directly : whereas, 
 with the mulberry alone, it must be many years 
 before much could be done, as that plant is of 
 very slow growth. I expect some eggs of ano- 
 ther insect from the East Indies, that has lately 
 been discovered there, which feeds upon a species 
 of Richius, that yields a coccoon greatly larger than 
 that of the silk-worm, and a thread much thicker 
 and stronger, which it is not impossible but we may 
 be able to rear in Europe with advantage. I have 
 also lately received some very interesting ac- 
 counts from Denmark, not of a political nature, 
 that shall soon appear in the Bee.
 
 308 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 DR. TIIORKELIN TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Copenhagen, April Gth, 1792. 
 
 I have had the honor to receive this afternoon 
 a letter from the vice-president of the Royal 
 Society of Sciences in Trundheim, dated the 24th 
 of March past, which informs me of your being 
 unanimously elected an honorary member of that 
 respectable body. The patent or diploma will be 
 transmitted to me by the first opportunity, in order 
 to be forwarded to you. I have only to add, that 
 the vice-president (Johan Christian Schonheyder, 
 bishop of Trundheim) wishes very much to get 
 your Introduction to the Scotish History ; and that 
 the prince hereditary of Denmark, who, under 
 the title of president, is equal lover of sciences 
 and the society, will look on it as a particular 
 attention paid to your Norwegian brethren, if you 
 would present them with a copy ; and indeed it 
 is your duty, according to the laws of the Roi/al 
 Norwegian Society of Sciences. 
 
 I beg you will procure Dr. Combe's Museum 
 Numismaticum Hunterianum. My other letter con- 
 tained an account of the abolition of the slave- 
 trade, as far as concerns his Danish Majesty's 
 dominions. Pray let as much thereof as you 
 think meet, be printed in the London Chronicle. 
 In my next you will receive a bill of lading and 
 a passport for the Scriptores Danici, who are 
 already packed up, and wait for a safe opportunity 
 to London. 
 
 My best respects attend you, Mrs. Pinkerton, 
 and my sweethearts, your amiable daughters.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 'SOD 
 
 P. S. Pray show me the favor to buy the 
 companion to Cljjtie engraved by Bartolozzi, and 
 to let me know by a letter whether or no I may 
 hope to get the said companion print. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 April 6th, 1792. 
 
 There are no patent rolls in the Tower later than 
 the reign of Edward IV. I am certain there can 
 be nothing there relative to the peerage of Perth. 
 All our warrant books in the Paper-office have 
 been searched from the accession of James I. of 
 England ; and there is not the least trace of any 
 warrants ever having passed the Signet or Privy 
 Seal office for the peerage now claimed. Any 
 patent must have passed through these offices be- 
 fore it could have gone to the Great Seal. I do not 
 believe that any patent passed in 1687; as there 
 are no traces of it any where. I think the histo- 
 rical papers in Bibl. Had. of the reign of King- 
 James II. are the most likely to furnish infor- 
 mation (vide insuper Mr. Ayscough's Catalogue 
 of Dr. Birch's manuscripts). 
 
 Crail is an ancient borough in Fife : it was one 
 of the seventeen which gave bond for the ransom 
 of David II. (See Sir David Dalrymple's Annals, 
 Vol. II. p. 244) : it is now represented with other 
 burghs. It is in the mouth of the Firth, seven 
 miles south-west of St. Andrew's. 
 
 Longmate has drawn the seals. I wish you to 
 see them.
 
 310 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. VV. G. BROWNE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Cairo, July 28th, 1792. 
 
 I should not have been easily induced to sus- 
 pend iny communications to you, but by the hope 
 that a little delay would enable me to say some- 
 thing, not only of what I have done, but of what 
 I may be able to do. But this is a species of 
 gratification not at present allowed to travellers in 
 Africa, who, if they find not obstacles sufl^icient to 
 defeat their purposes, always meet with enough to 
 procrastinate the execution of them. 
 
 Not long after my arrival at Alexandria, I deter- 
 mined to commence a journey from that place to the 
 westward, for the purpose of ascertaining the site 
 of the temple of Jupiter.* Perhaps you will not 
 agree with me in thinking that the account we 
 have of it in three or four of the ancient writers, 
 is sufficiently clear and precise to afford to such 
 an attempt much prospect of success. I, however, 
 saw the matter as I wished to find it, in a favor- 
 able light; and, accordingly, after some delay 
 from frivolous causes, but which not being in one's 
 own power are to be yielded to with patience, 
 I was enabled to execute my design. I pro- 
 ceeded along the coast for the space of near nine 
 
 * Mr. Browne's account of this journey occupies from p. 14 
 to 29 of his Travels. He was the first among the moderns who 
 discovered the situation of this famous temple. Six years after- 
 wards, Horneman detected the Fons Solis mentioned by Hero- 
 dotus and Quintus Curtius.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 311 
 
 days, at the end of which time I conceive myself 
 to have been about twenty-five miles east of Al- 
 Bareton, the ancient Parsetonium, to which I 
 need not tell you Alexander led his army. From 
 thence in a direction for some time south, and then 
 south-west, five days more brought me to the 
 small republic called Siwa. At this place I ex- 
 pected to gain intelligence of the ruins, if any 
 remained, of the temple ; but in vain : nothing of 
 the kind was known to the inhabitants; and, 
 though I directed my inquiries to persons who 
 pretended to be acquainted with the country to a 
 great distance, nothing which they said contri- 
 buted to raise my hopes. Determined, however, 
 not to relinquish, if it were possible to prosecute, 
 what had been begun, I proposed to take one of 
 the Siwese with me, and explore the country in 
 the proper direction. But this was positively 
 refused me by the people, who, having originally 
 received me as a Christian with every mark of 
 aversion, and threatened to force me to turn 
 Mahometan or go back to Alexandria immediately, 
 at this proposal flamed with the most furious 
 resentment. At length, after having waited six 
 or seven days, partly by the suaviter in modo, 
 partly by the fortiter in re, partly by presents, 
 partly by patience, I was enabled to effect my 
 purpose ; and, taking with me two of the inhabit- 
 ants and the camels I had brought from Alex- 
 andria, advanced to the west. During this time 
 I was constantly in latitude a little above 29". On 
 the sixth at noon, I found the latitude as nearly 
 as it could be fixed 28". 40". Here I was obliged
 
 312 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 by various causes, and indeed thought it reason- 
 able, to relinquish the pursuit ; as there could be 
 but small prospect of finding any thing more to the 
 west. From hence I went north to the plain of 
 Gegabib, famous for its dates ; not far from which I 
 found a salt lake with a small island in the middle 
 of it, on which are some remains of rude buildings. 
 Hence again due south, crossing my first route 
 and advancing eastward by one a little more 
 south, with a view to the temple, in twenty-two 
 days more I arrived at Alexandria. To the west 
 of Siwa, the country I passed through consisted 
 only of broken lofty rocks of sand-stone with 
 intervals of soft and drifted sand ; nor could the 
 Arabs inform me of any other appearance for the 
 space of many days' journey. 
 
 At Siwa (whose latitude I found to be 29. 12. 
 north, and longitude 44. 54. east, or nearly so) 
 soon after my arrival I was told there existed some 
 ruins at about a mile distance. You will judge 
 that I was anxious to see them ; and, having van- 
 quished the prejudices of one of the people by 
 bribery, I was at length led to a ruin which has 
 formerly constituted rather a magnificent apart- 
 ment : whether a temple or otherwise I shall not 
 affirm, though some circumstances lead me to 
 conjecture that it has been dedicated to that use. 
 Three of the four walls are standing from the roof, 
 which has originally consisted of six large stones : 
 only one is displaced. It has now thirty-two feet 
 of length, about eighteen of height, and fifteen of 
 breadth. Sculpture is found both internally and 
 externally. The external is greatly defaced; but
 
 MR. PINKERTON, 313 
 
 of that withinside enough remains to discern 
 three rows of figures, one over the other. Many 
 of the figures are similar to those which form the 
 Egyptian sculptures, Isis, Anubis, &;c. I think 
 I could discern two figures with the head of a 
 ram ; but I will not positively affirm, as they were 
 both much injured. The same cause which 
 creates this diffidence, operated to prevent my 
 taking an exact view on the spot. I took two 
 from memory immediately afterwards, which 
 there is reason to believe are accurate ; but the 
 sculpture it was impossible to design in so short a 
 time as was allowed me to remain there. The 
 same cause prevented me from exploring the 
 neighborhood ; so that I was compelled to trust 
 to the report of my guide, who assured me that 
 there were no more ruins to be seen. I think the 
 contrary probable ; but none certainly appear 
 near the building. The species of stone used, 
 almost exactly resembles that employed on the 
 outside of the pyramids. The only ancient build- 
 ing, exclusively of this, which I was able to 
 discern in the neighborhood of Siwa, was a small 
 Doric temple nearly six miles north-west of it. 
 There has been no inscription, or it is obliterated ; 
 but the proportions are those of the best age of 
 architecture, though the materials are ordinary. 
 It was not till I had searched and inquired in 
 vain for ruins to the west of Siwa, that I began to 
 suspect the celebrated Oasis which contained the 
 temple might be no other than the little territory 
 of Siwa itself. 
 
 The corresponding circumstances are strongly
 
 314 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 in favor of this conjecture ; and there are but two 
 that strike me as diminishing their force. The 
 one is, that it is situated rather less to the south- 
 west than geographers have supposed : the other, 
 that more ruins are not to be found. If, however, 
 it be certain that the ancients knew only two 
 places by the name of Oasis (the greater and the 
 less), I think the matter may be considered as 
 nearly decided ; since Elwah was one of them, 
 and is a place still well known. The correspond- 
 ing circumstances are, that the dominions of Siwa 
 form an island in the midst of the desert of about 
 six miles in length and four or five in breadth ; 
 that this island is very fertile, producing a number 
 of fruit-trees ; among which, exclusive of the date- 
 trees, whose product is the staple commodity of 
 the Siwese, are found the olive, the apricot, the 
 pomegranate, and the fig. Corn grows well, 
 wherever sown ; and good water is found rising 
 in several places, though there are also springs of 
 salt. One of the first mentioned springs, which is 
 tepid, rises near the small building that I have 
 described ; and it is currently reported of it by 
 the inhabitants, that it is sometimes warm and 
 sometimes cold, an observation exactly corre- 
 sponding with the narratives relating to the tem- 
 ple, but which I attained the knowledge of pre- 
 viously to making any inquiry after a spring. 
 There are two hills, or more properly rocks, close 
 to Siwa, which are full of catacombs, cut without 
 much regularity, but sufficiently spacious : in them 
 are found no mummies, but a large number of 
 bones, which have evidently undergone the opera-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 315 
 
 tion of fire. The distance between Siwa and 
 Derna on the coast, is estimated at fourteen days' 
 journey : that between it and Cairo at twelve : 
 and that between it and Elwah, which last is 
 about five days from ancient Thebes, at twelve 
 days. The hostile disposition which the inhabit- 
 ants manifested towards me, and my ignorance of 
 the language, prevented me from gaining all the 
 information which might otherwise have been 
 obtained. I did not find any tradition among 
 them concerning the place of their residence or 
 their own origin. But this does not appear to me 
 extraordinary ; as the Ammonites have long ceased 
 to have a separate existence, and the present race 
 are partly of Arab original, if their features and 
 manners may be depended on, and by their lan- 
 guage seem partly to have come from the west- 
 ward : but this is surmise, and must not be 
 highly valued. I found the journey a very ex- 
 pensive one, having been obliged to retain eight 
 camels and as many Arabs, together with a couple 
 of horses, to which are to be added a number of 
 presents. I was considerably incommoded by a 
 fever and a dysentery for fifteen days before my 
 return to Alexandria ; so that I found myself in a 
 weak state. But, leaving nature to do her own 
 work, it was but a short time before my strength 
 returned to me. 
 
 The present state of Egypt is deplorable. Corn 
 is about eight times the usual price, and other pro- 
 visions in proportion ; so that famine may even 
 now be said to reign here, and multitudes of 
 starving wretches in the streets hourly proclaim
 
 31G COURESPONDENCE OF 
 
 its horrors. The governm(?nt is weaker and less 
 effective than former ones, as well as more ex- 
 pensive and oppressive. To the former of its 
 qualities we owe that the Arabs plunder and put 
 to death with impunity even to the gates of 
 Cairo : to the latter, a ferocity that is the effect of 
 despair in the people under its rod. I need not 
 add that these circumstances augment the diffi- 
 culties of travelling ; nor are those difficulties 
 diminished by the absurd profusion of several 
 travellers who have preceded me, which has 
 raised the expense of every trifling excursion to 
 ten times what it was within eighteen or twenty 
 years. Of the Europeans here I can say nothing 
 to their advantage. If the Turks are liars, these 
 are more shameless liars : if the Turks are slaves, 
 these are more despicable slaves. Of assistance 
 or information, though bringing with me strong 
 recommendations, none have I yet received from 
 them, and little do I expect. You are not, how- 
 ever, to suppose that I make this representation 
 as an excuse for having abandoned my purpose. 
 I still hope to pass the boundaries of Upper 
 Egypt, and shall leave this place as soon as the 
 increase of the Nile shall facilitate the passage. 
 But my paper is now almost exhausted, and I 
 shall already have made a trial of your patience. 
 A merciful man will, however, make some allow- 
 ances for the epidemical stupidity of Cairo, and 
 its corrupt and unelastic atmosphere. 
 
 It is scarcely probable that I shall be able to 
 send a letter to Europe till after my return from 
 the south ; which, if it be found j)ossiblc to enter
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 317 
 
 Abyssinia, must be rather a distant event. Yet 
 my solicitude as to the opinion of those who are 
 judges of the subject respecting the site of the 
 Temple, will not be remitted. I desire the se- 
 verest sentence that yourself and those to whom 
 you may think proper to communicate the matter, 
 can deliver. 
 
 The means of gratifying my wishes will be by 
 forwarding a letter to Smyrna in the space of 
 about a year. The direction will be to Messrs. 
 Lee, merchants at that place ; and you must not 
 forget to give me a full account of yourself: 
 nothing will render me more happy than to find it 
 a favorable one. 
 
 THE BTSITOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 London, July 28th, 1702. 
 
 It is SO difficult, not to say impossible, for one 
 person to decide for another without hearing his 
 reasons, that I submit without reply to what you 
 say in your letter respecting your own sense of 
 the measure once intended, and to the fate of the 
 paper, which yet, for its own intrinsic merit, I 
 cannot but regret. But for the same reason you 
 must excuse me, if I entertain a different opinion 
 of what is proper or necessary for myself; and 
 against the expedient you suggest I have my 
 particular reasons ; one of which is, that I am 
 now convinced, that this was the very end to
 
 318 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which Mr. Ritson has been driving, (whom wanton 
 outrage and unprovoked insult cost nothing,) viz. 
 to compel me to lay my manuscript in some place 
 for public inspection, where he might examine 
 and collate it (possibly extract some of the smaller 
 articles) without being at all obliged to me ; or, 
 by his subsequent inquisitorial search, find pre- 
 tences to justify his antecedent injurious charges 
 and insinuations. I could point out one parti- 
 cular icord in my old manuscript, to obtain a sight 
 of which he would not scruple to violate every 
 feeling of humanity and decency. But he shall 
 be disappointed : the manuscript shall never be 
 exposed to his sight in my life-time ; and, as I 
 have no other resource, I hope yet to procure 
 some respectable friendly name, that may be 
 generously interposed as a shield, before one 
 whom the assailant knows to be incapable, from 
 the peculiarities of his situation, of self-defence. 
 Though I despair of getting any name subscribed 
 to a paper so spirited, and in all respects so happy, 
 as what* you had sketched out. Yet there was 
 one word in it, which Mr. Ritson would have made 
 foundation of a new injurious charge, and that oc- 
 casioned me to trouble you the last time. 
 
 * Mr. Pinkerton has not preserved among his correspondence 
 any copy of the paper here alluded to ; and I regret to say 
 that I have failed in my endeavor to obtain it from the pos- 
 sessor of Dr. Percy's Mss. The bishop, at the time when 
 he wrote this letter, was smarting under the severe attack of 
 Mr. Ritson, in his Observations on the Ancient English Min- 
 strels, p. xix, &c. prefixed to his Ancient Songs from the Time 
 of King Henri/ III. to the Revolution, then just published.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. • 319 
 
 The very great pleasure I ever felt in complying 
 with any request of yours, is the only excuse I 
 can offer for the intrusions of which I have lately 
 been guilty, and which I hope you will pardon. 
 
 THE EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Aug. 27th, 1792. 
 
 I am exceedingly flattered by your kind atten- 
 tion to Miss Berry ; and I assure you she is so too, 
 though she will not allow that she has any title to 
 such a distinction, and to so valuable a present. 
 The acquaintance, I hope, will increase ; and I 
 have full confidence that both will mutually be 
 convinced that I have not exaggerated a tittle in 
 what I have respectively said to you of each 
 other ; and it shall not be my fault if you have 
 not frequent opportunities of putting my as- 
 sertions to the test, I shall be too great a gainer 
 myself by making the experiment ; as I trust it 
 will be executed here, and that yOu will give me 
 leave to summon you as soon as I have received 
 one or two companies that I have engaged to 
 come to me for a few days. 
 
 Many thanks for the medal. Do not trouble 
 yourself about the other : I have got one which 
 has been sent to me by a person of whom Kirgate 
 had inquired where it was to be had.
 
 320 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Jan. 29th, 1793, 
 
 I have been so exceedingly occupied with do^ 
 mestic and literary affairs for these some months 
 past, that I have almost omitted all epistolary 
 correspondence. But I must no longer delay to 
 inform your lordship, of whose favors I shall ever 
 retain a grateful remembrance, that my three 
 volumes of Scotish Poetry, dedicated to your 
 lordship, were published last month. I am at a 
 loss how to forward a copy : else I would have 
 sent one long ago ; and I await your directions in 
 this. 
 
 Amid the distractions of modern politics I hope 
 your lordship continues your literary pursuits. 
 Your lives of Fletcher and Thomson I have read 
 with great pleasure and instruction. If you can 
 spare a leisure hour, I should be very happy to 
 have a few lines on the present state of literature 
 and politics in Scotland. 
 
 I know not if Mr. de Cardonncl be in Scotland 
 or not. I called repeatedly at the Heralds' office 
 about a business he recommended to me, but 
 never found the person he mentioned. I did not 
 write to Mr. de Cardonnel ; because I had done 
 nothing, and he had given me to understand that 
 he was about to leave Scotland for a season. This 
 I mention, that, if he be offended, your lordship 
 may have the goodness to intercede for me, as I
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 321 
 
 have been obliged to him and should be sorry to 
 appear ungrateful, 
 
 I am in London for a month or two ; and my 
 address is No. 120, Tottenham Court Road. 
 
 I have spoken to Mr. Nichols, who seems cold in 
 the business of Scotish portraits, as he has many 
 schemes on hand, to return the drawing of 
 Alexander III. 
 
 MR. DAVIDSON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Feb. 13th, 1793. 
 
 I had your favor of the 29th ult. and am in 
 daily expectation of getting your last publication, 
 which the booksellers here tell me is on the road. 
 A new book of Scotish poems published by you, 
 promises me the utile and the duke conjoined ; 
 v^hich is a treasure to one of my age, confined 
 much with a disease, often teasing, and sometimes 
 torturing, as I have found the stone to be. 
 
 I observe well what you write about our old 
 laws ; but, except the copy of those of Robert 
 the Bruce, I know of no authentic copies of those 
 preceding James I. Messrs. Robertson, who 
 keep the records here, think Skene has mistaken 
 a copy in the record-house, which seems not at 
 all authentic, for an original of those of Robert III. ; 
 which may have been the case, as he was not very 
 accurate. 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 322 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I observe with pleasure that you have found in 
 a contemporary manuscript the laws of Robert II. 
 and III. If these are different from what Skene 
 has published, and you are pleased to favor me 
 with them, I would publish them, merely to pre- 
 serve them, and let the world know from whom 
 they came. But the scraps in the Regiam Mqjes- 
 tatejn, different from Glanvill, do not strike me as 
 authentic ; and there seems not enough in the 
 whole for a book. By the by. Lord Frederick 
 Campbell has it in view, as I understand, to have 
 a new edition of the whole Scotish acts published 
 from the records. But the records contain none 
 prior to October 9th, 1466. My worthy friend. 
 Sir David Dalrymple, proposed to show me some 
 things about our ancient laws and old manuscripts, 
 &c. But, when I saw him at New Hailes, he was 
 unwell and distressed with sore eyes, so he could 
 not search for them ; and I doubt now if I may 
 find them easily, when I go to see his family : it 
 will be therefore obliging if you will communicate 
 to me your and his ideas about them. 
 
 I remember many years ago to have seen in the 
 Paper-office, a manuscript with the dates or pre- 
 fixes of some old Scotish statutes ; but I think it 
 contained none of the statutes themselves^
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 323 
 
 MR. W. G. BROWNE TO MR. PIXKERTON. 
 
 Cairo, April 18th, 1793. 
 
 It is now not far short of nine months since I 
 addressed to you a lame account of my attempt to 
 discover the Temple of Jupiter. Part of that 
 interval has been employed by me in surveying 
 what remains of Egyptian antiquities between 
 Cairo and the first cataract. Desirous as I was 
 to make my observations perfectly at leisure, I 
 should willingly have occupied there a much 
 longer time, had I not, from a combination of cir- 
 cumstances, found it impossible. I have since 
 passed from Kenn6 to Cossir, have taken a view of 
 the vicinity of the lake Moeris, and am now just 
 returned from following the Israelites in Arabia 
 Petrea ; but without any design to enter into a dis- 
 quisition relative to their miraculous passage 
 through the sea. I was exceedingly anxious 
 to trace what remains of the canal which united 
 the Nile with the Red Sea ; but, on my return 
 from Arabia, when I proposed to myself to take 
 that route, my expectations were frustrated by 
 the unaccountable obstinacy and lying spirit of 
 the Arabs, which all my eftbrts were unable to 
 counteract. Should I be destined to return hither, 
 another attempt shall be made. Thus, having in 
 part completed since my return what previously 
 to my departure I had been unable to accomplish, 
 my protracted stay in Egypt is not an unqualified 
 evil. I call it protracted, because, when at As- 
 souan, I had endeavored to proceed to the south-
 
 324 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 ward ; but found it impracticable, being iniable to 
 procure camels or any kind of assistance, and a 
 war at the time subsisting between the exiled 
 beys and the governor of Ibrim. I therefore re- 
 turned hither, to wait the departure of some slave 
 merchants who frequent Semiaar, by accompanying 
 whom I have hopes of going farther towards the 
 accomplishment of my wishes than T should be 
 able to do in any other way. For more particu- 
 lars I refer you to a future opportunity. 
 
 You will probably have heard the report of my 
 being cut off at Kous ; but I hope you will also 
 have received the contradiction of it, and at an 
 early period. Such an event indeed, in the present 
 state of the country, there was some reason to 
 expect ; and two Greeks, travelling with some 
 little merchandise, were decapitated by the cachif 
 of that place, but a few days before my arrival 
 there. The obstacles which occurred to me were 
 confined to words only, and exchanging a few 
 shots with the Arabs. We have here a copious 
 supply of European news ; yet I am truly ignorant 
 of the state of affairs in that quarter. People in 
 this region relate their dreams for authentic intel- 
 ligence ; and all their dreams issue from the ivory 
 gate. All I know is, that the English King and 
 the Convention of France are at war with each 
 other; and that Louis XVI. was decollated. I 
 doubt not the French nation had reasons suffi- 
 ciently strong for what they have done, but must 
 forbear discourse on politics. They are, it is said, 
 prosecuting furiously for libels ; and, as a private 
 letter has once been held libellous, I must con-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 325 
 
 sider the vestigia siu'siim ducoitia, previously to in- 
 curring the penalty. The only alteration the 
 French here have experienced, is the liberty of 
 divorce, of which they make pretty free use. 
 
 In the interval which remained unoccupied by 
 positive motion, I have been studious to gain the 
 good graces of a celebrated Arabian beauty. The 
 sex in this country is not remarkable for exces- 
 sive coyness ; but whether it be, that, as already 
 observed, my suit has been renewed only at 
 intervals, gr that my cold hyperborean consti- 
 tution is incapable of that ardent affection which 
 a female so near the tropic might desire, my 
 success has not been exactly equal to my hopes. 
 Yet, as women are instructed to secure attach- 
 ment by reserve, the want of facility in my mis- 
 tress increases my perseverance. That your judg- 
 ment may no longer waver as to my character for 
 continence, this female is no other than Lingua 
 Arabica. 
 
 Since my return from Upper Egypt, I have 
 more than once had it in contemplation, when 
 my voyage in Africa should be completed, to pro- 
 ceed to the peninsula of India, with a view of 
 comparing the state of manners, remains of anti- 
 quity, &c. &c. in that country with those of 
 Egypt; and, if possible, either in going or return- 
 ing, to pass through Persia. But my progress 
 here is so slow, that I fear it will be impossible for 
 me to devote so much time as would be necessary 
 to the accomplishment of that design, without 
 either giving up my voyage in Greece, which I 
 cannot consent to do, or neglecting my affairs in
 
 326 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 England, which, after a long absence, will require 
 my superintendence. Add to which, in that part 
 of the world I should again find myself a novice 
 as to the language ; and the society there insti- 
 tuted have means of information so superior to 
 those of a private traveller, that the latter could 
 not expect to do much. If, however, there are 
 any questions relative to manners, geography, 
 natural history, or antiquities, which you wish to 
 have an answer to, a friend of mine, who is in the 
 military line, is lately gone to reside there, who 
 has desired me to furnish him with topics of 
 inquiry, with a promise of using care and dili- 
 gence in the solution of them. Believing him a man 
 to be depended upon, and not thinking contemptu- 
 ously of his understanding, though not a professed 
 scholar, if there be any thing you wish to know, 
 and your other avocations permit you to think of 
 it, be kind enough to send me your communi- 
 cation, and I will take care that it shall reach its 
 destination. I have myself too little information 
 on the subject to be in a road to get more ; not 
 possessing (as Johnson says of himself in one of 
 his letters to Hastings,) skill to ask proper ques- 
 tions, at least in this remote corner, equally desti- 
 tute of the assistance of books and men. 
 
 In my last, which I hope you have received, I 
 petitioned for a line from you to tell me what you 
 thought of my Ammonian expedition. I then 
 mentioned the period of a year and the place of 
 direction, Smyrna; but believe that if you write 
 early in 1794, and direct for Alexandria, where I 
 must return, your letter will find me sooner. You
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 327 
 
 will secure its passage by sending it to Mr. 
 Boylston of Bernard's Inn, or Messrs. Lee, Broad- 
 street. 
 
 Nothing has happened here which can in any 
 way excite your attention. The plague has not 
 yet reached us ; but famine has, during the last 
 year, made great ravages, nor is its force yet miti- 
 gated. A double government, that of two beys 
 with equal power, each seeking the other's de- 
 struction, serves, by its increased expenses and 
 multiplied oppressions, to call to the mind of the 
 aged the happiness they enjoyed under Ali Bey. 
 Yet few complaints are uttered, and no resistance 
 meditated : the patience this of the philosopher, or 
 of the ass? Our haranguers for peace and stability of 
 government (or rather constitution) should come 
 and live under that of Egypt. That constitution 
 must have some stability which the Turkish con- 
 querors found it impracticable in any great degree 
 to alter ; and that cannot be otherwise than peace- 
 able in which scarcely any disturbance lasts three 
 days : in which the fall of the first bey is at- 
 tended with as little popular commotion, or even 
 popular thought, as that of a butcher or baker who 
 uses false weights. 
 
 Pardon me for this sheet of nonsense. I am 
 lodged just over the fetid canal of Cairo, which is 
 now stinking in all its glory ; and you know foul 
 air is not more favorable to the brain than to the 
 lungs. What I have now written is a proof of it ; 
 but I will not mar by trying to mend.
 
 328 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. GIBBON.* 
 
 London, July 23rd, 1793. 
 
 I hope you will pardon this intrusion, after our 
 appointment at Mr. Nichols', which I was very 
 sorry the extreme heat of the day constrained you 
 to defer ; as it would have given me the greatest 
 of pleasures to have been known to you. Indeed 
 I have expressed upon many occasions, that I re- 
 garded you as the first of living authors; and 
 
 * The letter here printed from Mr. Pinkerton to Mr. Gibbon 
 is entirely copied fiom Lord Sheffield's publication of Mr. 
 Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. p. G70. In the same 
 publication, the greater part of the next letter has already 
 appeared. To them is subjoined the following note : — " It was 
 Mr. Pinkerton's Inquiry into the History of Scotland, a book 
 always mentioned by Mr. Gibbon with applause, which in- 
 duced him to apply to its author to undertake the publication of 
 this great national design, first formed by our eminent historian. 
 Some of the objections in this letter were overcome : it was 
 agreed that Mr. Cadell, if he chose, should be nominated pub- 
 lisher, &c. The final arrangement was, that Mr. Pinkerton's 
 name should appear in the title-page as sole editor; but, that 
 Mr. Gibbon should write a general preface to the work, and a 
 particular preface to each volume, containing a review of the 
 history and historians of each epoch : for which purpose, on his 
 return to Lausanne, he was to peruse all the ancient English 
 historians in a chronological course, a labor which he men- 
 tioned with pleasure as the last and most favorable occupation 
 of his life — so vain are human hopes! Mr. Gibbon also 
 agreed to write the prospectus, and to allow it to appear with 
 his name ; but he died on the day appointed for its publication ; 
 and with him all views of success in a design of such magnitude, 
 which it was doubtful if even his name and co-operation could 
 have carried into effect."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 329 
 
 perhaps the only one in the world who has united 
 genius, erudition, philosophy, eloquence- all in 
 the most consummate degree. After this, you 
 may judge how severe the disappointment was to 
 me ; and, as I hear that you will not be in town for 
 some time, I hope you will forgive my impatience 
 in writing to you. 
 
 It gave me extreme satisfaction to learn the 
 proposed scheme of publishing our ancient histo- 
 rians, under the auspices of the greatest of modern 
 historians, and whose name alone would insure 
 success to the work, and occasion the revival of 
 an important study, too much and too long ne- 
 glected, in this otherwise scientific country. 
 Your favorable mention of me as reviser, flattered 
 me much, for " tnagjiiwi laiidari a laudatis.'' 
 
 I should not only exert all my industry in col- 
 lating manuscripts, revising the press, &c. but 
 should execute my labors C07i amore, as on the 
 favorite object of long pursuit ; but all this would 
 be nothing without your name, which is a tower of 
 strength ; and, as Mr. Nichols expressed his hope 
 that you would consent to give your advice as to the 
 authors employed and other important points, so 
 he and I warmly join (and I hear the literary voice 
 of present and future nations accord with ours,) in 
 the request that you will allow your name to 
 appear as superintending the work, or as the 
 Latin, I believe, would express it, ciirante, &c. 
 It is also hoped that you will spare a few hours to 
 clothe the prospectus, upon which much depends, 
 with your powerful eloquence, which, like a coat 
 of mail, unites the greatest splendor with the
 
 330 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 greatest strength. If you consent to this, as Mr. 
 Nichols wishes that no time may be lost, I shall 
 begin to prepare materials for the prospectus, and 
 send them to you when convenience suits. This 
 will be the more easy, as in the year 1788 I 
 published in the Gentlemans Magazine twelve 
 " Letters to the people of Great Britain, on the 
 cultivation of their national history," pointing out 
 the deficiencies in this line of study. Among 
 others, I mentioned that in the Saxon Chronicle 
 not less than fifty pages may be found in manu- 
 scripts in the Museum, which are wanting in 
 Gibson's edition, a book consisting of only 244 
 pages. 
 
 But I must repeat that all our hopes of success 
 depend on your name alone. I humbly request 
 that you will let me know your sentiments on the 
 occasion at your convenience. 
 
 MR. GIBBON TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 July 25th, 1793. 
 
 It gave me real concern that on last Tuesday 
 se'nnight, the day appointed for our interview, 
 I was not able, as I had forewarned Mr. Nichols to 
 return in due time from Twickenham to town ; 
 and, when I arrived about three o'clock, I was 
 indeed in such a state of mental and corporeal 
 dissolution as would have rendered me very unfit
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 331 
 
 for any literary conversation. On my first visit 
 to London, we shall easily repair what I will 
 presume to style our common loss. In the mean 
 while, I cannot lose a moment in thanking you 
 for your obliging letter of the 23rd instant : I feel 
 all the weight of your testimony, all the value of 
 your praise ; and I feel it the more strongly, as it 
 proceeds from a writer whose acute mind has been 
 long exercised in criticism, and whose indepen- 
 dent spirit has never been lavish of applause. 
 
 On the principal subject of your letter, I shall 
 explain myself with the frankness becoming your 
 character and my own. Above twelve years ago, 
 in a note to the third volume of my History, I 
 expressed the surprise and shame which I had 
 long entertained, that, after the example and 
 success of the other countries of Europe, Eng- 
 land alone, with such superior materials, should 
 not have yet formed a collection of her original 
 historians. I still persevere in the same senti- 
 ments, which I repeated in my last conversation 
 with Mr. Nichols, in the full confidence that the 
 work would be acceptable to the public, and 
 honorable to all the persons at whose expense or 
 by whose labor it should be executed. I might 
 doubt whether any single editor, however learned 
 or laborious, could perform a task of such magni- 
 tude and variety with sufficient dispatch to satisfy 
 the impatience of the world : yet I am not much a 
 friend to republics of any kind ; nor, in the choice 
 of a sole or chief artist, do I know of any one 
 so well qualified as yourself, by your previous 
 studies, your love of historic truth, your Herculean
 
 332 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 industry, and the vigorous energies of your mind 
 and character. The best judges must have ac- 
 knowledged your merit ; and your rising fame 
 will gradually extinguish the early prejudices and 
 personal animosities which you have been, per- 
 haps, too careless of provoking. 
 
 Thinking as I do, and called upon in so pressing 
 and particular a manner by yourself and Mr. 
 Nichols, it is incumbent on me to explain, for how 
 much I can undertake. I will embrace every 
 opportunity, both public and private, of declaring 
 my approbation of the work, and my esteem for 
 the editor. I shall be always ready to assist at 
 your secret committee, to offer my advice with 
 regard to the choice and arrangement of your 
 materials, and to join with you in forming a 
 general outline of the plan. If you proceed in 
 drawing up a prospectus, I will consider it with 
 my best attention, nor shall I be averse to the 
 crowning your solid edifice with something of an 
 ornamental frieze. When the subscription is pro- 
 posed, I shall underwrite my name for at least six 
 copies ; and I trust that a large contribution from 
 a moderate fortune will be received as a sincere 
 and unequivocal mark of approbation. But you 
 seem to wish for somewhat more ; the public 
 use of my name, as curator or superintendant of 
 the work ; and on this delicate and ambiguous 
 point you must allow me to pause. My name 
 (qualecunque sit) I could not lend with fairness to 
 the public or credit to myself, without engaging 
 much farther than I am either able or willing to 
 do. Our old English historians have never been
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 333 
 
 the professed object of my studies : my literary 
 occupations, or rather amusements, lead me into a 
 very distant path ; and my speedy return to the 
 continent (next spring at the latest) will preclude 
 all opportunities of regular inspection or frequent 
 correspondence. There is besides another diffi- 
 culty, of which Mr. Nichols will be sensible, and 
 which arises from a long and satisfactory con- 
 nexion with my friend and bookseller, Mr. 
 Cadell. 
 
 I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in town 
 next month, or at the latest in September ; nor do 
 I conceive that in an enterprise of some years, the 
 delay of a few weeks can be of any importance. 
 Indeed I am of opinion that if the work, as I hope 
 and trust, should proceed, a previous and private 
 application should be made to the King, &c., and 
 that no proposals should be offered to the public at 
 large, till they were supported by the judgment 
 and liberality of the most respectable characters 
 in the country. 
 
 I should be happy to hear from you, if any ideas 
 should occur to you concerning the common sub- 
 ject of our wishes. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Sept. 23rcl, 1793. 
 
 I have a thousand pardons to beg for an inter- 
 ruption of correspondence, owing partly to many
 
 334 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 literary avocations, partly to bad health, partly to 
 domestic disquiets, which have forced me to 
 change my former mode of life, and to enter into 
 the holy state of matrimony : I should look upon 
 myself as ungrateful, if I were deficient, in any 
 respect, to your lordship, from whom I have 
 received so many favors. I would write to your 
 lordship oftener, but you forget to mention how 
 your letters are franked ; and, as I am at some 
 distance from town, I cannot always get at franks. 
 This very want of a fixed address to your lordship, 
 and my aversion to subject my trifles to the 
 expense of postage, sometimes influence my indo- 
 lence. 
 
 I shall be glad to know how our Scotish litera- 
 ture proceeds amid these turbulent times. To 
 important literary works there seems a pause here 
 at present. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon is now here till spring. He has 
 done me the honor to enter into a correspondence 
 with me concerning a great literary design, not 
 yet fit to be disclosed. Of my History of Scot- 
 land about a quarter is finished ; and I expect to 
 conclude in two or three years. The work will 
 be very new and different from the former, on 
 account of great additional matter discovered in 
 almost every reign. The style I pay great atten- 
 tion to ; but I study the ancient simplicity of 
 narrative, mingled, I trust, with some degree of 
 grandeur and grace, more than the modern turgi- 
 dity. Lord Orford, who has read what I have 
 done, is highly pleased : to Bishop Percy I read a 
 part ; and he expressed great satisfaction at the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 335 
 
 historical painting and animation, which are points 
 I have always in view in describing great events. 
 I am sorry to find that Dr. Anderson's Bee is little 
 encouraged in Scotland. It is a work of merit. 
 
 THE EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, Sept. 25th, 1793. 
 
 I believe I did see the Bishop of Salisbury * a 
 great many years ago, but had not the smallest 
 acquaintance with him, even by words ; and it is 
 so long since, that I do not believe I should recol- 
 lect him, were we to meet, which is not likely, as 
 I go so little any where, and therefore it is quite 
 out of my power to assist you in consulting him. 
 Indeed, Sir, I am a most infirm and almost worn- 
 out old man, fit for nothing. I have been very ill 
 
 * John Douglas, D.D. made Bishop of Salisbury in 1791, one 
 of the most eminent scholars and critics of the day, and sure to live, 
 long after his detections of Lauder and Bowyer and his pam- 
 phlets in favor of the administration are forgotten, as the friend 
 of Goldsmith, commemorated in the following lines : — 
 " Here Douglas retires, from his toils to relax, 
 " The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks : 
 " Come all ye quack bards, and ye quacking divines, 
 " Come and dance on the spot, where your tyrant reclines : 
 " When Satire and Censure encircled his throne, 
 " I fear'd for your safety, I fear'd for my own ; 
 " But now he is gone, and we want a detector, 
 " Our Dodds shall be pious, our Kenricks shall lecture ; 
 " Macphcrson write bombast and call it a style, 
 " Our Townshend make speeches, and 1 shall compile."
 
 336 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 with the gout, as you heard, and voided, from a 
 finger of the right hand, with which, however, as 
 you see, I can still write, though very slowly, a 
 chalk-stone that literally weighs four grains and a 
 half; and I have others near coming forth: the 
 other hand and arm too are gouty all over. One 
 cannot expect health and strength, if one will live 
 to seventy-six. I do not complain of a natural 
 lot ; and I only mention these circumstances, as 
 the causes of my little connexion with the world. 
 If decrepitude exposes itself, it must be laughed at 
 or pitied ; and neither is pleasant. 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Soho Square, Dec. 8th, 1793. 
 
 Nothing can, in my opinion, be more honorable 
 to a man who has any pretensions to literature, 
 than being allowed to enrol himself as an early 
 approver of the valuable undertaking you have in 
 view : it is surely a disgrace to this country not to 
 have a regular edition of its early historians : our 
 literary progress as a nation is in that point mate- 
 rially behind hand. To you. Sir, and my friend 
 Gibbon, who busy yourselves in an attempt to 
 rescue us from the reproach of having neglected 
 our early history, not thanks only, but all possible 
 assistance and encouragement are surely due from 
 those who cultivate letters in every shape. 
 
 By the tenor of yours it seems probable that
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 3.37 
 
 you have received a letter from Mr. Browne since 
 you were so good as to communicate to me ; the 
 last of which was, if I recollect right, dated April 
 18th last : if you have, the favor of a sight of it 
 will be a great indulgence. 
 
 A Mr. Baldwin, who met Mr. Browne in Egypt, 
 and was favored by him with a copy of his draw- 
 ing of the Sacellum he met with near Siwa, will 
 exhibit that and many other drawings collected 
 by him in the East, at Sir Charles Blagden's, 
 Upper Brook Street, No. 47, on Wednesday next, 
 at twelve o'clock. Sir Charles has desired me to 
 say to you, that he will be happy to see you, 
 if your curiosity should lead you to meet Mr. 
 Baldwin at his house. 
 
 MR. ASTLE TO MR PINKERTON. 
 
 Battersea Rise, Dec, lOtli, 1793. 
 
 I thank you for acquainting me with Mr. Gib- 
 bon's gigantic plan. — I agree with him in opinion 
 that you are the most proper person in England to 
 execute it ; and you may depend on my best 
 services ; but the undertaking will be so ex- 
 pensive, that it ought to be well considered : 
 thirty and fifty guineas are large sums ; and in my 
 opinion the subscription will not equal the ex- 
 pense. 
 
 Had you not better print such of the English 
 historians as have not yet been published ? I can 
 mention several : this would be a work of mode- 
 rate expense. 
 
 VOL. I. y
 
 338 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 I will think of what you mention respecting the 
 British Museum. Where can I find Mr. Gibbon ? 
 Pray tell him I have procured for the British 
 Museum a complete copy of the Acta Sanctorum. 
 
 MR, SIBBALD* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Dec. 1793. 
 
 I duly received your esteemed and very obli- 
 ging favor, and immediately put a copy of the list, 
 together with your second vol. of the Maitland, 
 into the hands of a person well qualified to inspect 
 the Bannatyne manuscript. After he had been for 
 some time thus employed, to my great surprise, 
 he received an order to desist, until di formal order 
 should be obtained ; and this order has not yet 
 been got. 
 
 I have not been able to procure Colyear nor 
 Forbes ; but I have seen the latter, which is in the 
 hands of a lady who will not part with it. I un- 
 derstand there is also a copy of it in the posses- 
 sion of John Trotter, Esq. of Morton Hall. I 
 dare say you have seen the book : — in case you 
 have not, I shall give you some idea of the con- 
 tents. — It is a small 4to, printed by Forbes, printer 
 
 * Mr. James Sibbald, bookseller in Edinburgh, published the 
 Chronicle of Scottish Poetry from the thirteenth century to 
 the Union of the Crowns, with a Glossary, 1002, 2 vols. Ovo, 
 and died soon after its publication.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 339 
 
 at Aberdeen— cojitains iifiy-iivc "cantos, songs, 
 and fancies, and thirteen Italian and neiv English 
 ayres." The fifty-five seem also almost entirely 
 English, at least I never saw any of them in a 
 Scotish song-book of this century, save three or 
 four. ** The go wans are gay ;" *' You minor 
 beauties of the night;" " She is the fairest of her 
 days;" ''Over the mountains and under the 
 caves;" and " Now is the month of Maying;" 
 and none of these can properly be said to belong 
 to the Scotish muse. The last is the same air as 
 the chorus — '* Come now for mirth and playing." 
 '* Remember, O! thou man," is unquestionably 
 the root of " God save the King." 
 The finest air in the collection is, 
 
 " When father Adam first did flee, 
 " From presence of the Lord his face, 
 " The ctoaths was short, scarce coverit his knee, 
 " The great God cry'd, and held him in chace. 
 " ' Stay, Adam, stay, Adam,' saith the Lord, 
 " • Where art thou, Adam? turn thee and stay,'" &c. 
 
 (Coniists of five stanzas. It is a rich melody ; no bass.) 
 
 I should be glad to hear that this is not in the 
 old English music-books : — it would do honor to 
 Scotland. You can easily learn. 
 
 Good airs are also, " Like as the lark within 
 the Marleon's foot ;" " Joy to the person of 
 my love;" "When May is in her prime;" 
 
 " White as lilies was her face ;" " There is a 
 thing that much is used." The Italian are all by 
 Castoldi. The new English by Henry Lewis, 
 Simon Ives, William Webb, John Savile, and Dr. 
 Wilson. Not a word of Scotish music in his long
 
 340 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 fulsome dedication to the Magistrates of Bofi 
 Accord, as he styles Aberdeen, from its motto. 
 
 I have some thoughts of being in London in a 
 few weeks, and shall endeavor to have it with 
 me if you have not happened to see it. I shall 
 then also have a proof sheet of Chrisfs Kirk, which, 
 with your aid, should now be the standard edition. 
 Some of the passages are very difficult, particularly 
 the personage Towsie, Dowsie, Dowie, Downie ; 
 certainly all the same woman. Mr. Tytler is 
 not completely literatim, nor even verbatim. Why 
 did he leave out the important word " hir," in 
 "They partit hir manly," &c. ? — "Herdsmen," 
 instead of " Heidsmen," a common term. " Yow- 
 der" for " yoldin," &c. It would be easy to fill 
 up the blanks * * * i^ your Bannatyne list. 
 In the " twa cummers," I see Bannatyne has 
 "Ash. Wed." quite plain: in another place, 
 " cunno" instead of " curro." 
 
 If a complete copy of the various readings 
 of " King's quair" could be procured, it might 
 be reprinted in this volume ; although Mr. Tytler 
 seems not fond of so doing. By the by, this 
 poem can hardly be written by the author of 
 Chrisfs Kirk and Pebies ; or if so, the language of 
 a more early date must have been affected ; and 
 yet it does not look like an affected style. 
 
 Does not Burel's description of the entry of the 
 Queen (in Watson) deserve a place ? It is curious, 
 and so is his (I suppose) Diary in the Edinburgh 
 Magazine, about 1785 or 86. I forget if he is not 
 there called Peter, not having the volume by 
 me.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 341 
 
 If the fine airs of Forbes are not commonly 
 known in England, I shall cause Johnson to put 
 them into his museum ; and Clarke will do so 
 likewise ; or I shall make some other use of them. 
 
 You'll easily learn from the first lines whether 
 they are known or not. I should be very happy 
 to hear from you when convenient. 
 
 MR. BUTLER* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec. 23rd, 1793. 
 
 It will certainly give me the greatest pleasure 
 to be useful to you in the prosecution of the great 
 work in question. Since I had the honor of 
 meeting you at Mr. Dilly's, I have heard it fre- 
 quently mentioned in conversation ; and the man- 
 ner in which it is mentioned makes me very much 
 doubt, whether the literary curiosity of the public 
 is sufficient to support so great an undertaking. 
 There were many circumstances attending the 
 publication of such works in France, which almost 
 insured their success. In any case where such a 
 performance was the work of a member of any 
 religious order, every religious house of his order 
 was expected to purchase it ; and, if it acquired 
 any considerable share of reputation, it was pur- 
 
 * Charles Butler, Esq., author of the Ilorce BibliccE,&c. &c. 
 t"tc., who, happily for his friends and for literature, and the 
 world, still lives.
 
 342 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 chased by the religious houses of the same order 
 in other countries. Besides this, the number of 
 public libraries was inconceivable ; and the indi- 
 viduals who possessed extensive collections were 
 much more numerous there than they are in Eng- 
 land. Most gentlemen who are addicted to the 
 study of the antiquities of their own country are 
 already in possession of most of the writers of 
 which the collection in question will be composed ; 
 and they will hardly be induced to pay the large 
 sum required, merely to have those which are 
 wanting to complete their sets. I state these 
 difficulties, to call your attention to two circum- 
 stances : — the first, that government should be soli- 
 cited to advance a sum of money towards the ex- 
 pense of the publication : of this there are many 
 precedents. The second, that, if the publication 
 should be found too hazardous for an individual to 
 engage in, it might deserve consideration, whether 
 a collection of a different kind would not be more 
 favorably received : I mean, a collection of such 
 writers as are out of print, or not easily obtained, 
 preceded by a catalogue raisonm of them all, 
 and a publication of extracts taken from foreign 
 authors of such passages in their works as relate 
 to our history. It has often occurred to me that 
 a w^ork of this nature is greatly wanted, and 
 would, in all probability, be much favored by the 
 public. 
 
 The only copy I believe to exist in England, of 
 the collection of Bollandus and his continuators, 
 belongs to Mr. Wild of Lulworth Castle, in Dor- 
 setshire. I incline to think he would not lend it
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 343 
 
 out of his hands for any time ; but, if you think 
 proper, I will apply for it. In that case, you 
 must write me a letter, signifying the use you 
 have for it, and the time you wish to keep it. I 
 applied to a friend of mine to purchase it for me 
 at Brussels, if it came within a certain price. He 
 informs me it is to be purchased for about 40/., 
 and that it formerly sold for double that sum. 
 There are two other works you will find useful — 
 the Gallia Christiana of St. Marthe, and the Acta 
 Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Beuedicti, by Mabillon. I 
 need not mention to you Prynne's famous col- 
 lection, which, with regard to the ecclesiastical 
 history of this countr}^ is invaluable. The last 
 copy on sale was sold to the Duke of Grafton for 
 thirty-five guineas. The only copy I have seen 
 belongs to the Lansdown library; and the Marquis 
 permitted me to keep it above a twelvemonth. 
 
 I am ashamed to trouble you with so long a 
 letter. I have only to add, that I hope you will 
 command my services on all occasions. 
 
 MR. riNKERTON TO MR. NICHOLS.* 
 
 Hanipstead, Jan. 20th, 1794. 
 
 As in your obituary you may have occasion to 
 mention Mr. Gibbon, I beg leave to state a few 
 
 * This letter is printed in Nichols' Illustrations of the Lite- 
 rary History of the Eighteenth Century.
 
 344 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 matters, in order to prevent misrepresentation or 
 mistake. I need hardly say that this letter is 
 meant to be extracted in the third person, and not 
 published, nor your authority mentioned. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon died of a dropsy, with which, and 
 a rupture, he had been long troubled. What was 
 good for the one disease, was bad for the other ; 
 and he had often been tapped in vain. His spirits 
 and talents remained in great vigour, notwith- 
 standing his disease. 
 
 In July last he was pleased to call me in, (then 
 a stranger to him,) in the most flattering terms, 
 as his coadjutor in a design h§ meditated of pub- 
 lishing all the early English historians, in ten or 
 twelve volumes folio. After many conversations, 
 the prospectus was to be prepared by Mr. Gibbon, 
 and published by the 20th of this month. It is 
 hoped it is among his papers, and may be 
 published. 
 
 He has often told me that this was the only 
 plan he meditated since closing his history; so 
 that the reports concerning his literary occupations 
 were fallacious. 
 
 I never hoped for success in a design which 
 government alone could carry into execution. It 
 was solely his own project, and has expired with 
 him.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 345 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Jan. 30th, 1794. 
 
 Mr. Sibbald, bookseller in Edinburgh, is re- 
 printing the Evergreen, and wishes to insert some 
 unpublished pieces from the Bannatyne manu- 
 script in the Advocates' Library. As he has 
 met with some difficulty, I am induced, by your 
 lordship's zeal for our literature, to petition that 
 the goodness you showed to me on similar occa- 
 sions may be extended to him. 
 
 Your lordship's letters gave me great pleasure ; 
 and I am happy that my dedicatory letter was, 
 as I wished, accepted as a sincere monument of 
 gratitude. The research concerning the date of 
 James II. will be of infinite service to me, and 
 gratefully acknowledged. 
 
 My " History of Scotland, from the earliest ac- 
 counts to the death of James K" is in great forward- 
 ness, and within two years may be ready for pub- 
 lication ; but, if this wild war continue, it will be 
 no season to publish books. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, April 5th, 1794. 
 
 I am highly indebted to your lordship for your 
 two last letters of the 16th and 30th ult. 
 
 For your wishes to assist Mr. Sibbald I return my 
 best thanks. Your Essay on the life and writings
 
 346 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of Copernicus will, I doubt not, do you great 
 honor. 
 
 As to the decoration of my history with genuine 
 portraits, I shall certainly recommend this object 
 to the bookseller, and am much obliged to your 
 lordship for the various information you have given 
 me on this matter, which I shall gratefully men- 
 tion. In about two years my book will be ready 
 for the press ; but, if the war and consequent 
 want of cash and commerce continue, it will not 
 be advisable to publish so large a work even then. 
 It will form two volumes 4to, and extends from 
 the earliest records to the death of James V. 
 Hardly is there a reign of which I have not dis- 
 covered new records and facts : even the period 
 illustrated by the accurate hand of Lord Hailes 
 I shall be able considerably to improve. Your 
 lordship will hardly believe the chronological de- 
 fects of our history, from the accession of the 
 Stuarts to 1542. They are indeed incredible; 
 and I have sometimes been tempted to believe that 
 our Lindsays, Lesleys, and Buchanans, did not 
 know that chronology is an essential part of his- 
 tory; it being vain to detail facts without their 
 proper order, as in this case they become fabulous 
 in respect to motives and circumstances. The la- 
 bor I have bestowed in the chronology from 1370 
 to 1542, has been extreme ; and often have I found 
 letters, charters, and other records move events 
 from one to ten years sooner or later than the 
 dates assigned by our writers. My reign of James 
 V. is, in particular, a great curiosity, being almost 
 entirely detailed from the original letters of the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 347 
 
 actors. He was certainly, even when tried in this 
 crucible, a great prince ; and an intimate acquain- 
 tance with the Stuarts will leave a favorable im- 
 pression of them all, except James III. 
 
 My good friend, Gibbon, is dead ; and his plan 
 has perished with him. It was, to reprint, in about 
 12 folio volumes, all the early English historians 
 preceding the year 1500. He had, in the most 
 flattering manner, sought my acquaintance on the 
 occasion, and made over the entire management to 
 me. He was, however, to prepare a prospectus, 
 and to write prefaces to the several volumes. I 
 doubted its success, even with his name. Lord 
 Sheffield intends, I hear, to print the prospectus, 
 for which I furnished the materials : if so, I shall 
 send your lordship a copy. The periodical prints 
 have, as usual, erred widely in mentioning this 
 great design, which some of them even suppose to 
 have originated with me. It was solely Mr. Gib- 
 bon's ; and it was my Inquiry into the History of 
 Scotland which recommended me to him as the 
 most proper editor. Of that book he always pro- 
 fessed the most favorable opinion, as the only one 
 which had given him precise and authentic ideas 
 of our early history. 
 
 I beg pardon for saying so much relating to self, 
 and return to your lordship's first letter. The 
 drawing of Cardinal Innes, with Bishop Ged- 
 des' biography, will be highly acceptable. A 
 drawing from Lord Scarborough's picture I should 
 highly value ; but the expense of sending an artist 
 so far must be great. 
 
 Your lordship's second letter gave me great
 
 348 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 pleasure and surprise. I can never sufficiently ex- 
 press my gratitude to your lordship, and to Mr. 
 Millar. The goodness of Mr. M., to whom I am 
 personally unknown, quite overwhelms me. In 
 truth I had not written to him ; because, for three 
 months, I have been occupied in laborious re- 
 searches in the Museum, relating to a part of our 
 history which I had designedly left till I had 
 thoroughly examined the rest. I now write, and 
 beg your lordship will have the goodness to read 
 the letter, and send it to him. 
 
 His promised assistance, by his clerk Mr. Dil- 
 lon, in examining some records, was in itself a sin- 
 gular favor ; but his mention of me as librarian to 
 the Faculty I regard as a high honor, and deserv- 
 ing of my warmest gratitude. I did not even know 
 the death or resignation of Mr, Brown ; and, if I 
 had, I could not have thought of aspiring to the 
 office, living as I do so remote, and unknown to 
 that most respectable society. At present it seems 
 rather too late to offer myself a candidate ; but I 
 should be happy to learn if a strict and constant 
 residence be required, or if certain portions of the 
 year would be sufficient, provided a proper deputy 
 were paid by the librarian, in order that I may be 
 prepared, in case of any future vacancy ; for an 
 office in my own country, and an office respectable 
 in itself, and rendered yet more so by the names 
 of Ruddiman and Hume, I should prefer to one 
 more opulent any where else.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 349 
 
 THE EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Berkeley Square, April 11th, 1794. 
 
 I have carefully gone through your Manuscripts 
 with great delight ; and, with the few trifling cor- 
 rections that I have found occasion to make, I 
 shall be ready to restore them to you whenever it 
 shall be convenient to you to call for them ; for I 
 own I find them too valuable to be trusted to any 
 other hand. 
 
 As I hope I am now able to begin to take the air, 
 I beg you not to call between eleven and one, when 
 you would not be likely to find me at home. 
 
 MR. PARK TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 No. 33 Piccadilly, April 20tb, 1794. 
 
 Though, with the advice of Lord Buchan, (who 
 first suggested the undertaking) I have relinquished 
 the honor I had proposed to myself of becoming 
 Drummond's editor, my avowed partiality for that 
 elegant and amiable writer still keeps its ground ; 
 and, having met with a copy of his poems in the 
 4to edition, which seems to differ in some respects 
 from what I recollect of yours, I should be pleased 
 
 * Tlios. Park, Esq., Editor of the Harleian Miscellany, oi 
 Wal pole's Royal and Noble Authors, of Ritson's Etiglish 
 Songs, &c., which he has illustrated and enlarged by his know- 
 ledge, and tasto, and judgment.
 
 350 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 to have an opportunity of comparing them, if you 
 can do me the favor to say at what hours I am 
 most likely to find you at home for such a purpose. 
 From Anthony Wood I learn {Ath. O.vou. II. 1118.) 
 that Edward Phillips, Milton's nephew, was the 
 publisher of Drummond's Poems in 1656. Mary 
 Oxlie of Morpeth, who has a copy of verses before 
 that edition, is said by Phillips in his Theatrum 
 Foetarum to have written many other things in 
 poetry. Did you ever meet with any of them ? 
 Allow me also to ask whether you have seen the 
 Kalendar of Maris Life, or Morale Emblems, Latin 
 and English, 1638, by Robert Farlie, who styles 
 himself Scoto-Britannus ? 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, 21st April, 1794. 
 
 I thank your lordship for the table of Scotish 
 money, which is curious; and am infinitely in- 
 debted for all your favors and good wishes. My 
 health and spirits, thank Heaven, have never in my 
 life been so good as within these two years, and 
 my finances increase with what little reputation I 
 can pretend to ; nor has my marriage to a quiet, 
 good wife, with some money, been without its 
 share in contributing to my health and finances. 
 My literary temper, formerly very irritable, I also 
 trust to have completely tamed ; insomuch that 
 I have just read over Buchanan's vast 8vo of
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 351 
 
 abuse against me, (in defence of the Highlanders 
 and their fables,) to my wife, with no emotion 
 but laughter. It is indeed a work of eminent ab- 
 surdity ; but, as no book is so bad but something 
 may be learned from it, I find one typographical 
 error pointed out, Scytharum for Scythicam. Yet 
 on this he rings peals and changes, as if I were 
 answerable for all the errors of John Nichols' in- 
 correct press. Mr. Webb, who has published two 
 years ago an 8vo in Ireland against me, is a far 
 stronger antagonist. But I have totally abandoned 
 all literary controversy and asperity, and am con- 
 tent with consoling myself with the praise of Gib- 
 bon, Sir William Jones, Major Rennell, Bishop 
 Percy, &c. In one of his letters to me. Gibbon 
 thus expresses himself : '* The best judges must 
 have acknowledged your merit ; and your rising 
 fame will gradually extinguish the early preju- 
 dices and personal animosities which you have 
 been perhaps too careless of provoking." Too true, 
 — Peccavi ! 
 
 I have the pleasure of informing your lordship 
 that our favorite scheme of Scotish portraits I have 
 revived, and Mr. Herbert, a young bookseller, but 
 a man of property, has undertaken it. It is to 
 proceed in 4to numbers without subscription. 
 George Nicol is eternally dilatory and uncertain, 
 and has so many irons in the fire that I am afraid, 
 entre nous, he will burn his fingers. 
 
 The first print is to be of James III. and his 
 queen from Kensington Palace. The next, James 
 IV. ; and I wish that your lordship could remit 
 your drawing, or a fac-simile on transparent paper.
 
 352 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 If you can hear of any other James IV,, (the one 
 you mention is James III.,) be so good as point it 
 out. Lord Scarborough's picture is now Lord 
 Bute's ; all Lord S.'s effects being sold some years 
 ago. 
 
 I would humbly recommend it to your lordship 
 to procure drawings of portraits on tombs, a 
 branch yet neglected. Those of the Douglases in 
 particular, in the church at Douglas and in Gallo- 
 way, must be very interesting. 
 
 I should be much obliged by your sentiments 
 on the subject of procuring access to the paintings 
 in various private collections in Scotland, of which 
 your lordship has no drawings. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN.* 
 
 Ilampstead, May 19th, 1794. 
 
 1 was favored with yours of the 10th, and now 
 inclose the Prospectus, the work being actually 
 begun. My name and assistance I ]end gratis ; 
 so I have no interest, save that of serving our 
 literature ; but I hope your lordship will promote 
 the publication as much as possible. 
 
 I was ashamed and sorry to find that Mr. Nicol 
 still has your drawing of Alexander III. ; though 
 
 * Lord Buclian has indorsed this letter: — " I sent all my 
 drawings for the Iconographia Scolica. This is a work in wliich 
 Mr. P. has great merit. It is making- up an inventory of our 
 bankrupt effects for the benefit of posterity."
 
 -V"r 
 
 MR. PINKERTON. |/353 
 
 he promised to me to remit it more than a year 
 ago. As soon as a copy is taken, (and I have 
 begged it may be set about immediately,) I shall 
 see that this relic is put into any hands, or sent 
 any way, that your lordship may order. 
 
 I beg to be informed of the price a. skilful artist 
 would require to copy your lordship's drawings, 
 if you do not choose to trust them here — a favor 
 indeed rather unreasonable to expect. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, July 30th, 1794. 
 
 A journey into Hampshire and other avocations 
 have hitherto prevented my answering your lord- 
 ship's favors so punctually as I could wish. 
 
 I am infinitely obliged by the letters of intro- 
 duction to Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Coutts : the 
 former was not in town ; the latter has been ex- 
 tremely polite. 
 
 The affair of the Advocates' Library, and Mr. 
 Miller's proffered service, are too mysterious for 
 my comprehension. The latter has not even 
 written to me ; a politeness, I think, peculiar to 
 our country. 
 
 I also hoped to have received from your lord- 
 ship an explicit answer concerning the use of your 
 drawings of Scotish portraits. The engravings are 
 begun. 
 
 Your last of the 13th instant rather surprised 
 me ; as I am afraid, if your lordship visit America, 
 
 VOL. I. z
 
 354 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 you may not think of returning. But I hope your 
 lordship will well weigh such a resolution. It is 
 impossible not to regret the present political in- 
 sanity, which, by pushing every thing to extremes, 
 threatens civil commotion ; and differences of opi- 
 nion are already become matters of cruelty and 
 oppression. But, in the choice of extremes, it is 
 no wonder that many men of sense and integrity 
 prefer our government, (which even with its super- 
 added abuses is certainly not the worst in Europe) 
 to the chance of a mob tyranny. If the majority 
 of the English be content with their government 
 without reform, it must and ought to continue so ; 
 and it cannot be the interest of Scotland to take 
 the lead ; but, on the contrary, she should strictly 
 follow the fortunes of England. Even in Ame- 
 rica, my lord, a nobleman of your genius and 
 public spirit might be exposed to enmity, super- 
 added to that which would be entertained against 
 even your title, which here continues to be ac- 
 companied with high respect. You might find it 
 difficult to choose between the two factions, the 
 moderate or ruling party, and that which wishes in 
 all points to follow the example of France ; and you 
 are sure of the enmity of one as a noble, and may 
 perhaps incur the suspicion of both. Thus your 
 residence in America may become more disagree- 
 able than in Scotland, without a thousand allevia- 
 tions, which here mitigate a party rage too violent 
 to last. The smallness of the theatre, and the 
 national impetuosity, contribute to arm the bigotry 
 of party in Scotland with every terror ; but in 
 England decency and moderation prevail among
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 355 
 
 persons of rank and education ; and, if your lord- 
 ship mean to leave your country for a season, this 
 would certainly prove your best residence. 
 
 I hope your lordship's wonted goodness will 
 excuse these hints, which flow from the fulness 
 of my heart, and from zeal in your service. 
 
 THE BISHOP OF DROMORE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Dromoie, Ireland, Aug. 28tli, 1794. 
 
 The Bishop of Dromore's compliments to Mr. 
 Pinkerton. He will endeavor to have the book 
 he desired procured for him in Dublin, but must 
 beg to be favored with a repetition of its title, 
 he having unaccountably mislaid the letter which 
 contained it ; and also that Mr. Pinkerton will 
 mention some bookseller's shop in London, where 
 it can be left for him. He also sends a sketch of 
 a note in answer to the objections of the Critical 
 Review of November, 1792 ; but relies on his 
 honor, as a gentleman, that it be communicated to 
 no person living till it appears in print. He 
 should be glad to be favored with any objection or 
 reply to it, should such occur to him. 
 
 NOTE FOR THE FOOT OF THE FIRST PAGE 
 OF THE ESSAY ON THE MINSTRELS. 
 
 The terms, " Rymer or Minstrel,'' are used as 
 synonymous by the English Translator of Favine
 
 35G CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 in 1623, as will be seen below in section iv. ; and 
 the words " Alinstrel, Rythmer, or Bard,'" appear 
 to describe one and the same character, a Welch 
 bard, in a public commission issued out in the 
 ninth of Queen Elizabeth, 1569, of which an ac- 
 count will be found in note Y. In Du Gauge's 
 Glossary, the French minstrels are asserted to 
 have been the same as the bards of ancient Gaul. 
 " Neque enim alios a minstrellis veterum Gallonim 
 bardos fiiisse." (Vid. note C.) The same author 
 produces an ancient French poet, who informs us, 
 that the most renowned heroes of chivalry were 
 celebrated in romances, made by the minstrels ; 
 and the first romances we know were in metre. 
 (See vol. iii. Essay p. 20.) He enumerates the 
 most popular of these, as Roland, the Four sons of 
 Aymon, Charlemagne, Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan, &c. 
 " De quoy vils menestriers font les nobles Ro- 
 mans." (See the passage at large in note C.) And 
 Pasquier, in his " Recherches de la France,"" L. 7. 
 c. 5., gives the concluding rhymes of an old 
 French romance, composed by a minstrel, who 
 has thereunto subscribed his name and profession. 
 (See below in note B. towards the end.) 
 
 Surely these authorities are sufficient to prove 
 that the French and English minstrels were un- 
 derstood not to be solely musicians, and will cer- 
 tainly vindicate the author of this Essay from the 
 charge of having been the first who had ever ap- 
 plied the name of minstrel to a bard, maker, or 
 -poet. (See Grit. Review for Nov. 1792.) A charge 
 the more singular, as the converse of the proposi- 
 tion is apparently the truth ; and he will probably
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 357 
 
 be found the last who has retained the old name 
 of minstrel in the double sense o^ poet and musician. 
 For now the Provencal name of troubadour is taken 
 up, and become the fashionable term in disserta- 
 tions on this subject, which had scarce found its 
 way into the English language when this Essay 
 first appeared in 1765, nor, I believe, was even 
 naturalised in French, before the " Histoire des 
 Troubadours," &c. was published at Paris in 1774. 
 But since the publication of that work and of its 
 translation into English, the word troubadour hath 
 become popular, and is by some supposed to have 
 been as current in both languages as it is at 
 present. 
 
 MR. A. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 London, Tuesday, Oct. 28th, 1704. 
 
 Last night I was favored with your letter of the 
 26th, and with the extract from Winton's Chro- 
 nicle, for which I return you many thanks. I 
 agree entirely with you, that the accounts thus 
 given by Winton and by the Scotichronicon, put 
 the historical fact to which they relate beyond a 
 doubt ; especially as it is perfectly evident, from 
 reading over the two accounts, that the one was 
 not copied from the other. 
 
 Is there any evidence of Winton's Chronicle 
 being composed about the year 1418 ? That would 
 give great force to the facts related, as proceeding
 
 358 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 from the pen of a contemporary. I understand 
 that there is soon to be published a printed copy 
 of Winton's Chronicle. If it is published by sub- 
 scription, 1 shall be glad to be a subscriber. 
 
 Inclosed, I send you an extract from Sir John 
 Beaumont's poem of Bosworth Field, relating to 
 Bernard Stuart. If, in the publication of the por- 
 traits of illustrious persons, you are to have any 
 relating to Bernard Stuart, these lines from the 
 poem of Bosworth Field might with propriety be 
 introduced in the biographical notices concerning 
 him. 
 
 In answer to your query concerning the desig- 
 nation of Concressault, given in old French wri- 
 tings to Sir John Stuart of Derneley, the constable 
 of the Scotch army in France, it proceeded from 
 this : that the first donation he had from Charles 
 VII. of France was of the lands of Concressault 
 in the province of Berry. This was prior to the 
 grant of the lands of Aubigny in the same pro- 
 vince : of this I have the evidence in my posses- 
 sion, if you wish to see it. 
 
 With regard to the date of the death of Alex- 
 ander, Duke of Albany, who was killed in a tilt- 
 ing in France, I do not find amongst my papers 
 any particular note of it ; but, if I should after- 
 wards discover any thing to fix the date, it shall 
 be communicated to you. 
 
 The book I mentioned to you, containing the 
 life of Bernard Stuart of Aubigny, was purchased 
 by me some years ago at a sale of books belong- 
 ing to the Museum ; and I gave it to Lady Stuart 
 of Castlemilk. If you are very desirous to see it,
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 359 
 
 I shall request the favor of her to send it to me to 
 London with a promise of returning it. 
 
 I shall not neglect to speak to Lord Bute about 
 the picture of Margaret, daughter of Henry VIL 
 with Angus her second husband. I flatter myself 
 that his lordship, who is an encourager of letters 
 and of the arts, will have the goodness to listen to 
 the request. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Nov. 4th, 1794. 
 
 I sent the drawing of the parliament of Ed- 
 ward L to Mr. Taylor ; and I hope it has reached 
 your lordship in safety : the delay was solely 
 owing to Mr. Nicol, whom I could never bring 
 to a decision, either to proceed or desist in the 
 portrait plan. 
 
 Margaret and Angus are now in Lord Bute's 
 hands, and it would much enrich your collection 
 if you would desire a drawing to be taken. What 
 we want, in the first place, is the kings and royal 
 family ; and I should wish to have drawings of 
 David n. and his queen, at Lord Breadalbane's. 
 It will be a great favor if your lordship will let 
 me know if you can procure them. If you have 
 sketches of the heads at Kensington of James III., 
 &c., I should be obliged by the communication ; 
 for at all the royal palaces no less than four 
 guineas are charged for permission to copy every 
 portrait.
 
 360 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Cardinal Innes, and Buchan the Constable, are 
 the next in importance. Your lordship long since 
 promised me a drawing and biography of the 
 former, which I anxiously expect. Any drawings 
 you choose to communicate, shall most certainly 
 be returned in one month from the receipt, besides 
 as many proofs of the plates as you may desire. 
 The tomb of the celebrated Lord Aubigny, at 
 Corstorphin, I should like to have a drawing of 
 for the costume and portrait. 
 
 In the work itself I shall have repeated occa- 
 sions to testify my sense of your lordship's good- 
 ness. 
 
 Permit me, my lord, to beg your kind assist- 
 ance to the following point, one of the most im- 
 portant in our history. 
 
 The chronology of the grand rebellion of Dou- 
 glas against James II. is doubtful. The question 
 is, whether James proceeded against that Earl in 
 1454, before the forfeiture, as our common his- 
 tories run, or in 1455, after the forfeiture, as I 
 rather suspect. 
 
 The forfeiture is in the Black Acts, and is dated 
 9th of June, 1455. 
 
 An undated letter of James' is in D'Achery's 
 Spicilegium, which narrates the fall of Moray and 
 Ormond, and the termination of the rebellion. It 
 only bears 8th July: D'Achery dates it 1456, I 
 suspect rightly. If so, the active rebellion broke 
 out in 1455, after the forfeiture for secret and con- 
 certed treasons. 
 
 Ruddiman, in his notes on Buchanan, quotes
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 361 
 
 the original forfeiture of Beatrix, mother of 
 Douglas, from a manuscript in the Advocates' 
 Library, containing extracts from the records, 
 1452-1458. I should wish much to have a copy 
 of this forfeiture, and that of Douglas, if extant, 
 and of his brothers Moray and Ormond, the last 
 probably in 1454 ; their northern rebellion being 
 distinct from that of Douglas. 
 
 I also wish to know if the records 1452 to 1458 
 are extant in our registers, or any catalogue of 
 them. The use of these would be to find grants 
 of lands belonging to Moray, Ormond, or Douglas, 
 so as further to ascertain the date of the forfeiture. 
 As to the forfeitures themselves, the chief points 
 are the dates, and whether they indicate open ap- 
 pearance in arms, or secret treasons. 
 
 Your assistance in this matter, my lord, I shall 
 consider as a most important addition to numerous 
 former favors. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER * TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Bath, Nov. ICth, 1794. 
 
 Shortly after I was honored with your favor of 
 8th ult., I set out for Ireland, but was seized at 
 
 • Joseph Cooper Walker, Esq. of St. Valery, near Bray, 
 Ireland, died on the 12th of April, 1810. He published two 
 works upon Irish Antiquities, and an Historical Memoir on
 
 362 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Chester with a severe illness, which so materially 
 injured my health, that my physicians thought it 
 necessary I should retire for a while to this mild 
 climate. 
 
 Your approbation of my publications is very 
 flattering-. But I am sorry they have not a better 
 claim to the praises your politeness has induced 
 you to bestow on themi Some claim they have 
 to your indulgence, for they were the productions 
 of (almost) a boy. Several years have elapsed 
 since they first appeared, and 1 am still a young 
 man.* 
 
 You do me much honor by desiring my corre- 
 spondence. I should be proud and happy to 
 cultivate yours ; but, from my inability to make 
 an adequate return, I do not feel myself authorised 
 to solicit such a favor. I can only say that I 
 shall always have great pleasure in promoting 
 any literary inquiries you may wish to make in 
 Ireland. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Mr. Ledwich does not 
 
 Italian Tragedy, as well as an Historical and Critical Essay 
 on the Revival of the Drama in Italy. His posthumous 
 work, the Memoirs of Tassoni, was edited by his brother, 
 who, ill his preface, has inserted much interesting- matter re- 
 specting the author. Several of Mr. Walker's letters have 
 been honored with a place in the printed correspondence of the 
 celebrated Cesarotti ; and among his correspondents, as enume- 
 rated by his brother, are the names of the greater part of tlic 
 individuals then most distinguished by their love of antiquities 
 and the belles-lettres in Britain. 
 
 * Mr. V/alker was at that time thirty-two years old.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 363 
 
 continue his literary and antiquarian pursuits ; but 
 I trust he will resume them. He is a man of 
 genius and deep erudition : literature has many 
 obligations to him. The last publication he 
 acknowledged, appeared in the fourth volume of 
 the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy ; but 
 in the first volume of the Anthologia Hibernica, 
 there are some ingenious little essays by him 
 which he has not publicly owned. 
 
 My Essay on the Rise and Progress of Garden- 
 ing in Ireland, appeared in the fourth volume of 
 the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. If 
 one of the few copies which I had worked off for 
 my friends should remain, I shall do myself the 
 honor to send it to you on my return to Ireland. 
 
 I shall have great pleasure in sending you oc- 
 casionally any work of merit that may appear on 
 the subject of Irish antiquities. On that subject 
 nothing has appeared of late. I think with you 
 that some bookseller in London ought to be ap- 
 pointed to sell Irish productions. Elmsley is em- 
 ployed by the Irish Academy, and was once em- 
 ployed by me. General Vallancey and Miss 
 Brooke (whose Relics of Irish Poetry I presume 
 you have seen) employed the Robinsons.
 
 364 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Dec. 10th, 1794. 
 
 I know not how to thank your lordship for your 
 great goodness in remitting five portraits for the 
 series. Though unconnected with the work in 
 any pecuniary view, I am nevertheless deeply 
 interested in its progress. 
 
 The portraits received are James IV. ; Elphin- 
 ston ; Countess of Lennox ; Buchan the Con- 
 stable ; Admirable Crichton ; Mary (sent to 
 Herbert) : in all sij;. They are extremely inte- 
 resting and curious. 
 
 It will be an infinite addition to your favors, 
 my lord, if you will have the goodness to answer 
 my letters as to the points they contain ; for my 
 time, as your lordship knows, is much occupied, 
 and writing a letter is a serious business to me. 
 Pardon my reminding your lordship that my last 
 is totally unanswered ; and I know nothing as 
 yet concerning the copies of the three pictures, 
 David II., Robert II. and Queen, at Lord Bread- 
 albane's ; or the drawing of Aubigny's tomb at 
 Corstorphin. These four were wanted particu- 
 larly ; and, if your lordship finds it inconvenient, 
 it would be the highest of favors to say so, for the 
 work must have a plan and design. Not to mention 
 that delay might ruin it ; and, if we only knew 
 what was inconvenient, we would apply to some 
 person acquainted with the proprietor, or who 
 resided near the spot. Your lordship's liberality
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 365 
 
 of sentiment will excuse this little remonstrance ; 
 for, next to the infinite favor of what you do, will 
 be placed that of a speedy information of what is 
 inconvenient. 
 
 Lord Orford is now very aged, and tired of this 
 world. He sees none but his own relations. I 
 shall therefore esteem it a favor, if your lordship 
 will direct subsequent packets to Andrew Stuart, 
 Esq. M.P. Grosvenor Street, or send them at 
 once to Mr. Herbert, who will esteem the postage 
 a pleasure, considering the value of the contents. 
 
 My agent much surprised me, my lord, by 
 writing to me a long list of subjects which you 
 recommended to be copied. He is a mere lawyer, 
 totally unknown to me, being recommended by 
 the chamberlain of Edinburgh, and knows nothing 
 of such matters. It was only for any eipeiise at- 
 tending the four draivings above mentioned that he 
 was referred to. Had I meant to employ him in 
 subjects so totally out of his line, I would have 
 written to him at once. I should not grudge a 
 little expense ; but it would be ridiculous in me 
 to furnish both money and labor. Accuracy, my 
 lord, is not only useful in literature, but in politics 
 and private life. 
 
 Mentioning politics, I think it not unnecessary 
 to say that I am a mere literary man, unconnected 
 with any party. As a professed liistorian, (who 
 ought to be of no party,) it would ruin all my 
 labors were I to belong to a party ; nor would I, 
 for any present boon, sacrifice all the reputation 
 of my writings which may survive me. In quality
 
 366 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of historian I am therefore e.ve}?ipted from all party, 
 and converse with literary men of all extremes 
 without offence. I cannot acquit myself, how- 
 ever, of belonging to a veri/ small faction, that of 
 philosophy, truth, virtue, and rational freedom. 
 But old times must be viewed through the proper 
 telescope ; and men can only be truly judged by 
 the standard of their own age. 
 
 It will be a very great obligation, if your lord- 
 ship will favor me with the following particulars ; 
 after premising that you need not add to your 
 labor by attestations on the drawings, for that you 
 sent them is a sufficient proof of exactness. 
 
 James IV. — I wish very much to have a sinall 
 sketch of the under-part (the thighs and legs). 
 Your lordship, I think, mentioned pointed shoes ami 
 chains, and the figure had better be engraved 
 whole length. If you have not the under-part, 
 I should be greatly obliged by an extract of your 
 correspondent's letter concerning it. 
 
 In general, I wish to know if your lordship's be 
 copies or originals, oil or water-colors, smaller or 
 larger than the originals. 
 
 Mary. — Is the line of Scotish poetry in the 
 original, and coeval ? 
 
 Buchan. — The plate in the Bee cannot be had 
 here, and the sending it would be a great favor. 
 
 Elphinston. — The motto seems " Non confiin- 
 darT Is there any other word in the middle ? 
 
 In Morison's print the nose of James IV. is more 
 aquiline. Which is right? 
 
 I cannot too often repeat, in the name of the
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 367 
 
 literary world, my gratitude to your lordship for 
 your invaluable exertions in favor of this work. 
 They evince a love of the arts truly noble, and 
 superior to all titles. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Dec. 20th, 1794. 
 
 I am infinitely obliged to your lordship for the 
 numerous and very interesting drawings sent. 
 They do great honor to your skill and taste as an 
 artist, and are as complete as any engraver would 
 wish. The last, a miniature of the worthy Regent 
 Mar, is quite a gem. I hope you will grant me 
 permission to have it framed, and to hang it in 
 my little library. 
 
 In my last letter I think I mentioned six as 
 arrived: Mary, James IV., Elphinston, Margaret 
 Douglas, Admirable Crichton, Buchan. I have 
 also received Arthur Jonston, Wallace, Treasurer 
 Mar, Dr. Gregory, Maitland of Lethington, and 
 Esme Duke of Lennox ; in all, including Regent 
 Mar, thirteen. The present is invaluable, and will 
 do immortal honor to your lordship's taste and 
 munificent spirit. 
 
 Buchan the Constable, M. Douglas, Crichton, 
 Elphinston, Mary, are in the engraver's hands. 
 Mr. Harding is not the engraver, but is merely 
 consulted in the finishing. The work belongs to 
 Mr. Herbert.
 
 368 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 After the four I had the honor to mention, the 
 following would be now very acceptable : Cardinal 
 Innes, Bishop Lesly, Gordon of Straloch, Dunbar 
 Bishop of Aberdeen. 
 
 How shall Mr. Herbert forward the numbers to 
 Dryburgh Abbey? Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, 
 Edinburgh, have some. 
 
 The power of a few precise words, my lord, is 
 surprising. I am still quite at a loss if James IV. 
 in your possession be a copy or the original 
 brought from Tubingen ; and I am equally igno- 
 rant as to the Mary. It will be a great favor if 
 you will have the goodness to mention how many 
 and what originals your collection contains, which 
 will save all further questions. 
 
 The work is meant to be as authentic as pos- 
 sible ; and therefore it is hoped your lordship will 
 excuse a remark on two of the pieces. The 
 Mary has no mark of royalty, nor, so far as yet 
 mentioned, even a tradition in its support. It can 
 therefore be only mentioned as a doubtful curi- 
 osity. The Wallace is a palpable French forgery 
 of the sixteenth century. The dress, helmet, 
 truncheon, inscriptions, are all of that epoch. 
 The dragon is a familiar ornament on helmets. 
 The hiding of one cheek occurs in all portraits. 
 Barbour, I believe, does not once mention 
 Wallace. It is Sir James Douo^las of whose face 
 he speaks. 
 
 The letter concerning the monuments of Buchan 
 and Aubigny never came to hand, and is the first 
 instance in my life of a letter miscarrying. I
 
 MR. PiNKERTON. SG9 
 
 wish much to know how it was sent. But I 
 should be very extravagant, my lord, were I to 
 accuse you of remissness ; while, on the contrary, 
 I, with the utmost gratitude, admire your zeal 
 and diligence ; and, if you do no more for the 
 work, you will still be ever regarded as its 
 greatest benefactor. But, as your pencil is so 
 exquisitely in tune, perhaps your goodness may 
 induce you to proceed ; for engravers are very 
 slow, and the more pieces that are in hand the 
 better. 
 
 The dress with chains continued in England till 
 the 24th of Edward IV., or the year 1483, at 
 least, as appears from the statutes. There is 
 room to believe that it lasted under Henry VII., 
 1485-1509, and in Scotland yet later. The 
 Jacket, &c. ascertain the picture to be of James IV. 
 Three pictures of him, ivith a falcon on the hand, 
 are mentioned in Vertue's catalogues of the 
 Pictures of Charles I., &c. Perhaps your lordship 
 may trace out one by this uncommon mark. 
 
 I remember nothing further at present, and the 
 frost is so violent that I can hardly write. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Dec. 27th, 1794. 
 
 Since my last of the 2nd inst. there have come 
 
 to hand Lord Belhaven, the tombs of Alexander 
 
 Earl of Buchan, and Aubigny, two Scougals, Boyd 
 
 of Trochrig, Bishop Lesley, and Patrick Hamilton. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 a
 
 370 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 As I did not like to put Mr. Inglis to the expense 
 of postage, I hope your lordship will have the 
 goodness to let him know that all his parcels came 
 safe. 
 
 Fletcher of Sal ton has not come to hand. To 
 prevent all mistakes, be so good as uniformly to 
 direct to me under Mr. Stuart's cover. 
 
 Mr. Harding having thought proper to charge 
 Mr. Herbert eight guineas for a print actually en- 
 graved for two and a half, as the engraver himself 
 acknowledged, Mr. Herbert now employs the en- 
 gravers himself. I am sorry your lordship wrote 
 to Mr. Harding, who has no more concern with 
 the work than the copper- plate printer. Mr. 
 Herbert is at all the expense ; and the sole direc- 
 tion rests with me, who induced Mr. Herbert to 
 undertake it. 
 
 The tomb of Aubigny is on too small a scale, 
 and is too unfinished for our purpose. A finished 
 drawing, like that of Alexander Earl of Buchan, is 
 wanted on a scale of about a foot long. If your 
 lordship will have the goodness to write to any fit 
 artist in Edinburgh, recommending most minute 
 exactness, my agent will pay him at once. I do 
 not grudge small expenses of a guinea or two for 
 objects more than usually interesting. Nor is it 
 my intention to give your lordship any further 
 trouble, than from your own knowledge to recom- 
 mend a proper artist. It was the overwhelming 
 multiplicity of subjects mentioned to my agent that 
 I objected to : for any one or two, your lordship 
 has only to recommend by a line a proper artist 
 to him, as he is unversed in such subjects. The
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 371 
 
 interesting portrait of Buchan the Constable, can- 
 not proceed, till the engraving in the Bee, (not to 
 be had here,) or a sketch of the armour, be sent. 
 
 In Morison's poems there is an engraving of 
 James II. from a picture at Newbottle. Is it 
 exact, and is there any inscription on the painting 
 to indicate that it is of James II. ? 
 
 A most minute matter, my lord, will sometimes 
 put a stop both to the engravings and letter-press ; 
 and I hope you will pardon my again requesting 
 great explicitness and precision. 
 
 James IV. is further certified by the exact simi- 
 larity of dress to Charles, Duke of Burgundy, in 
 Montfaucon's Alonumeiis, A. D. 1477. The close 
 jacket ungathered is unknown till about that period. 
 
 I should imagine that many of the founders of 
 universities must be found at St. Andrew's, &c. 
 The most prominent personages in our history are 
 the Douglases (St. Bride's kirk, Douglas), Albanies, 
 Crichtons, Livingstons, Boyds, Hamiltons, An- 
 guses. Bishop Kennedy, &c. &c. Nisbet mentions 
 a fine tomb of a Lord Borthwick at Borthwick, with 
 his figure. I shall at my leisure make a list of our 
 celeberrimi from the reign of David II. ; prior to 
 which we cannot expect paintings or monuments. 
 
 Your lordship has so richly contributed to our 
 work, that I must ever venerate you as its fuufider; 
 and I shall find an opportunity to express these 
 sentiments in the preface to it. 
 
 I need hardly mention, once for all, that the 
 most ancient and the regal portraits are not only the 
 most interesting to English readers, on whom our
 
 372 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 sale depends, but the most appropriate to the 
 commencement of the work. And it is unneces- 
 sary to add, that its future sale depends on ren- 
 dering the first part as important and generally 
 interesting as possible. 
 
 MR. PTNKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Jan. 10th, 179.'>. 
 
 In addition to former favors, I have recently re- 
 ceived Sir Alexander Erskine, Fletcher of Salton, 
 Zachary Boyd, young Scougal, a finished drawing, 
 Jameson the painter, Bishop Forbes, and General 
 David Lesly : all very interesting portraits. 
 
 Wishart the martyr, and Lockhart the ambassa- 
 dor, are alone wanting. I have in vain written to 
 your brother about them, and beg you will have 
 the goodness to desire him to send them. I need 
 hardly repeat that a direction to me under Mr. 
 Stuart's cover is the safest mode ; but, though he 
 permit this, it does not follow that letters to Her- 
 bert, Harding, &c., of whom he knows nothing, 
 should be so directed. I would rather use too 
 little freedom than too much, and never dreamed 
 of abusing his goodness in this way. It is like 
 making him a common postman. Mr. Herbert is 
 himself a young man of twenty, and trusts entirely 
 to me. There is no company in the matter ; and 
 he understands nothing of politics, which only make
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 373 
 
 him stare. And I humbly request, my lord, that 
 you will spare any expressions concerning any 
 prejudices which fools may have against me ; as 
 he can form only one idea, that I have committed 
 murder or robbery. They can do no good, and 
 may do harm. Nor can there be any occasion to 
 mention my name in any application which your 
 lordship may make ; though I cannot discover the 
 prejudices you mention in my constant correspon- 
 dence and conversation with scores of my country- 
 men ; and they are probably only known to some 
 invidious literary people ]iere. Your lordship is 
 well aware that your own independent politics have 
 raised much envy and prejudice; and that, as be- 
 ing, both of us, confessors, it is impolitic to proclaim 
 that our religion is unpopular. All this, my lord, 
 is only said to enable you to see the real persons 
 engaged in our design, and that you may write 
 with complete knowledge of your correspon- 
 dents. 
 
 The first number sells very well ; but Mr. Her- 
 bert cares little about the sale till he complete a first 
 fart of six numbers ; and, when that is done, many 
 of the booksellers have engaged to take, some 100, 
 some 200, a-piece. So that the sale of the first 
 part will pay the expense of a second, &c. I was 
 sorry that Mr. H., who is a worthy man and a man 
 of property and expectations, should call on Mr. 
   Coutts, while we are so much indebted to your 
 lordship that a present of two best copies would 
 be but a poor return. He was vexed himself, when 
 I put him in mind of this ; and I hope you will par-
 
 374 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 don it, as a mere inadvertence, proceeding from his 
 following the usual forms, without once reflecting 
 that the case was unusual. 
 
 As to any little remonstrances which I have at 
 any time used the freedom to make to your lord- 
 ship, were I not conscious of the warmest gratitude 
 for many favors and the greatest regard, I would 
 not venture upon them. Shakspeare has long- 
 since observed, that some affected bluntness in 
 order to appear honest. Far from this, I earnestly 
 wish to avoid even the appearance of bluntness ; 
 and, if any such should occur, I hope your good- 
 ness will pardon it, as a weakness of a recluse 
 LiTERATO, and not blame it as an intention. 
 
 I am infinitely obliged by your mentioning that 
 the drawings are a present to me, except the 
 finished one of young Scougal. Permit me to add 
 the finished drawing of the tomb of Alexander 
 Stuart, Earl of Buchan. Both of these shall be 
 carefully returned, and, I hope, without the smallest 
 injury. Should your lordship wish to have them 
 soon, I shall desire them to be used in an early 
 number, or at least copied. 
 
 The other drawings by your lordship I highly 
 value. The red and black are sufficient for any por- 
 trait. It is the manner of Holbein's famous draw- 
 ings now publishing, and ofa curious set by Janette 
 of those of the French court, &c. from the time of 
 Francis I. to that of Henry IV. inclusive, two vols. 
 4to, in the hands of my friend Mr. Douce. Your 
 lordship's are far more interesting; as they em^ 
 brace the worthies of many centuries. The cha-
 
 MR, PINKERTON. 375 
 
 racter seems to me exquisitely preserved ; and the 
 whole would do credit to any artist. In short, I 
 regard them as in all respects an invaluable trea- 
 sure. I carefully preserve them in a separate port- 
 folio ; and, after they are used, intend to bind them 
 in a splendid manner, interleaved with India paper, 
 and, in case of my stepping into Charon's boat, to 
 bequeath them to the British Museum. Even if 
 our design should unexpectedly fail, this collection 
 might preserve to future ages the portraits of our 
 illustrious countrymen open to subsequent artists, 
 and free from numerous accidents to which scat- 
 tered paintings are liable; and it would be a last- 
 ing monument of your lordship's patriotism and 
 love of the arts. 
 
 I wish the portrait of James IV. were finished 
 in the same way as the others. 
 
 Where artists are employed, the size of the draw- 
 ings must not exceed sLv inches by four, the utmost 
 of our 8vo page. The diminishing equals the 
 expense of another drawing ; and any folding of 
 the prints is carefully to be avoided. 
 
 The medal of Albany has no portrait. Obverse, 
 the Holy Ghost ; Reverse, his arms. 
 
 Muniments, signets, jewels, and autographs, are 
 totally foreign to the design, which embraces por- 
 traits only. The jewel of Mary I should like to 
 see copied ; though I cannot conceive that a por- 
 trait could be authenticated by an ornament, which 
 was only made in the general fashion of the times. 
 
 The genuine portraits of Mary amount to at least 
 eight. 1. The Earl of Morton's, certainly the best
 
 37G CORRESPOxNDEiNCE OF 
 
 and most authentic in the opinion of Vertue, a good 
 judge and a devotee of Mary : it has her arms on 
 table tapestry. 2. Vertue's print from an undoubted 
 painting by Zucchero, in St. James' Palace. 3. 
 In widow's weeds, Kensington. — (All paintings 
 quite alike; sharp features, acquiline nose, re- 
 sembling James V. in No. 1.) 4. Print by Cock 
 of Antwerp, 1561. 5. By De Leu of Paris, a con- 
 temporary. 6. In Jonston's Inscnptiones, 1602. 
 7. In Montfaucon's Momimens. 8. Her gold and 
 silver coins. 
 
 The seal you sent is engraved in Mr. Astle's 
 work. Cardinals Beaton and Chatelherault would 
 be very interesting. Had Kennedy's tomb his 
 bust? Kircaldy of Grange was a truly great man. 
 
 The most ancient and curious have certainly a 
 claim of preference ; and the regal, I can assure 
 your lordship, are the most interesting. Our work 
 is only bought by the curious, and has not even 
 the most distant connexion with political ideas. 
 Besides, Mr. Herbert can sell six plates of a king 
 for one of any other, to be bound up in histories, 
 &c. ; and we must not indulge our notions at his 
 expense. The point is, to lay a good foundation, 
 that he may be able to go on, by giving the most 
 interesting first. 
 
 Scougal's little tract I should wish to see re- 
 printed with his Life of God, &c., which I have ; 
 and I shall speak to some publisher about it. It 
 is out of Mr. Herbert's line. 
 
 As your lordship mentioned once a design of 
 printing the Scotish Chartularies, perhaps you
 
 MR. PINKERTON. ' 377 
 
 could furnish me with a list of those that remain, , 
 which I should esteem a great favor. 
 
 I find in an old manuscript some anecdotes con- 
 cerning a gift by Albany to Lennox of the Abbey 
 of Dryburgh : Lennox then gave it to James 
 Stuart. It was about 1524. Perhaps your lord- 
 ship's title-deeds may elucidate the transaction : 
 I wish to know the date.^ If your lordship wishes, 
 I shall send a copy of my extract, which is very 
 short; as the matter fell not within historical 
 notice, though I could throw it into a note, if cer- 
 tain of the date. 
 
 I must beg leave to recommend to your lord- 
 ship's curiosity that most obscure sera of our 
 literature, 1640 — 1660, which may be called the 
 dark twenty years. I am even interested in the 
 portrait of Gordon of Straloch, as florishing in 
 that time. The date of Sir James Balfour's death 
 is not mentioned by Sibbald in the JMemoricB 
 BalfouriancB ; and I wish much to know it. Any 
 publications, of whatever kind, or literary anec- 
 dotes relating to that space, will be very accept- 
 able, as completing the otherwise broken chain of 
 our literature. Scougal is too late. Durham on 
 Scandal is a book I cannot find. 
 
 Trail's portrait is very curious, and I wish 
 much for some more of these fanatics : Ruther- 
 ford, Blair, Cant, Dickson, Baillie, the two Gil- 
 lespies. Henderson is engraved by Hollar ; but 
 poorly. He was the Franklin of that day — an 
 able man ; and perhaps a portrait may be found. 
 
 The two Earls signing the covenant, a painting 
 at Hamilton Palace, must be a singular curiosity.
 
 378 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Your lordship will excuse this long letter on 
 topics interesting to both. Your laudable indus- 
 try commands me to exceed my usual limits in 
 return; and you know I do not often err in this 
 way. 
 
 THE EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Berkeley Square, Jan. 25tli, 1795. 
 
 I am very sorry, Sir, I can give you no satis- 
 faction at all about the portrait of James IV., 
 which I do not recollect ever to have seen any 
 where, and which, if still known to exist, would 
 probably have been engraved before this time, 
 since the passion for portraits has spread so much. 
 I conclude that of James IV. (as it appears to 
 have remained in the collection of our James 11.) 
 perished in the palace of Whitehall, when burnt 
 in the reign of King William ; as several other 
 valuable portraits and pictures, which have never 
 been seen since, undoubtedly did. Had the por- 
 trait in question been preserved in any of the 
 royal houses, at St. James's, Windsor, Hampton 
 Court, or Kensington, I think I should have 
 observed it, when I was curious about such things ; 
 especially at Kensington, where most of the re- 
 maining royal portraits had been assembled by 
 Queen Caroline, and where I discovered the 
 double portrait of James (the Third, I think) and 
 his Queen, when I had the superintendence of
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 379 
 
 that palace during the absence abroad of my sister. 
 Lady Mary Churchill, then housekeeper. 
 
 With regard to the portraits already engraven, 
 they are most wretchedly executed, and very 
 unworthy of being illustrated by you. Those of 
 James V. and his queen, especially the latter, 
 which is execrable, are far inferior to prints in 
 magazines. Harding copies likenesses very faith- 
 fully in general ; but then the engravers, who 
 work from his drawings, never see the originals, 
 and preserve no resemblance at all; as was the 
 case with the last edition and translation of Gram- 
 mont, in which, besides false portraits, as Mar- 
 shal Turenne, with a nose the reverse of his, and 
 a smug Cardinal Richelieu, like a young abb6, 
 and the Duchess of Cleveland, called by a wrong 
 name, there is a print from my Mrs. Middleton, 
 so unlike, that I pinned up the print over against 
 the other, and nobody would have guessed that 
 the one was taken from the other. 
 
 Harding, in excuse for the abominable Mary of 
 Guise, says the superintendence of the engravings 
 was not left to him, and that the last was done 
 while he was at Cambridge. In short. Sir, you 
 will do yourself honor by your sketches of the 
 lives * ; but the publication will certainly do 
 
 * Lord Orford, in this compliment to Mr. Pinkerton, has 
 sadly sinned against sincerity; for the publication is indeed, in 
 every point of view, a wretched one : the portraits so bad as to 
 be a disgrace to the arts in England, and the letter-press, 
 from the contracted limits assigned to it, scarcely better. It 
 appears by a letter from Mr. Armour, an artist engaged in the
 
 380 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 credit to nobody else. What a difference between 
 such scrapings, and Houbraken's Illustrious Heads I 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Soho Square, Feb. 1st, 1795. 
 
 My estimation of your talents as a writer, and 
 of the superiority of your literary claims to the 
 office you solicit,* is, as it always has been, 
 
 work, to Mr. Pinkerton, dated Sept. 179C, that the price paid 
 for drawings was ten shillings and sixpence for an outline, one 
 guinea for a sketch in India ink, and one pound eleven and 
 sixpence for a colored sketch. Nothing better could be ex- 
 pected from such a scale of remuneration. Even these terms, 
 however, low as they were, Mr. Pinkerton soon found himself 
 unable to comply with : his pecuniary difficulties were now 
 commencing; and this correspondence contains a great number 
 of letters which I have not printed, from artists, complaining of 
 evasions and delays as to paying them. 
 
 * It appears from a hint in Mr. Astle's letter of Dec. lOtli, 
 1793, that Mr. Pinkerton had for more tlian a year entertained 
 the wish to procure himself the post of Librarian in the British 
 Museum ; and indeed I can conceive no situation more truly 
 enviable to a man devoted to literature and science. The late 
 Mr. Planta felt this ; and once, in speaking to me on the sub- 
 ject, said, " My place is the first in the wAo/e world ; for Eu- 
 rope is superior to every other quarter of the globe ; England to 
 every other country in Europe ; London to every other city in 
 England ; the British Museum to every other institution in 
 London ; and my post to all the others in the Museum." — He 
 had probably heard how the same observation, mutatis mu- 
 tandis, had been made by a resident at Maidstone respecting 
 his house.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 381 
 
 decisively in your favor : I fear, however, it will 
 not be in my power to do you any real service on 
 this occasion. 
 
 When the Archbishop first acted as a trustee to 
 the British Museum, he did me the honor to con- 
 sult me on a vacancy which then happened in the 
 department of natural history. I gave him my 
 opinion with all possible freedom ; but he, in 
 direct opposition to it, put in a man who I had 
 declared, and he, I believe, was convinced, had 
 no kind of knowledge in natural history. 
 
 I, who thought he did this because the person 
 whom he promoted was in orders, made no secret 
 of my opinion of the transaction : whether this 
 came to his ears or not, I do not know ; but, after 
 such a treatment, I have no inclination to obtrude 
 my advice upon him, nor is it likely I should suc- 
 ceed were I to do so. You, who know the Arch- 
 bishop's partiality towards the Church, and recol- 
 lect, no doubt, that hitherto the other electing 
 trustees have left all the appointments of the Mu- 
 seum wholly to his decision, will easily see the 
 necessity of your using all the interest you can 
 raise ; and the more so, as two clergymen have al- 
 ready declared themselves candidates. I grieve 
 that it is not in my power, with propriety or with 
 any hopes of success, to undertake a solicitation in 
 your favor: all I can do is to bear testimony in favor 
 of your literary pretensions ; and this, as they stand 
 in my opinion very high among your cotempora- 
 ries, and very far indeed above those of any of your 
 competitors, 1 shall most readily do when and 
 wherever a proper opportunity offers itself.
 
 382 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 THE EARL OF ORFORD TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Berkeley Square, Feb. 5th, 1795. 
 
 I have told you over and over, that know^ing 1 
 have not a glimpse of interest with any one man 
 in power, nor claim to asking favors of any one, 
 I am extremely averse from attempting to make 
 use of that no-interest. I have also repeated to 
 you, that I have not the smallest connexion with 
 any of the house of Marlborough, but with Lady 
 Diana Beauclerc. 
 
 To her I have still applied for you once more, 
 inclosing your own letter, which states your pre- 
 tensions and claims better than I can ; nor indeed 
 could I have written myself, not being able to 
 move either arm with the gout, but trusting to her 
 ladyship's showing or sending it to the Arch- 
 bishop. From neither have I received a syllable 
 of answer; nor did I expect a propitious one from 
 the prelate, who, though he formerly received you 
 in a very liberal and handsome manner, I did 
 not suppose would choose to become the patron 
 of one who had made himself obnoxious to the 
 clergy. The head of any church, though as mo- 
 derate as the present primate, and by no means a 
 persecutor, is not likely to choose to be a martyr 
 himself rather than to make martyrs. If T do 
 hear any thing of my application, you shall cer- 
 tainly know it.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 383 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Gower Street, April Gth, 1795. 
 
 I desired Mr. Herbert to mention to you that in 
 Thevet's Hommes Illustres are the following Scotch 
 portraits : Fergus I., Duns Scotus, and James V. 
 The first two are probably out of the question 
 with you ; but 1 thought it was worth while to 
 mention the latter. 
 
 I avail myself of this opportunity to ask you 
 concerning the first instance you have found of 
 persons accompanied by their patron saints. Are 
 there any that you know of before those at Ken- 
 sington of James III. and his queen? Can you 
 give me any information relating to the cross of 
 St. George, when first borne in heraldry ? If you 
 have Nisbet, perhaps he may be consulted with 
 success. 
 
 I make these inquiries, being just now engaged 
 in a slight attempt to illustrate an ancient paint- 
 ing, in a missal, of Edward Crouchback, Earl of 
 Lancaster, who is accompanied by another figure 
 that I suspect to be St. George ; but I have not 
 yet found so early an instance of a representation 
 of that saint. There is nothing to be got from 
 Heylin's account of him. Waiting anxiously for 
 one of your very interesting gossips, I remain, <S:c.
 
 384 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, June 15th, 1795, 
 
 I cannot omit writing to thank your lordship 
 for the additional favor, to innumerable former 
 ones, of the communication of the portrait of 
 Alexander Lesley, Lord Leven. It is a fine and 
 interesting head, and is now engraved in a style 
 far superior to those before given in our work, 
 which from ill taste or avarice have been published 
 in a mean style. I have therefore spoken to pro- 
 per engravers myself; and the other numbers will 
 be of a different description to numbers 1 and 2. 
 Caldwall, Legats, and Trotter, I shall also recom- 
 mend, as your lordship advised, and mean this 
 week to consult them on the terms. 
 
 I hope your lordship has seen the first numbers. 
 The death of Herbert's uncle, &c., has occasioned 
 great delay ; but two numbers will now be pub- 
 lished at once, and I shall put several plates in 
 hand. James IV., Buchan the Constable, Bishop 
 Lesley, David Lesley, Sec, are in hand. 
 
 Nos. 3 and 4 contain David I. and Malcolm IV., 
 Lady Margaret Douglas, Admirable Crichton (the 
 last very well engraved,) Robert IL, Lady Dal- 
 housie, and Bishop Elphinston. 
 
 I have heard nothing from Edinburgh about 
 Cardinal Innes, Aubigny's tomb. See. : we much 
 want Cardinal Beaton from Holyrood-house. The
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 385 
 
 Earl of Douglas at Cavers would be very interest- 
 ing. 
 
 If your lordship chooses, I shall speak to Mr. 
 Herbert to send you proofs on Indian paper, 
 under cover of Mr. Stuart ; that you may see the 
 numbers at once ; for vi^e cannot show sufficient 
 attention to you, our sole, real, and active patron, 
 and whom I gratefully regard as the very founder 
 of our work. 
 
 I am well aware of the prejudices of some of my 
 countrymen against me : first, as an opposer of 
 Ossian and the Celtic fables, which devour our 
 history : secondly, as no friend to the Scotish old 
 Toryism now in high vogue — " SpretcE exokscuntr 
 I wait with patience till they discover, that a man 
 always toiling for his country cannot be its enemy. 
 Conscious that my worst enemy has never at- 
 tacked my moral character or my literary motives, 
 I pass such matters, though it requires great 
 patience to serve people against their will. In 
 England, party or literary enmity has, even now, 
 little of our impetuosity, little of the odium Eccle- 
 siasticum or caninum; but, in Scotland, there is no 
 fighting and shaking hands. How risible will it ap- 
 pear, 200 years hence, that literary Tories should 
 endeavor to prevent literary Whigs from serving 
 the object of their common pursuits ! 
 
 MR. PINKEHTON TO THK EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Harupstead, July 6tb, 1795. 
 
 It is with pleasure that I proceed in the revival 
 VOL. I. 2 b
 
 380 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 of our work, which had nearly been strangled in 
 its birth. 
 
 Alexander Lesley in colors is a fine print, and as 
 like the miniature as possible. David Lesley is in 
 the same hands. 
 
 Esme, Duke of Lennox, is well engraved by 
 Roberts, a young, but deserving artist. 
 
 I have given to him Mar, the treasurer : to 
 Trotter, Secretary Maitland and Jameson the 
 painter : to Barlow, Bishop Lesley. 
 
 In short, my lord, I shall answer that the prints 
 are well engraved ; if you will have the goodness 
 to write to Mr. Herbert, to desire that all the 
 drawings you have sent or may send shall be put 
 by me into the hands of such engravers as I 
 choose. He is an unaccountable. Two tracings he 
 has lost ; and I am afraid Lockhart and Wishart 
 went the same way. 
 
 He rightly proposes to publish no more num- 
 bers, but only parts of six numbers, or eighteen 
 prints each. Li the first part I shall see that 
 there is one by Trotter, and other good prints, to 
 make amends for the two first numbers. " A hard 
 beginning is a good beginning," says the proverb. 
 
 The misfortune has been, that Herbert is sur- 
 rounded with mean artists, who impose upon him 
 and persuade him to employ them. The point to 
 be gained is, that I should direct the prints, as 
 well as furnish the letter-press. He employs so 
 many obscure hands, that it would require a clue 
 of Ariadne to find out where the blame lies : 
 whereas, I have only to give a drawing to a good 
 artist, and see that he does it well and correctly.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 387 
 
 He has had three plates totally to engrave anew, 
 as they were unfit for the work : so he can gain 
 nothing by his mean artists ; as good ones would 
 have done the plates well at first for the same 
 expense as this double engraving. 
 
 If your lordship blames me a little to him, and 
 says you supposed me answerable for the plates, 
 as the drawings were sent to me, it may tend to 
 the eftect wanted. It will be trouble and loss of 
 time to me to look to the engravings ; but I would 
 prefer this to seeing bad prints, which are useless 
 now and for ever. 
 
 Harding did the Mary of Guise. The drawing 
 was very dry ; and the plate is not amiss, con- 
 sidering that circumstance. But, in fact, if the 
 engravings be not left to my care, I shall give up 
 the work ; for I am sick of hunting the publishers. 
 
 MR. JAMES SCOTT TO MR. JAMES WRIGHT, 
 
 JUNIOR.* 
 
 Perth, Aug. Srd, 1795. 
 
 I had the pleasure of yours to-day, inclosing a 
 prospectus, by Mr. Pinkerton, concerning Scotish 
 portraits. I do not find in the list George Hay, 
 
 * Mr. James Wright, jun., merchant at Dundee, was at this 
 time one of Mr. Piiikerton's most active correspondents on the 
 subject of coins and medals ; but his letters, which are very long, 
 have not appeared to me to possess sufficient interest to warrant 
 the publication of them.
 
 388 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Chancellor of Scotland, who was the first Earl of 
 Kinnoul : his portrait, no doubt, is at the Castle 
 of Dupplin ; and there is a very fine effigy of him 
 in the parish-church of Kinnoul. Mr. Pinkerton 
 assuredly knows of the effigy of David Murray, 
 first Viscount of Stormont, in the parish-church 
 of Scone. ' 
 
 In the old gallery of the palace of Scone, near 
 the roof, all round the room, are compartments of 
 painting, seemingly executed about the beginning 
 of last century, in which the several stages of a 
 stag-chase by King James VI. and his courtiers 
 are represented. The figures and countenances 
 of the persons accompanying the king are said to 
 be true likenesses of the noblemen and gentlemen 
 who at that time most attended the court, such as 
 the Duke of Lennox, &c. 1 have often thought 
 that the groups there to be seen are the most 
 curious any where now to be met with in Scot- 
 land. If the Earl of Mansfield were to get them 
 copied, they would be a valuable present to the 
 public. 
 
 Our society are greatly obliged to you for the 
 valuable collection of natural history which you 
 lately sent them, and return you their best 
 thanks.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 389 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Eccles Street, Dublin, 
 Aug. 7th, 1795. 
 
 I am honored with your letter of the 13th ult., 
 and pleased to find that the pamphlets, &c. have 
 reached you. Should Mr. OTlannagan continue 
 his work,* I shall have great pleasure in sending 
 you the remainder. I am sorry he is not encou- 
 raged to publish a translation which he made long 
 since of the Aunals of Inn'isf alien . But Irish lite- 
 rature has few zealous friends. Your polite mes- 
 sage to Dr. O'Conor I shall take an early oppor- 
 tunity of communicating. I am sure he will 
 accept with pleasure your obliging offer of copies 
 of his grandfather's letters. 
 
 The portraits of illustrious persons of Scotland, 
 with biographical notices from your pen, will be a 
 valuable accession to collections of taste, and 
 serve to increase the stock of elegant literature. 1 
 should be happy to see such a work undertaken for 
 Ireland, could it be so ably conducted. A friend 
 of mine is now employed on a Catalogue of Irish 
 Writers- Uv'uig, or lately dead; but his work will not 
 be enriched with portraits. I shall look into the 
 Genealogy of the Hamiltons, prefixed to the Me- 
 moires de Grammont, and furnish vou with such 
 information concerning that family as I shall be 
 able to collect. At present I shall only observe, 
 that the Fords of Seaford in the county of Down, 
 
 * Cambrensis Evevsus.
 
 390 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 and Colgreney in the county of Wicklow, are 
 descended from a sister of Count Hamilton. There 
 is a portrait of him at Seaford. Lord Kingsland, 
 related to him in the same manner, had portraits 
 of the two brothers, and also of Madame de Gram- 
 mont : one painted in her early youth, another 
 taken in her advanced age : these Hamiltonswere 
 of the Abercorn line. 
 
 I am rejoiced to find that your History of Scot- 
 land under the House of Stuart is ready for the press. 
 I shall wait its appearance with impatience ; and 
 I shall expect with equal impatience the appear- 
 ance of your General History. Deep and extensive 
 erudition, assiduous research, and luminous ar- 
 rangement, render your productions inestimable 
 to the lovers of historic truth. If you have read 
 the Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland, 
 and the Strictures on the History of Ireland, by Dr. 
 Campbell, I am sure you will lament with me 
 the death of the author. His Revolutions of Ire- 
 land (part of which work is already printed) will, 
 I believe, be edited by Mr. Ledwich, a writer with 
 whose merits you are not unacquainted. Another 
 work, on a plan somewhat similar, is now, I un- 
 derstand, in the press, by a writer not yet known 
 to the literary world. 
 
 You do me the honor to inquire how I am 
 employed : at present I am not engaged in any 
 literary occupation ; but I have it in contempla- 
 tion to prepare for the press a very curious ano- 
 nymous Tour in Scotland, Ireland, and England, 
 in the year 1635, now in my possession. It is 
 written with good sense, minute information, and
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 391 
 
 great simplicity of manner. The Irish part I can 
 illustrate from my own notes made during dif- 
 ferent tours. The whole work would probably 
 make an octavo volume of 250 pages. I have not 
 yet determined where I shall publish it ; but I 
 presume I shall be able to find some bookseller in 
 London who would undertake the publication at 
 his, own risk. Before I conclude, Sir, give me 
 leave to express a hope, that the rise and progress 
 of the stage in Scotland has found a place in your 
 General History. It is, I think, a most interesting 
 subject. The feeble attempt which I made, in the 
 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy for 1788, 
 to trace the history of the Irish stage, only serves 
 to show my love of the subject, and inability to 
 treat it. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Sept. 25th, 1795. 
 
 I have the pleasure of informing you, that most 
 of the tracings and drawings received from your 
 lordship are either engraved, or in the hands of 
 the engravers. Trotter has executed finely your 
 great ancestor, Regent Mar. 
 
 The Mary of Guise I have since seen at Devon- 
 shire House; and the plate is now rendered 
 similar to the original. Mr. Taylor is a great 
 improver, as we have found to our cost in the 
 Kensington pictures, which he has drawn so 
 unlike, that we are forced to employ other artists. 
 Mr. Herbert now goes on with great spirit ; and
 
 392 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 two or three parts, of eighteen portraits each, will 
 appear next winter. 
 
 I hope your lordship will have the goodness to 
 send us a few more subjects the approaching 
 winter. Your own Lady Mary Stuart, wife of the 
 Treasurer Mar, and Alexander Erskine, his son, 
 would be acceptable. Your ancestor. Lord Card- 
 ross, 1675, is an eminent character, of whom a 
 portrait would be valuable. 
 
 Cardinals Innes and Beaton, &c. I have not yet 
 got, though I wrote to my agent to pay for 
 them. 
 
 I beg to remind your lordship of Lee, the am- 
 bassador. I can now speak w^ith certainty of the 
 procedure of the work, and answer for the artists 
 employed ; so that I hope your lordship will con- 
 tinue your kind attention to it. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Oct. 19th, 1795. 
 
 Within this week I have luckily discovered in pri- 
 vate hands the portrait of James IV. with a falcon 
 on his fist, mentioned in the catalogue of the pictures 
 of Charles I. It is an interesting piece ; and the 
 falcon renders it singular and picturesque. It has 
 the arms, motto, and J. IV. in black letter; so 
 that nothing can be more authentic. Mr. Trotter 
 is to copy and engrave it forthwith. I wish the 
 proprietor to let this unique piece be copied poly- 
 graphically : each copy will be a guinea or two :
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 393 
 
 in that case I should buy one ; and perhaps your 
 lordship might like another. 
 
 Is there any arms or name on Buchan the 
 Constable's picture ? I should be much obliged 
 for a tracing of the arms on your James IV. 
 
 Traquair and Gilmour came safe to hand. The 
 last tracing of Buchan is not yet come. But the 
 will is now before me, and I shall return it by the 
 next letter. I am sorry that on this and other 
 occasions your lordship's goodness has communi- 
 cated papers which the brevity of the work pre- 
 vents being used. It is, my lord, an account of 
 portraits, rather than of persons ; and the notices 
 are short and heraldic. No one looks into Birch's 
 Illustrious Heads for the lives, which are quite 
 thrown away ; and it had been better if he had 
 given an account of the paintings. Our work only 
 pretends to explain who the person is, and to 
 identify the portrait. Such being the case, I 
 should be very sorry to give your lordship ad- 
 ditional trouble in remitting papers, while we are 
 already so much indebted to your generous and 
 truly noble spirit for the portraits. 
 
 MR. DOUCE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Dec. loth, 1795. 
 
 When capital is meant by the old statutes, they 
 express it by gooch : otherwise it is so much per 
 annum. 
 
 " Furred pynson" are furred slippers. I find
 
 394 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the word " serples" used for an upper garment, 
 or surplice, (superpellicium ;) and therefore I con- 
 ceive " se?yis" to be a contraction of it ; but if, in 
 your quotation, serpe is to be taken as an orna- 
 ment of gold or silver, my conjecture falls. I 
 believe *' kure' to be a strap (lor inn) to which 
 something was fastened about the habit. In the 
 time of Henry VI. and VII. it is common to see a 
 cap hanging by a strap on the shoulder ; but I do 
 not know if that was a part of dress at the time 
 your term occurs. 
 
 By Stat. 3. Edward IV., c. 5, no yeoman (after 
 the year 1465) may wear any bolsters or stuffing 
 in his doublet ; nor any one under the degree of a 
 knight any coat or jacket that shall not be long 
 enough to cover his privy members and posteriors. 
 None under the degree of a lord to wear shoes or 
 hoots with pikes passing two inches. There are in 
 this statute exceptions in favor of clerks, judges, 
 scholars of universities, henchmen, heralds, min- 
 strels, and players of interludes. Repealed by 
 24th Edward IV. 
 
 Stowe, sub anno 1465, says it was proclaimed 
 throughout England, that the pikes of shoes or 
 boots should not exceed two inches, on pain of 
 cursing by the clergy, and forfeiting twenty shil- 
 lings, &c. " Before this time," says he, " and 
 since the year 1382, these pikes were of such 
 length, that they were fain to be tied up to their 
 knees with chains of silver gilt, or at least with 
 silk strings." What authority Stowe had for this 
 assertion does not appear. 1 have never yet ob- 
 served this fashion in any ancient illumination.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 395 
 
 Sir R. Baker and Mr, Grainger have implicitly 
 followed Stowe. 
 
 Camden, in his Remains, (article apparel,) cites 
 a manuscript history called ** EiilogiumJ' but of 
 what age does not appear; which says, "their 
 shoes and pattens are snouted and piked more 
 than a finger long, crooking upwards, which they 
 call crackars, resembling the devil's claws, whidi 
 were fastened to the knees ivith chains of gold and 
 silver."' Du Clercq, a writer who is very particu- 
 lar in describing the dress of the French about 
 1460, does not notice these pointed shoes. 
 
 Le Gendre says these shoes were called 
 poidaines, from the name of the inventor ; but he 
 does not say they were tied up w^ith chains. 
 
 MR. DILLY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Jan. 11th, 170G. 
 
 I shall have no objection to purchase your 
 History of Scotland in manner following : one 
 hundred pounds, when a quarter be printed ; a 
 second hundred, on the half being printed ; a 
 third hundred, six months after the completion of 
 the work at press. A fourth and full completion 
 of the purchase of the copyright shall be made 
 upon payment of a fourth hundred, which shall be 
 by a note twelve 'months after the publication of 
 the history is made. 
 
 I have proposed this sum, to prove I am inclined 
 to engage in the work ; and, as I intend to give
 
 396 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 a further consideration,* provided the impression 
 of one thousand should sell off in a given time, as 
 shall be named in the agreement, I presume the 
 conditions may be drawn up at our next meeting. 
 I shall have no objection to go to press in the 
 course of the next month. 
 
 REV. STEBBING SHAWf TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Thornhaugh-street, Bedford Sijuare, 
 Jan. 2.3th, 1706. 
 
 Having been applied to during a visit at Cam- 
 bridge last w^eek to copy some drawings for you 
 in the Scotichronicon^,: in Corpus Christi College; 
 but not being able to draw them properly, for 
 want of transparent paper, or want of time, as I 
 had very important university business to perform, 
 I herewith send you a few observations I then 
 made ; and, if you will favor me with a call any 
 
 * In a subsequent letter Mr. Dilly explains what he here in- 
 tends by a. Jm'thcr consideration . He shall not object, he says, in 
 case all the copies of the first impression should be sold in the 
 course of two years, to pay 200/. more for the revision and cor- 
 rections to be made for a second edition. 
 
 t Of Queen's College, Cambridge : author of a Tour in the 
 West of England, and of the History and Antiqiiities of the 
 County of Stafford. He died Oct. 28, 1802. 
 
 I Dr. Nasmith, in his Catalogue of the Manuscripts left by 
 Archbishop Parker to Corpus Christi College, says of the 
 manuscript in question, that it is of the fifteenth century, on 
 paper, and contains four or five illuminations of considerable 
 beauty.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 397 
 
 morning you maj^ chance to come to town this 
 week, I perhaps may be able to describe the 
 nature of the drawings better to you ; and will 
 endeavor to copy what you wish next week, 
 when I must return to Cambridge for a few days. 
 
 I seldom go out before twelve o'clock ; but will 
 make a point of being at home any other hour 
 you please to mention. 
 
 I have also a self-interest in wishing to see you 
 here, to request your opinion with respect to some 
 Roman and Saxon coins, original Saxon charters, 
 &c. in my collection for Staffordshire. 
 
 The Scotichronicon, by John Fordun, in Corpus 
 Christi College library, is very much injured, par- 
 ticularly at the beginning ; and many pages seem 
 to have been devoured by mice. In the first page 
 is the small remnant of a drawing of a man 
 writing at a desk, and this coat of arms adjoining : 
 
 The first illumination is at the end of the first 
 book; viz. a small ship with soldiers, &c., and 
 over it is written " Scota gathdos'' The second 
 illumination is at the beginning of book v. ; viz. two 
 curious figures in conversation in a room, and over 
 them " De Rege Malcolmo Kennemor et Thano 
 de Fiff'e." The next is facing bookxi., and repre-
 
 398 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 sents a funeral procession : viz. four men carrying 
 the coffin upon two poles on their shoulders, and 
 on the pall is delineated a 
 
 Priests or monks follow after, singing. From the 
 opposite text it appears to represent the funeral of 
 Alex. II. The next drawing is in the middle of 
 book xii., and represents a battle : some on horses, 
 but most on foot, all in armour, with part of a 
 town and castle or fort, I think called the battle 
 of Banockburn. 
 
 The last and least of these illuminations is a 
 man's profile, representing the capital letter C, 
 
 thus 11 i^onsideranti, at the beginning of book xvi. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, Feb. 28th, 1790. 
 
 I am honored with your lordship's of the 17th. 
 With regard to the Catalogue of Portraits, with 
 accounts by whom sent, they must be strange 
 reasoners who think such a circumstance any 
 authentication. I might say of the portraits at 
 Kensington, "sent by Mr. Taylor in a rainy day 
 to Mr. Herbert!" "Mr. Trotter being ill, his 
 wife brought this tracing ! " Fine authentication, 
 no doubt! It has hitherto sufficed in such cases 
 to name the collection; and even this has been 
 too often omitted.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 399 
 
 Of the gluttony of trifling fame, what the French 
 call the gloriole, I trust I have none, and can see 
 no ground of reputation in a collection of prints. 
 In the preface to vol. I. I shall give the v^hole 
 credit of the collection to your lordship, and say 
 at once that the portraits from Scotland, amount- 
 ing to about half, were all remitted by you. But 
 I shall not say that the work would never have 
 come to light without my exertions, which have 
 been great and persevering, &c. &c. 
 
 Though I gain nothing but labor and cavilling 
 by this work, yet I regard your lordship's at- 
 tentions to it as a personal obligation, and have on 
 all occasions warmly expressed my sense of them. 
 It is, my lord, with a view to spare you some 
 labor, that I beg to mention that one half of the 
 tracings, &c. you have been so good as to send 
 are foreign to the design. Archbishop Adamson, 
 Short the optician, &c. have nothing to do with 
 illustrious men. The king and queen of Bohemia 
 have nothing to do with Scotland. 
 
 In a commonwealth, the dictators, consuls, &c. 
 in a monarchy, the kings attract the chief notice : 
 in short, the chief actors in history will ever form 
 the first class of illustrious men. This is human 
 nature ; and no philosophy can make a shrub an 
 oak. Our first object is therefore the monarchs, 
 and, after them, the chief actors in history. The 
 single portrait of James IV., or that of James III., 
 is more interesting, even to a philosopher who 
 knows that their personal characters influenced a 
 whole country, than the portraits of ten obscure 
 persons, whose virtues or vices never passed a 
 narrow sphere.
 
 400 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 While we want the kings and queens at Tay- 
 mouth, Cardinal Beaton, the Regent Chatelheraut, 
 &c. &c., it is unnecessary to delineate bishops, &c. 
 only known in a catalogue of clergymen. 
 
 Part II. is now completely finished ; but the 
 present publisher is so negligent, that I shall 
 transfer the work to another : and a very good 
 one has offered. I beg therefore that Herbert 
 may be regarded as having no concern in the pub- 
 lication. And, were it not for the amor patri^s, I 
 should at once relinquish a design to which I 
 sacrifice time and labor, and shall not gain even a 
 paltry spark of reputation. 
 
 MR. CONSTABLE TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 March 20th, 179G. 
 
 I have seen many books written and printed in 
 Scotland between 1650 and 1660, particularly of 
 a religious nature ; and I can easily send you a list 
 of such of them as I can recollect : perhaps some 
 of them might be new to your collection. I do 
 not remember to have seen any modern edition of 
 Durham* on Scandal ; but most of that gentle- 
 man's other works have been often reprinted, and 
 sell to this day as currently as any of Willison's 
 famous religious publications. 
 
 * Janies Durham of Glasgow, an eminent Scotch divine du- 
 ring the first half of the seventeenth century, was not only the 
 author of the Dying Man's Testamtnt to the Church of Scot- 
 land, or a Treatise concerning Scandal, the work here alluded 
 to, but of a great many other publications of a similar character. 
 John AVillison of Dundee, who lived a century after him, was 
 a writer of the same stamp.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 401 
 
 I dare say a person could be found in Edinburgh 
 to answer your demand in copying old portraits. 
 I mentioned the circumstance to Mr. Allan, who is 
 well known for his nice imitations of Scotch man- 
 ners, faces, and dresses ; but he says that, unless 
 the originals are in town or in its vicinity, it would 
 not be in his way to undertake the business. If 
 you choose to inform me of the terms, where the 
 pictures are, and within what period you wish them 
 done, I doubt not but that I could find a person to 
 answer your purpose. We have no engraver of note 
 in the portrait way here. A Mr. Beugo issued pro- 
 posals about two years ago for a work of the nature 
 you mention ; but it never went farther : he was fre- 
 quently employed by the late Lord Hailes, and I 
 dare say you have specimens of his work in your 
 possession. 
 
 MR. PENNANT TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 April 30th, 1796. 
 
 I with great cheerfulness comply with your 
 request respecting the copying the monument of 
 Earl Douglas.* Properly, you should get a per- 
 
 * If my set of Mr. Pinkerton's Scotish Portraits is com- 
 plete, of which I am not sure, he never either published the 
 monument of Earl Douglas, or pointed out the mistake men- 
 tioned in this letter by Mr. Pennant, regarding the portrait of 
 the Cardinal. Indeed Mr. Pennant's plate of the monument 
 {Tour in Scotland, II. p. 134.) as little deserves copying as can 
 well be imagined ; and there is a letter upon the subject in this 
 
 VOL. I. 2 C
 
 402 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 mission from Messrs. White, who are the proprie- 
 tors. If I can find any others which I have not 
 used, they shall be at your service when I know 
 your wants. Give me leave to say, that I suspect 
 the authenticity of my Cardinal Beaton. I fear 
 it is Cardinal Falconer or Falconieri. I think there 
 is a genuine one somewhere in Scotland. It will 
 be worth your while to inquire if there be one, 
 and engrave it, and add my suspicions which 
 induce you to do it. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, April 18th, 179G. 
 
 The portrait of Sir Robert Murray is not at the 
 Royal Society's apartments ; but there is one at 
 Baillie of Jerviswood's, which might perhaps be 
 got at. I have desired Mr. Wilkinson to procure 
 Keil and Gregory from Oxford, as you recom- 
 mended. 
 
 In Part II. I have published four of the family 
 of Erskine, and have intermingled its praise with 
 that of your lordship. In the general preface, I 
 shall fully explain the great and material share you 
 have in this (may I call it?) national work. Dr. 
 
 collection from Mr. M'Cubbin of Douglas, who dissuades Mr. 
 Pinkerton from any thing of the kind, and says that " long ago 
 the monuments have been so defaced, that it is impossible to take 
 any exact or even tolerable drawings of them, especially the 
 faces, which are greatly destroyed."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 403 
 
 Ogilvie has sent several from Aberdeen, for which 
 we are equally indebted to your lordship's recom- 
 mendation. The Archbishop Adamson, he informs 
 me, is erroneous ; a date being discovered, 1 639. 
 
 As Mr. Wilkinson has correspondence at Edin- 
 burgh, I should be much obliged if your lordship 
 would point out what artists you prefer. Those in 
 the capital and environs may thus be preserved ; 
 and Sir John Sinclair has given me a letter to Lord 
 Breadalbane for those at Taymouth. I am very 
 sensible that your lordship has exceeded all ex- 
 pectation in those you have already procured ; but 
 perhaps at your convenience you may assist us in 
 the following. 
 
 Mr. Erskine at Alloa (so Pennant Vol. III.), per- 
 haps Aloa, has a curious half-length of Mary on 
 copper, gauze cloke, crown on head, passion-flower 
 in hand, sickly and pale. (Your Mary appears 
 Part III.) 
 
 Those at Hamilton Palace. 
 
 Alexander Henderson at Yester. 
 
 James Earl of Douglas at Cavers. 
 
 The Seton family (which you said was in hand). 
 
 Bail lie of Jerviswood at Mallerston. 
 
 Sibbald, the antiquary, at Duntervie, and some 
 others which your lordship pointed out. 
 
 A most rare plate of James I., whole length, 
 arms, Dunbarton castle behind, done I suppose 
 about 1540, has just been lent me. It is from a 
 different painting; but the face, dress, &c. evince 
 that the Kielberg piece is James I. The print has 
 only peaks, and no chains to the shoes. 
 
 Mary, a fine large contemporary French medal-
 
 404 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 lion, has also been lent. It is the most exquisite of 
 all her portraits ; and Mr. W. speaks of giving it 
 to Bartolozzi. 
 
 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 May 15th, 1796. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair's compliments to Mr. Pinker- 
 ton, and sends herewith his paper on the High- 
 land dress. He accidentally found Mr. Pinkerton's 
 observations on that subject yesterday, which he 
 returns, as he thinks that Mr. Pinkerton should 
 include, in his portraits of the illustrious persons 
 of Scotland, the French engravings of the High- 
 land dress, and state in that work his thoughts 
 upon the subject. Sir John thinks that the word 
 haut-de-chausses means trowsers, and not the phi- 
 libeg : indeed it is well known that the philibeg 
 was invented by an Englishman in Lochaber 
 about sixty years ago, who naturally thought 
 his workmen could be more active in that light 
 petticoat than in the belted plaid ; and that it was 
 more decent to wear it, than to have no clothing 
 at all, which was the case with some of those 
 employed by him in cutting down the woods in 
 Lochaber.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 405 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. * 
 
 23rd February, 1795. 
 
 In compliance with your desire, I have now the 
 honor to send you a few remarks on the Highland 
 dress. 
 
 When I first saw in the papers that you had 
 appeared at court in a new Highland dress, sub- 
 stituting trowsers, or pantaloons, for the philibeg, 
 I was highly pleased with the improvement. The 
 Highland dress is, in fact, quite modern ; and any 
 improvement may be made without violating an- 
 tiquity. Nay, the trowsers are far more ancient 
 than the philibeg. 
 
 The philibeg cannot be traced among any of 
 the Celtic nations, Ireland, Wales, or Bretagne, 
 either as an article of dress, or as a word in their 
 languages. Giraldus Cambrensis, A. D. 1180, 
 informs us that the Irish wore braccce, or brecchi, 
 (that is, the long, ancient breeches, now called 
 pantaloons, or trowsers). On old monuments the 
 Irish kings are dressed in a close tunic, or vest, 
 long trowsers down to the ancle, and a long loose 
 robe, fastened at the waist by a large brooch. 
 Perhaps the brooch might be substituted in your 
 regiment for the breast-plate with much cos- 
 tume. 
 
 * This letter is here inserted out of its chronological order, 
 to bring it in contact with the preceding, in which it was in- 
 closed by Sir J. Sinclair to Mr. Pinkcrton.
 
 406 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 In the book of dress, printed at Paris 1562 
 (from which I have published fac-similes), the 
 Highland chief is in the Irish dress ; and I can 
 discover no philibeg. No part of the dress is 
 tartan : nor is there a plaid, but a mantle. The 
 woman is dressed in sheep-skins ; and, as that sex 
 is always more ornamented than the other, there 
 is reason to believe that the common Highland 
 dress was then composed of sheep or deer skins. 
 
 Certain it is that Froissart, though astonished 
 at the sauvages cVEscosse, as foreigners termed the 
 Highlanders even down to Mary's reign, and 
 though a minute observer, remarks no fixed ap- 
 propriated dress among them, though the plaid 
 and philibeg, if then worn, must have struck him 
 as most particular. 
 
 Fordun, lib. ii. cap. 9, only mentions the High- 
 land people as " amictu deformis," a term which 
 I dare say you will agree with me rather applies 
 to a vague savage dress of skins, &c. than to any 
 regular habit. Hector Boece, 1526, though very 
 minute, is equally silent ; but he mentions canvass 
 hose, or trowsers, as a part of the old Scotish 
 dress. 
 
 Lesley and Buchanan, 1570-1580, are there- 
 fore the first who mention the modern Highland 
 dress. The former represents tartan as then 
 confined to the use of people of rank. The 
 latter says the plaids of his time were broivn. 
 
 Advocates for the antiquity of the philibeg say 
 it is borrowed from the Roman military dress ; but 
 it is quite different ; for the Roman skirts were 
 mostly those of the tunic, which was worn under
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 407 
 
 their armour ; whereas the philibeg is a detached 
 article of dress. 
 
 It once appeared to me that the tunic with 
 skirts to the knees, used by the common people 
 of England in the Saxon and Norman times (see 
 Strutt's Plates), had passed to the Lowlands, and 
 thence to the Highlands, where it remained, as 
 mountaineers are slow in changing fashions. But 
 it now seems to me far more probable, that the 
 philibeg arose from an article of dress used in 
 France, England, and Scotland, from about the 
 year 1500 to 1590, namely, the ancient haut-de- 
 chausses proper. In Montfaucon's plates may be 
 seen some of these, which are absolute philibegs. 
 
 The ancient loose bracccB were followed by 
 tight hose, covering thigh and leg ; but, as man- 
 ners advanced, these began to seem indecent, 
 (being linen, fitting close, and showing every joint 
 and form) ; and the haut-de-chausses (or top of the 
 hose) began to be used. At first it was very short, 
 and loose as a philibeg ; was lengthened by de- 
 grees ; and Henry IV. of France wears it down to 
 within three or four inches of the knee, and ga- 
 thered like a petticoat tucked. Louis XIII. first 
 appears with what are now called breeches. 
 Hose were still worn under the haut-de-chausses ; 
 but, as the latter was lengthened, the former was 
 shortened, till the present fashion prevailed. The 
 Germans call breeches hosen, a term which we 
 confine to stockings. 
 
 But the haut-de-chausses or philibeg, at first in- 
 vented for the sake of modesty, and to cover that 
 indecent article the bragetto or cod-piece, has
 
 408 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 become among the Highlanders most indecent in 
 itself ; because they do not wear, as they ought, 
 long hose covering thigh and legs under the phi- 
 libeg. It is not only grossly indecent, but is 
 filthy, as it admits dust to the skin, and emits 
 the foetor of perspiration : is absurd, because, while 
 the breast, &c. are twice covered by vest and 
 plaid, the parts concealed by all other nations are 
 but loosely covered : is effeminate, being mostly a 
 short petticoat, an article of female dress : is beg- 
 garly, because its shortness and the shortness of 
 the stockings, joined with the naked knees, im- 
 press an unconquerable idea of poverty and 
 nakedness. 
 
 As to the plaid, there is no reason to believe it 
 more ancient than the philibeg. The chief in 
 1562 appears in a mantle ; and, if the common 
 people were then clothed in sheep-skins, the plaid 
 was superfluous. But I suppose the plaid and 
 philibeg passed from the Lowlands to the High- 
 lands about the same time. Our old historians, 
 in speaking of the Highlanders, always judge and 
 describe, as was natural, from those next the Low- 
 lands. In 1715, as appears from Mr. Dempster's 
 letter,* the remote Highlanders were only clothed 
 in a long coat buttoned down to the mid-leg. 
 
 It is to be regretted, on many accounts, that our 
 old historians wrote in Latin ; whence their terms 
 are often so vague as hardly to admit accurate 
 interpretation. John Major, who wrote in 1521, 
 says, p. 34, that the caligae (hose) of the High- 
 
 * See p. 231.
 
 MR. PINKERTOi:^. 409 
 
 landers did not extend below the mid-leg ; and he 
 describes their whole dress to be a linen shirt, 
 tinctured with saffron, and a chlamys (plaid, 
 mantle, or loose coat,) above. He is speaking of 
 the chiefs : the commoners he describes as pro- 
 ceeding to battle in a quilted and waxed linen 
 tunic, covered with deer-skin. Not a particle, 
 you will observe, of the modern dress. 
 
 The tartan, I dare say, passed from Flanders 
 (whence all our articles came) to the Lowlands 
 about the fifteenth century,* and thence to the 
 Highlands. Tartan plaids were common among 
 old women in the Lowlands in the last, and even 
 in the present century. 
 
 Lord Hailes {Annals, i. 37.) ludicrously sup- 
 poses tartan was introduced by St. Margaret. 
 The writer he quotes is only speaking of clothes 
 of several colors, red cloth, blue cloth, green 
 cloth, &c. ; while the Scots, probably, before fol- 
 lowed the old Norwegian custom of wearing only 
 black. 
 
 Nothing can reconcile the tasteless regularity 
 and vulgar glow of tartan to the eye of fashion ; 
 and every attempt to introduce it has failed. But 
 in your uniform, by using only two tints of a 
 colour proverbially mild, and without glare, all 
 
 * It is never mentioned before the latter part of that century. 
 It first occurs in the accompts of James III., 1474, and seems 
 to have passed from England ; for the rouge tartarin, in the 
 statutes of the Order of the Bath, in the time of Edward IV. 
 (apud Upton de Re IMilit.), is surely red tartan, or cloth, with 
 red stripes of various shades. — Pinkertoti.
 
 410 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 such objections are avoided, and the general effect 
 rendered very pleasing. 
 
 From these remarks it may be evinced, that no 
 antiquary can object to the propriety of changing 
 the philibeg to pantaloons, a change which, if uni- 
 versally introduced into Highland regiments and 
 into the Highlands, would be a laudable improve- 
 ment. 
 
 From the same remarks it is also clear, that 
 nothing can be more absurd than the costume 
 adopted by many of our late painters, stage- 
 players, &c., who have represented the tartan as 
 the Scotish dress in all ages. It is proper to 
 inform all such persons, that a Highlander is as 
 different from a Lowlander as a Welchman from 
 an Englishman. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 
 were those of Highlanders only. The Highlands 
 comprise Sutherland, Caithness, Ross, the west 
 part of Inverness and Perthshire, and all Argyle- 
 shire. 
 
 THE EARL OF BREADALBANE TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 May 28th, 179C. 
 
 I received some days ago your letter. I have 
 unfortunately no catalogue in town of the pictures 
 
 * 
 
 * Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, III. p. 30, has 
 given a catalogue of the portraits at Tayniouth, accompanied 
 with interesting observations, and says, " They are the most
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 411 
 
 at Taymouth ; but I trust no difficulty will 
 attend this circumstance in your present pursuit, 
 when I inform you the name of each individual 
 portrait is affixed to each picture, which will 
 answer your purpose better than any catalogue. 
 
 Most of Jameson's works are in the library, 
 and consist of portraits of peers or great men of 
 Scotland, friends or connexions at the time of the 
 Breadalbane family. The Family Tree, a re- 
 markable work of Jameson's,* is in the hall, at 
 
 remarkable part of the furniture of the house here, being a very 
 considerable collection of the works of Jameson, the Scotch 
 Vandyke, an el^ve of this family." To the same effect Lord 
 Orford observes (Wo7ks, III. p. 232.) that "though most of 
 the considerable families in Scotland are possessed of paintings 
 by Jameson, the greatest collection of them is at Taymouth, 
 the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane ; Sir Colin Campbell, of 
 Glenorchy, his lordshp's ancestor, having been the chief and 
 earliest patron of Jameson, who had attended that gentleman 
 on his travels." 
 
 * The very curious picture here alluded to, is thus described 
 in a Ms. on vellum, preserved at Taymouth, containing the 
 genealogy of the house of Glenorchy, and written in the first 
 half of the seventeenth century : — " Memorandum. — In the 
 same year, 1635, the said George Jameson painted a large 
 genealogical tree of the family of Glenorchy, eight feet long, 
 and five broad, containing in miniature the portraits of Sir 
 Duncan Campbell, of Lockaw, of Archibald Campbell, his 
 eldest son, first Earl of Argyle, and of Sir Colin Campbell, his 
 second son, first Laird of Glenorchy, with the branches of their 
 intermarriages, and of those of their sons and daughters, 
 beautifully illuminated. At the bottom of which tree the 
 following words are painted on a scroll : The genealogie of 
 the Hous of Glenui-quhie, whereof is descendit sundrie nohill 
 and worthie houses, 16'35, Jameson faciebat." — Lord Orford' s 
 Works, III. p. 213.
 
 412 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the bottom of which is the portrait of Sir Duncan 
 Campbell, the first Lord Argyle, from whom 
 sprung the Argyle as well as Breadalbane family. 
 
 The kings and queens of Scotland are in a 
 separate room by themselves, next the office : 
 each portrait has the name of the king or queen 
 on it for whom it was done. 
 
 In the drawing-room are two very fine portraits 
 by Vandyke, of the two brothers, the Earls of 
 Holland and Warwick, of Charles the First's time. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. 
 
 Hampstead, May 30th, 1796. 
 
 I am infinitely obliged by the long and instruc- 
 tive letter you took the trouble to write, and for 
 the tracing of Lord Dryburgh. The private print 
 of Sir P. Hume will be very acceptable any con- 
 venient time. Earl Marshall and Straloch are 
 sent. Where is the Winton family ? At Lord 
 Somerville's, near Edinburgh ? 
 
 Can your lordship procure us a correspondent 
 on such topics at Glasgow? I wish for draw- 
 ings of the Houston paintings in the church, 
 A.D. 1400. 
 
 I can find Innes in no list of cardinals ; nor do 
 I know the history of the portrait. 
 
 I hope your lordship's eyes are quite re-esta- 
 blished : cold water is the best eye-water ; and 1 
 always use an eye-cup, so that I never had any
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 413 
 
 thing the matter with my eyes, though I use them 
 so much. 
 
 Lord Breadalbane has given permission, and 
 the Morisons, at Perth, engage to get drawings. 
 
 I would send a proof of the print of James I. 
 was it not for the postage. It is from a different 
 painting, but same mode of dress ; only peaks to 
 the shoes. 
 
 We shall be obliged for Lady Mary Stuart : 
 we are rather deficient in ladies, who form an 
 agreeable variety. 
 
 My History of Scotland under the Stuarts, 
 1371 — 1542, 2 vols. 4to., is half printed, and will 
 appear next February. Mr. Dilly, the publisher, 
 has paid liberally. Have Gibbon's miscellaneous 
 works yet reached Scotland ? 
 
 MAJOR OUSELEY TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 Manchester, July 7, 1796. 
 
 I am almost ashamed to acknowledge that, until 
 your obliging note written last September (which 
 I had too carefully preserved in a particular 
 pocket-book) accidentally presented itself to me 
 this day, I have remained ignorant of your exact 
 address at Hampstead : to this circumstance it is 
 owing that I have not before returned you my 
 
 * Now Sir William Ouseley, Knight, author of Travels in 
 the East, &c. Sec. ; and justly regarded as one of the most pro- 
 found and useful oriental scholars of the present day.
 
 414 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 thanks for the good wishes you express in favor 
 of my literary labors ; or mentioned the pleasure 
 I felt on learning from yourself that in Persian 
 literature you are of sentiments congenial to my 
 own, and a little enthusiastic. Without such a 
 disposition, I believe it is almost impossible to 
 derive either profit or pleasure from any study or 
 pursuit. Without flattering myself that my book, 
 the " Persiaji Miscellanies,'' could afford you much 
 entertainment, yet, from your fondness for oriental 
 literature, I should hope that before now you have 
 cast your eye upon it, as something at least new, 
 and, in its chief object, almost singular. I speak 
 of it with rather the more confidence, having 
 passed unscorched the ordeal of two reviews. 
 In my scattered observations your favorite Sadi 
 is often mentioned. Of his Bostan I long to see 
 a good translation ; but, though I am fortunate in 
 possessing three original copies (one a fine Ms. 
 brought from Persia by Chardin), I feel not in- 
 clined at present to undertake so arduous a task ; 
 yet, if the magnitude of a literary project which 
 now fills my mind were known, perhaps the giv- 
 ing an English dress to Sadi's Bostan would 
 seem but a moderate undertaking comparatively. 
 Mr. Walker of Dublin, my friend,* regrets 
 
 * It was Mr, Walker who introduced Sir William Ouseley 
 to Mr. Pinkerton, by a letter, which is preserved in this 
 collection, dated 26th August, 1795. At the same time he 
 introduced Captain Ouseley, the father of Sir William : in 
 speaking of whom he says, " He is il mio amico stretto, and, 
 like his son, is engaged in a literary undertaking. It is he 
 who is preparing for the press the Catalogue of Irish Writers, 
 which I mentioned to you in my last." — See p. 389.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 415 
 
 much on my account that I could not avail myself 
 of his introduction to be honored by your per- 
 sonal acquaintance. The necessity of joining my 
 regiment then prevented it ; and the necessity of 
 remaining with the corps, and the duties attached 
 to the situation of major, too frequently interfere 
 with my literary pursuits. But I hope it will not 
 be many weeks before I shall be once more my 
 own master. I have some notion of retiring from 
 the military profession ; and Mr. White, my book- 
 seller, has promised to look out for me a small 
 house at Hampstead, which has been always a 
 favorite spot with me. I need not say that it 
 would be the more pleasing from affording me 
 frequent opportunities of enjoying your society. 
 
 I have lately added, at considerable expense, 
 to my collection of Mss., already very extensive, 
 two large and valuable parcels. Among the Per- 
 sian books, in one, is a copy of the Shah Nameh, 
 by Ferdousi, and of the whole works of Jarni, the 
 most superb Mss. I ever saw : they accordingly 
 cost, several years ago in India, seventy pounds a 
 piece! But among the plainer books is one per- 
 haps as valuable ; a fine copy of Nezamis works 
 (which comprises the History of Akxander), tran- 
 scribed so long ago as the year of the Hegira 84 1 
 (1437). Being already in possession of several 
 copies of this noble work (I mean the History of 
 Ale.vander, some of which are full of marginal 
 notes), I feel much tempted to undertake a trans- 
 lation of it ; for I look upon it as an historical 
 record of infinite value, and I have declared my 
 opinion of it in the Persian Miscellanies, pp. 23,
 
 416 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 51, 75, 132. But, as I am engaged on the plan of 
 a most extensive and laborious work (from which, 
 however, I am not likely to shrink), I fear the 
 execution of it will leave me no opportunity of 
 celebrating the son of Philip for some time ; at 
 least in any other manner than as the writings of 
 Nizami may be spoken of in the course of my 
 work. Some specimens of beautiful lyric poetry 
 I perhaps shall soon offer to the public ; but 
 only in the form of a simple literal translation, 
 which has amused me as a relaxation from the 
 jiiore serious studies of eastern antiquities and 
 philology. On the subject of the former, some 
 strange conjectures have arisen in my mind on 
 the nature of the sculptures at Persepolis ; and I 
 find it no difficult task to discover thousands of 
 derivations from Greek and Chaldaic in Persian 
 words, though not inclined to rest much on mere 
 etymology. 
 
 If I have wearied your patience, by dwelling so 
 long on these subjects, you must accuse yourself 
 of having induced me to believe you enthusiastic 
 in oriental literature, and blame our friend Walker 
 for impressing me with the same notions. I am 
 inconceivably anxious to return to London : it is, 
 after all, the only place in which a studious man 
 can find himself at home. The British Museum, 
 especially since Mr. Halhed's Oriental Mss. have 
 been added to the former collection, must contain 
 many treasures in my way. 
 
 I have availed myself of the reviewers' hints, and 
 provided the books they recommended to me on the 
 subject of Persepolis, Rivers of Paradise, &c. &c. ;
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 417 
 
 but I cannot procure from any bookseller in Lon- 
 don, a work in Latin on the Expedition of Alexan- 
 der, from an Oriental manuscript in the Bodleian 
 Library, which a German, Henry G. Paulus, pub- 
 lished, I think, at Gottingen, seven or eight years 
 ago. He had been some time at Oxford, and gave 
 a copy of this book (in octavo) to a gentleman, 
 who unfortunately lost it before he mentioned it 
 to me. This, and the remarks " Sar ks Antiquites 
 de la Perse, by Silvestre de Sacy,'"' are amongst my 
 desiderata. Such wants, however, T hope to re- 
 move on visiting London, as I shall be very mo- 
 derate in my domestic establishment: a small 
 (neat) house is all I want ; and the nearer to your 
 cottage, the pleasanter will be its situation to me. 
 
 MR. OGILVIE TO MR. PINKERTON.* 
 
 King's College, Aberdeen, July 19th, 1796. 
 
 I regret very much that I cannot send a better 
 drawing of Andrew Cant ; but the person I em- 
 ploy finds the picture in such a miserable state of 
 disrepair, that he cannot make it out to better 
 purpose. I am certain the paintings mentioned 
 in the Gentleman's Magazine must be daubings of 
 no authenticity ; but one of these days I shall 
 
 * Rev. William Ogilvie, professor of Humanity at Aberdeen, 
 published an Essay on the right of Property in Land, with 
 respect to its foundation in the Law of Nature, Sfc. 8vo. 1781. 
 VOL. T. 2 D
 
 418 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 revisit them, after an interval of thirty years, and 
 let you know if they are any other. I remember 
 to have read in that magazine, some time ago, a 
 notice of a picture of Morison, the botanist, in 
 University College (if I remember right), in the 
 lodgings once occupied by Obadiah Wolbyer, his 
 friend. 
 
 Have you got any of the Gregorys ? Lord 
 Buchan mentions their progenitor, David Ander- 
 son, of whom we have a painting in Aberdeen ; 
 but the reputation of his genius (though deservedly 
 high) is local, and merely traditionary. You will 
 find an account of him in the Life of Dr. John 
 Gregory, prefixed to the edition of his works, in 
 four volumes. The Jameson mentioned by Lord 
 Hailes is to be found in Banff" Castle ; but that 
 house is shut up at present. I shall attend to 
 this, and the other particulars mentioned in your 
 letter, as occasion off^ers. I have no access to 
 Darnway Castle ; nor is it possible to find a 
 draughtsman in that country, unless Lord Moray 
 should, at any time, carry one there in his family. 
 Might you not send his lordship some specimens 
 of the work, requesting to be favored with the 
 drawings wanted ? 
 
 Have you got Barclay the Apologist ? It is in 
 vain, I believe, to make any inquiry in this 
 countrj' for the author of Argons, or his father. 
 
 Lord Buchan is not satisfied that Hector Boece 
 is authentic. The countenance, indeed, is too 
 lively and smirking for a portrait of that century ; 
 yet, if you wish to see it, a drawing shall be sent.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 419 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 August 30th, 179G. 
 
 In a letter which I had lately occasion to write 
 to my friend. Major Ouseley, I begged of him to 
 call on you, and acquaint you with my anxious 
 wish to render you any service in my power in 
 this kingdom ; and, at the same time, to recom- 
 mend to you a new Irish Magazine, entitled The 
 Monthly Miscellany, or Irish Review and Register, 
 particularly the second and third numbers, in which 
 are given lists of Irish Manuscripts. This, and Mr. 
 Ledwich's Statistical Account of his own parish, are 
 the only recent Irish publications of merit on your 
 favorite subject. Sir Lawrence Parsons' Defence 
 of Irish History, I presume you have seen. It is 
 rather ingenious than learned : a book to read, not 
 to quote. However, as he is a man of talents and 
 application, I should be glad if he would range 
 himself under our banners. 
 
 Smitten with the charms of Italian literature, I 
 have for a while abandoned the subject of Irish 
 antiquities ; but I shall return to it again, should 
 my health permit, as soon as I have put the last 
 hand to a little work, upon which I am at present 
 engaged. But nothing, I hope, has drawn you 
 aside from your important pursuits. In the 
 course of the next winter, the press, I trust, will 
 impart the result of your learned researches. 
 
 Of the new publications, I have, as yet, only 
 read my friend Mr. Hay ley's Life of Milton,
 
 420 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 which I think one of the most capital pieces of 
 biography in our language. The Meynoirs of 
 JMctastasio and Gibbon I have got, and shall sit 
 down immediately to them ; but I despair of 
 being able to read Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' 
 Medici (which I am impatient to read), till the 
 new edition shall appear ; as it is now impossible 
 to find a copy in any of the Dublin or London 
 booksellers' shops. I am happy I can venture to 
 say, that the sixth volume of the Transactions of 
 the Royal Irish Academy will appear in October 
 or November next. A few papers only remain to 
 be printed. 
 
 MR. R. JOHNSON * TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Kenmore, September 17tli, 179G. 
 
 I take the liberty of writing you along with 
 these, in order to suggest a few observations which 
 
 * There is among Mr. Piiikcrton's Correspondence another 
 letter from this unfortunate young man, dated October 11th, 
 1796, and consequently written immediately before the com- 
 mencement of the illness which terminated in his death. It is 
 altogether confined to observations upon the portraits at Tay- 
 mouth, at which he was then laboring with a fatal assiduity. 
 The following account of the Genealogical Tree has appeared 
 to me worth inserting, as it is a picture which has attracted 
 much attention : — " The Genealogical Tree is a picture by itself, 
 unconnected with any of the others, and appears to be the work 
 of Jameson, having his name inserted on the corner, written on 
 a slip of paper, and sealed upon the picture, with this inscrip- 
 
 II
 
 MR. PINKERTO-N. 421 
 
 occurred to me while busy with them ; and par- 
 ticularly as Lord Breadalbane desires me to inform 
 you that he wishes to have a copy of the work. 
 I hope the drawings I take will give satisfaction ; 
 but, as I am a little curious, I hope you will have 
 the goodness to favor me with a few particulars 
 concerning the nature of the publication for which 
 they are intended, and also the style of engraving- 
 adapted for them ; as it would, in a great measure, 
 obviate some little uneasiness I have on that head, 
 and regulate my manner of doing them in con- 
 formity to your purpose. In my opinion, they 
 should be engraved (at least some of them) as 
 much as possible in the manner of Houbraken's 
 heads ; as that sketchy, soft, close-stroked kind of 
 engraving is the most beautiful and suitable re- 
 presentative of drawings, or old sunk-in indeter- 
 minate pictures, which a naked harsh outline, 
 though sought with the most difficult accuracy, 
 can but faintly express. 
 
 tion : 'The genealogie of the House of Glenorquie, and 
 quahereof is dessendit sindrie nobill and worthie houses. — 
 Jameson fee. 1635.' At the root of the tree is Sir D. 
 Campbell, Knight of Lochavve, called Duncan in it, in an 
 ancient Highland dress ; and on the main stem are the 
 miniatures, undoubtedly Jameson's, of the knights of the 
 family, in genealogical succession, one above another, inserted 
 in circles, with their names and titles, down, or rather up, to 
 Sir Robert Campbell, 1G41 : also the miniature of Archibald 
 Lord Argyle, on a small branch by itself; in all, ten small 
 portraits. The inferior branches bear the several names, &c. 
 of the descendants in circles of different colors, in a curious 
 and intricate manner, according to their rank."
 
 422 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Mr. Morison informed mc that he understands 
 they are to be engraved by first-rate artists in 
 London : if this is the case, I would like to take 
 the utmost pains with them, whatever may be my 
 reward, and would wish to know whether the 
 name of the delineator is put to the prints ; being 
 conscious of the very minute attention I pay to 
 the resemblance of the originals. I hazard it to 
 your judgment in excusing such boldness; and 
 what I mean to say is, that except the engravings 
 are done with judicious exactness from these 
 drawings, I beg you will not put my name to 
 them ; as I think it a laudable precaution which 
 every young artist should take and abide by, who 
 has only his hands and his little name to depend 
 on. From the price I have undertaken to do these 
 at, and the loose open sketching mentioned in yours, 
 a thought struck me, that a less laborious kind of 
 drawing, with sufficient accuracy, (which I flatter 
 myself able to do,) might answer your purpose as 
 well, or, perhaps, better. I will thank you for a 
 few observations on this point, and request you 
 will, as soon as possible, let me know which and 
 how many I have to do here, or at any other 
 place, as it is of some moment to me in other 
 necessary arrangements. 
 
 I have not been able as yet to discover any 
 more portraits of note about Tay mouth House. 
 
 No. ^Q. Mary, Duchess of Longueville, is dated 
 MDXiiii : the picture appears original ; perhaps the 
 painter of the inscription might make a mistake 
 and put MDXIIII for mdxliii. 
 
 No. 60 is the Marquis of Argyle. I am in-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 423 
 
 formed by Mr. Kennedy there was only one 
 Marquis. 
 
 No. 64 is an indifferent portrait of an aquiline- 
 nosed man in armour, and has for inscription, 
 '*Archbaldus Campbell, Comes de Argyle primus, 
 setatis suae xxxvi," and seems of the same kind 
 of workmanship as some of the Campbell family 
 in the lobby. 
 
 MESSRS. MORISON AND SON TO MR. 
 PINKERTON. 
 
 Perth, Nov. 18th, 1790. 
 
 You will no doubt be surprised when we inform 
 you, that the purpose of this letter is to announce 
 to you the death of poor Johnson. We have sel- 
 dom met with an occurrence in which we have 
 felt more interested than the latter end of that 
 deserving young man. 
 
 The very day after we last wrote you, we 
 received a letter from Kenmore, from the man in 
 whose house he lodged, desiring us to send for 
 him, as he was quite delirious ; and by express, 
 the day following, we were informed of his death. 
 Some weeks before this. Lord Breadalbane and 
 family had left Taymouth House, and he had 
 continued his business in a large parlour, without 
 fire. Anxious to get through with his job, and 
 the hours of daylight but few, he frequently sat 
 six and seven hours on a stretch, and contracted
 
 424 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 a terrible cold : a fever was the consequence : no 
 person to take a charge of him, he neglected him- 
 self: it flew to his brain, and, terrible to relate, 
 he was bound with ropes, beat and treated like a 
 madman. It is a subject too painful to be dwelt 
 minutely on : fortunately, the day before his 
 death, a Dr. M'Lagan passing through Kenmore 
 visited him, ordered him to be unbound, applied 
 blisters, &c. : the day following the delirium 
 abated : he became calm, and died in peace and 
 composure. As none of us could go from home, 
 we sent an acquaintance to see him decently in- 
 terred ; and so entirely were we strangers to him, 
 that we know not more about his relations than 
 that they lived at Newcastle. Mr. Kirkwood of 
 Edinburgh, who recommended him to us, advised 
 his friends of his death ; and a young gentleman 
 went up to Kenmore and investigated his little 
 matters. There are two finished portraits among 
 his drawings, which will doubtless be sent you ; 
 but the young gentleman's instructions were to seal 
 up every thing and send them to Newcastle : we 
 stated to him the circumstances concerning these 
 portraits, and cannot for a moment doubt their 
 being immediately ordered back. 
 
 We have been informed of several anecdotes 
 about him which are interesting. He was bound 
 apprentice to the famous Bewick of Newcastle 
 (who cuts figures on wood in so dexterous a 
 manner), by his father. We should have set out 
 with mentioning that he was the only son of an 
 aged man, a carpenter, in Gateshead, near New- 
 castle : his master, observing his uncommon ge-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 425 
 
 nius for drawing, employed him to trace the 
 figfures on the wood : this accustomed him to 
 drawing ; and the figures in Bewick's History of 
 Quadrupeds will be lasting monuments of his ge- 
 nius and abilities. A lady in Newcastle, observ- 
 ing his taste and abilities, was at the expense of 
 keeping him at an academy for drawing ; and, 
 by the time his apprenticeship was finished, he 
 was considered as almost fit for London. He de- 
 termined, however, to work at home till he could 
 work more to his mind, and had been employed 
 for about six months on his own account, when he 
 agreed to go to Kenmore : he had been so success- 
 ful, that he made his aged father give up his tools, 
 for which he was now too infirm, and took upon 
 himself his support. In this and several other 
 respects his private character was most exem- 
 plary; and such of his drawings as can be had 
 will bring great prices, and it is expected will 
 raise a little fund to support the inconsolable pa- 
 rents, who have now no child left. His funeral 
 charges came exorbitantly high, from eleven to 
 twelve pounds : we have a great inclination to 
 subscribe a little towards them : perhaps you may 
 feel so disposed also. Excuse my freedom. 
 
 Mli. J. C. WALKER TO Mil. PINKERTON. 
 
 Nov. 21st, 1706. 
 
 I am honored with your favor of the 7th inst. 
 It aftbrds mc much pleasure to find that my friend
 
 426 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 Ouseley's oriental labors meet your approbation ; 
 and he, I am sure, will consider himself much 
 honored and much flattered by your favorable 
 opinion of them. He is, indeed, a very extraor- 
 dinary young man, and will, I doubt not, rise to 
 literary eminence. 
 
 I am happy to learn that your History is in the 
 press, and shall anxiously expect its appearance. 
 But, even if Dilly should give you a few sets for 
 your friends, I should be sorry you would bestow 
 a copy on one who has so little claim to such a 
 favor. 
 
 I am indeed enamored of Italian literature : I 
 find its charms irresistible. It is my present in- 
 tention to divide this winter between the Italian 
 poets and historians. I cheerfully subscribe to 
 your opinion of Guicciardini, though my acquaint- 
 ance with him is but slight. I have often dipped 
 into, and often consulted his work, but never read 
 it regularly through. Of Hawthornden's poems, 
 I shall endeavor to get a copy, and do as you 
 desire. Marini's Sampogna, and Slaughter of the 
 Innocents, I possess ; but I have not at present a 
 copy of the Aclone. However, I can borrow it 
 from a friend, who indulges me with the free use 
 of his very valuable collection of Italian books. My 
 own collection of the authors who shone in the 
 poetical region which I am now exploring, is not 
 inconsiderable. During my stay in Italy I picked 
 up several scarce and curious old plays and other 
 Italian productions, seldom to be met with, in La 
 divisa dal momlo ultima Irlanda. 
 
 I have read with great pleasure Gibbon's Me-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 427 
 
 moirs, &c. They are highly amusing and instruc- 
 tive. Yet, though we peruse with pleasure and 
 profit a progressive detail of the studies of an 
 eminent literary character, there are many parts 
 of the journal which might be spared. How 
 much more acceptable would have been some of 
 the pieces, which his noble biographer enumerates 
 in the preface to the second volume ! But I flatter 
 myself that all his posthumous works will one day 
 see the light. Gibbon was a writer of uncommon 
 industry, sound judgment, and elegant taste ; but 
 he is often pompous where he should be familiar, 
 and frequently becomes obscure from an over 
 anxiousness to compress. In many parts of his 
 History, he rather excites than gratifies curiosity. 
 Often, when we expect to find a fact fully dis- 
 played, it only darkly appears peeping through a 
 rich tissue of words. However, Gibbon must ever 
 be considered as one of the brightest ornaments of 
 English literature, and his History a splendid 
 monument of taste and genius, painftd research, 
 and almost boundless reading. Of his many just 
 and elegant eulogiums on late and living writers, 
 his panegyric on the historian of the Goths, does 
 most honor to his taste and judgment. 
 
 Such was the eager demand for Mr. Roscoe's 
 work in London, that the Irish booksellers could 
 hardly get a few copies. Therefore I have not as yet 
 read it ; but I expect a copy in the course of this 
 week. I am, you may suppose, from the nature 
 of the subject, anxious to read that admired work. 
 I am not unacquainted with the libraries from 
 which Mr. Roscoedrew his principal materials. I
 
 428 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 have passed some delicious hours in them ; but, 
 alas ! my stay in Florence was short. The re- 
 spective publications of my learned and ingenious 
 .friends Mr. Hayley and Dr. Burney, I have read 
 with great pleasure. Perhaps it would be diffi- 
 cult to find a more perfect piece of biography 
 than the Life of M'lllon. 
 
 MR. A. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 London, Nov. 30tli, 1796. 
 
 I was yesterday favored with yours, inclosing 
 the corrected copy of the charter by King Mal- 
 colm, which I have this day forwarded to Mr. 
 John Davidson, acquainting him that you had 
 taken the trouble of going to the Museum on 
 purpose ; and, as you had yourself examined the 
 manuscript * there of Sir James Balfour's hand- 
 writing, that he may depend on the accuracy of 
 the copy now sent, though it differs in many 
 respects from that given by George Crawfurd. 
 
 I send you inclosed an Extract from Simpson's 
 Genealogical History, from which you will observe 
 that, in page 61, he has given a very particular 
 account of the charter granted on Christmas day, 
 1296, by Sir John Stuart of Bonhill, in presence 
 of his brother, James, the Stewart of Scotland, 
 
 * The manuscript in question was the Charter from King Mal- 
 colm IV. iu favor of Walter, the son of Allan, A. D. llo8.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 429 
 
 and many other witnesses, to the abbot and con- 
 vent of Melross, for two pounds of wax to be paid 
 yearly, &c. 
 
 The description is so very particular, that it 
 appears to me incredible that Simpson should have 
 invented this charter ; and yet it is extraordinary 
 that it should not have been found in the search 
 you have made in the chartulary of Melross. Is 
 there any likelihood that there should have been 
 another copy of the chartulary of Melross kept 
 somewhere in Scotland, and more full than that 
 which is at the Museum ? Or, can it be supposed 
 that Simpson has, by mistake, stated the charter 
 to have been granted to the monastery of Melross, 
 instead of the monastery of Paisley, or some other 
 monastery ? — I should be glad to find out where 
 the mistake lies ; as the charter in question is of 
 some use in the chain of proofs. 
 
 I had intended to have taken a ride your way 
 this very day, but have got a little of a cold and 
 sore throat, which obliges me to keep the house 
 for a day or two. If I do not soon get to Hamp- 
 stead, I shall take some opportunity of sending to 
 you Simpson's book, and at the same time return- 
 ing your copy of Richard Kay's Essay on the 
 Origin of the Royal Family of Stuart. I have got 
 another copy of it from Scotland since you fa- 
 vored me with yours, which ought to have been 
 returned sooner. Can you inform me whether 
 there is at the Museum, or any where in England, 
 a copy of the chartulary of Paisley ? I know that 
 there is in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh a 
 manuscript copy of that chartulary, which I be-
 
 430 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 lieve belonged to Richard Hay of Dromboot ; and 
 there are other copies in Scotland besides that ; 
 but I should be glad to learn whether there is any 
 copy in England to which we could have access. 
 
 MR. J. C. WALKER TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Jan. 14th, 1797. 
 
 In a rummage amongst my papers, when I 
 was last in town, I found literal translations 
 (which a friend once kindly sent me) of a few 
 old Irish romances. I take the liberty to send 
 one for your perusal. At some future day I shall 
 trouble you to return it. Should you wish it, a 
 copy shall be at your service. 
 
 My friend. Major Ouseley, has acquainted me 
 with your obliging intention of enriching my little 
 collection of Italian dramas. But I beg that, in 
 order to enrich mine, you may not impoverish 
 your own. I shall be grateful for any duplicates 
 you may happen to have ; and shall return, with 
 many thanks, any that are 72ot duplicates. 
 
 As you were the first person who directed my 
 notice to the works of F. Testi,* I am indebted to 
 
 * The name of Fulvio Testi does not occur either in De Bure 
 or in Dr. Watts's comprehensive Bibliothcca Britannica, or in 
 Fontanini's Bibliotcca dell Eloquenza Ilaliana ; but the library 
 of the British Museum contains a copy of his works, entitled 
 Poesie Liriche, e Alcina Tragedia, 12mo. Nap. 16;}7. Mr.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 431 
 
 you for the pleasure which I derived from the 
 perusal of them. I am surprised that a writer of 
 so much merit should be so little known. Tira- 
 boschi, " the indefatigable," has, I am told, 
 written his life. I am charmed with Mr. Hoscoe's 
 work. He has served most essentially the cause 
 of Italian literature in England. 
 
 After several years of neglect, I lately took up 
 Dr. Farmer's Essay on the Learning (i. e. the 
 ignorance) of Shakspeare. It is a very ingenious 
 little work ; but it rather amuses than convinces. 
 Nobody doubts Shakspeare's ignorance of Greek ; 
 nor ought any body to question his knowledge of 
 Latin, since his envious friend. Dr. Johnson, 
 acknowledged he had *' a little." The attempts 
 to prove him unacquainted with French and 
 Italian are feeble ; they are arrows from the hand 
 of debility. The orthography of Shakspeare's 
 French is incorrect; therefore he did not under- 
 stand the language. The orthography of his English 
 is not more correct ; yet he is generally allowed to 
 
 Pinkerton, in his Letters on Literature, p. 120, speaks of him 
 with much esteem, as a man who appeared to have attained the 
 genuine texture of lyric thought and style more than any other 
 Italian poet he knew, without exception. And he makes long 
 quotations from his odes, on which, after assigning Testi the 
 place next to Petrarch as a lyric bard, he observes, "every 
 reader, I believe, must confess that there are in the above ex- 
 tracts the grandeur and opulence of Pindar, and the neatness, 
 beauty, and elegance of Anacreon, mingled with the pathos 
 which the ancients ascribe to Simonides." To the above en- 
 comium Mr. Walker, (Historical Memoir, p. 188.) adds his 
 suffrage, and subjoins an interesting sketch of the Life and 
 Writings of Testi.
 
 432 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 have understood English. Pistol pronounces bras 
 like brass. I have in my possession a poem writ- 
 ten by a gentleman, who can read with ease the 
 most difficult French author, in which sous is made 
 to rhyme with house. Though Shakspeare ekes 
 out many of his lines with French words, he was 
 so ignorant of the language, that he was obliged to 
 employ ^journeyman to write the scene between 
 Henry and Catharine. In the epilogue to the 
 second part of Henry IV. , he promises to make us 
 merry with fair Catharine of France. How does 
 he perform his promise ? By making Catharine 
 speak broken English, interlarded with scraps of 
 French ; or by making her translate into French 
 Henry's bombastic compliments, and then ask her 
 maid if she rightly understands her royal lover. 
 Yet all this French ribaldry, according to Dr. 
 Farmer, was either written at Shakspeare's de- 
 sire, by a second person, or inserted after he 
 left the stage. Of Italian, he must have been 
 ignorant ; because he might have read in English 
 translations the Italian novels from which he has 
 borrowed so freely ! But does it follow that he 
 could not read these novels in the original ? When 
 Dr. Farmer wishes to consult a classic author for a 
 simple fact, is he not sometimes content to turn to 
 a translation? Did he never take down Lang- 
 horne's Plutarch, when the original stood upon 
 the same shelf? But this is wandering from the 
 point. Of Shakspeare's acquaintance with the 
 Italian language, proofs, I think, might be ad- 
 duced. I shall not now trouble you with any 
 which may have occurred in the course of my 
 confined reading ; but I shall close these re-
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 433 
 
 marks with a simple question. If the plot of the 
 Comedy of Errors was borrowed from the Me- 
 ncEchmi of Plautus, how did he, Shakspeare, come 
 at it ? He could not, according to Dr. Farmer, 
 read Plautus in the original; and there was no 
 English translation before the year 1595; and in 
 the year 1593, Shakspeare's comedy was pub- 
 lished. But an Italian translation of the Me- 
 ncechmi appeared in 1530 ; and, during the reign of 
 Elizabeth, Italian literature was much cultivated 
 in England. 
 
 MR. LAING* TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Jan. 17th, 1797. 
 
 The industry and success with which you have 
 -elucidated the early history of Scotland, demand 
 
 * Malcolm Laing, Esq., a distinguished advocate at the 
 Scotch bar, published the sixth volume of Dr. Henry's History 
 of England, with his Life, and a Continuation ; the History 
 of Scotland, from the Union of the Crowns hy the Accession of 
 James VI., to the Union of the Kingdoms in the Reign of 
 Queen Anne ; and an edition of the Poems of Ossian, with 
 Notes and a Dissertation. In the general election of 1807, he 
 was returned to the House of Commons as member for the 
 Orkneys, of which he was a native. In Mr. Field's Life of 
 Dr. Parr, vol. ii. p. 240, is the following notice of Mr. Laing, 
 so honorable to the memory of that gentleman, that I feel I 
 should be guilty of an act of injustice were I not here to tran- 
 scribe it. " Dr. Parr, in his visit to Edinburgh, became ac- 
 quainted with the well-known historian of Scotland, Malcolm 
 Laing, Esq., whose work was emphatically styled by Mr. Fox, 
 a treasure, opening new sources, he said, of interesting in- 
 VOL. I. 2 E
 
 434 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 not only the gratitude of your impartial country- 
 men, but whatever information individuals can 
 contribute to your future researches. It is from 
 the interest v^hich your past, and the expectation 
 which your future productions excite, that I take 
 the liberty to address you. 
 
 In your Portraits of Illustrious Persons in Scot- 
 land, a hint contained in the character of Anne of 
 Denmark, imparts a luminous conception, and, 
 to my mind, the most rational explanation of 
 Gowrie's conspiracy. In the tract which you have 
 almost promised on that intricate subject, your 
 attention will no doubt be directed to the subse- 
 quent discoveries of Sprott the notary, and to 
 Logan of Restalrig's attainder after death. As I 
 have had occasion to examine these points mi- 
 nutely in a History of Scotland which I am pre- 
 paring, from the accession, 1603, to the Union, 
 and in which I have made considerable progress, 
 
 formation ; presenting new views of important transactions, and 
 constituting a valuable acquisition to all who wish to obtain a 
 true knowledge of the history of the nation of which it treats. 
 Upon the same work Dr. Parr also passed his encomium in the 
 following terms : " The ardor of Mr. Laing in the career of 
 liberty is not disgraced by democratic coarseness or theoretic 
 refinement. His inquiry into the controverted question of 
 Mary's participation in the death of Darnley is minute without 
 tediousness, and acute without sophistry. When I consider his 
 sagacity in explaining causes, his clearness in relating facts, his 
 vigor in portraying character, or his ingenuity in unfolding and 
 enforcing principles, I shall ever find reason to lament that 
 the continuance of Hume's History was not undertaken by a 
 writer so eminently qualified as Mr. Laing, for a work so ardu- 
 ous and important."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 435 
 
 I am induced to trouble you with the result, that 
 Logan had no accession whatever in Gowrie's 
 conspiracy.* 
 
 The evidence consists in the letters, on which 
 Sprott and the remains of Logan were respectively 
 convicted. Two letters are inserted in Sprott's 
 confession : the one is from Gowrie to Logan, 
 which appears no more : the other is Logan's 
 answer, which was engrossed in the indictment, 
 and is only to be found in Archbishop Abbot's 
 Account of the Trial of Sprott. At the distance 
 of two years, on the trial of Logan's ashes, t four 
 
 • Mr. Laing subsequently saw reason to change this opinion. 
 In the second edition of his History of Scotland, vol. iii. 
 .p. 506, he makes the following very candid avowal : — " From 
 the different copies of the same letters from Logan to Gowrie, 
 as inserted in Sprott's trial, and in Logan's attainder, I did not 
 hesitate, in the first edition of this History, to pronounce the 
 whole correspondence a forgery. The difference appeared to 
 be still greater upon examining the original records of justiciary 
 and of parliament, in which Sprott's trial and the attainder of 
 Logan are respectively engrossed. At the same time, however, 
 the absolute identity of the letters with Logan's hand-writing 
 is attested by such strong and unexceptionable evidence, that 
 any explanation, sufficient to reconcile the apparent contra- 
 diction between the different copies of the same letter, should 
 be preferred to the ultimate supposition of forgery. The ex- 
 planation which I have now discovered has at last convinced 
 me, that the letters are genuine, and that Logan was accessary 
 to the Gowrie conspiracy." 
 
 t " Although Logan and his servant were already dead, his 
 memory was still exposed to persecution, and his innocent off- 
 spring reserved for punishment. According to a legal maxim, 
 that no person can be condemned in absence, his bones were 
 dug up, and in the succeeding parliament produced and ar- 
 raigned at the bar." — Laing' s History, vol. iii. p. 54.
 
 436 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 additional letters are produced, of which the dis- 
 covery might undoubtedly have been recent. But 
 the letter formerly inserted in Sprott's indictment 
 is again produced, and in a form so materially 
 different, so much amplified, amended and altered, 
 that, on comparing the two editions as preserved 
 by Abbot, Cromarty, and Arnot, no doubt of the 
 forgery can remain. To me, at least, the detection 
 appears so complete, that the evidence employed 
 to attest the authenticity of Logan's letters, can 
 amount to no more than a proof of the dexterity 
 with which the forgery was executed. 
 
 It is sufficient to refer you to the means of 
 detection, without enlarging on the internal con- 
 tradictions which the letters contain. The forgery 
 itself may be easily explained. From Johnstone's 
 History, p. 2G7, and from Calderwood's Manu- 
 script History, vol. vi. p. 140, it appears that Sprott 
 was a notary, expert and long practised in forgery, 
 that he was capable of devising the letters, from the 
 preposterous expectation of a reward, but unable 
 to endure the extreme and repeated torture which 
 produced his confession, "when he was resolved," 
 he says, " to die, and had not a hope nor a wish 
 to live." On the other hand, the principal states- 
 men of that period, besides their desire to gratify 
 James, by an opportune and unexpected confirma- 
 tion of Gowrie's conspiracy, had an additional mo- 
 tive to promote, or perhaps to devise, the forgery 
 themselves. Lord Balmerino, the secretary, had 
 purchased Logan's estate : the price was still due 
 to his heirs ; but it might be extinguished by his 
 posthumous attainder and a gift of his escheat.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 437 
 
 {Douglas Peerage, p. G5 ; Scotstar vet's Staggering 
 Stale, p. 62.) The benefit, it is true, was inter- 
 cepted, as Balmerino himself was attainted that 
 year; but Logan's trial, although necessarily de- 
 layed till the parliament IG09, must have been 
 concerted before Sprott's execution. I conceive 
 that the mine was prepared by Balmerino, and 
 sprung by the Earl of Dunbar, his successful rival, 
 who occasioned his disgrace. 
 
 These remarks on a collateral subject do not 
 affect your conclusions concerning Gowrie's con- 
 spiracy; and, very possibly, the forgery has not 
 escaped your observation. It was concealed from 
 Dr. Robertson ; as apparently he never met with 
 Abbot's pamphlet ; and, from Cromartie's disinge- 
 nuity in transcribing Sprott's confession, with the 
 omission of the letters, he had no opportunity of 
 detecting the forgery. It is a curious picture of 
 the times when two ministers of state, Dunbar and 
 Balmerino, were engaged in false accusation, for- 
 gery, and judicial murder. 
 
 If these remarks can contribute any additional 
 information, they will be some small retribution 
 for the pleasure and instruction 1 have received 
 from your writings. 
 
 MR. OILLY TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 2Gtli, 17J)7. 
 
 I send the two sets of your History of Scotland, 
 as 1 promised. Much will depend as to a success-
 
 438 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 ful reception, upon the candor and good disposition 
 of the critics upon the work. I think, Sir, from 
 the conversation which passed between you and 
 Dr. Gillies in my counting-house, he may be pre- 
 vailed upon to write an account of the History for 
 the Monthly Review. As to the Critical,* I pre- 
 sume, though you have relinquished the employ- 
 ment as a monthly contributor, the printer will be 
 ready to receive what may be given from yourself 
 
 * " In the course of this work a letter will appear from Mr. 
 Samuel Hamilton, who was at that time proprietor of the 
 Critical Review, by which it will be seen how much Mr. Pin- 
 kerton was connected with that publication. Mr. Pinkerton 
 has likewise preserved in his correspondence a letter from Dr. 
 Richard Griffith, the editor of the Monthly Review, dated 14th 
 July, 170G, upon the subject of some attempt which had been 
 made to influence that work against him ; and I here subjoin a 
 copy of that letter, as curious of its kind, 
 
 " I am as much surprised at the discovery made by your let- 
 ter, received yesterday, as you could be at the contents of mine 
 to you. I cannot imagine who is the scoundrel that has taken 
 so dishonest a liberty with your name. I inclose his letter, and 
 heartily wish it may lead to a discovery of the writer. If you 
 do find him out, I should take it very kindly, if you would ac- 
 quaint me with the worthy gentleman's name. The plot seems 
 to have been formed with a view to exasperate, if possible, the 
 Monthly Reviewers against you and your publications ; but it 
 is happily blown up ; and 1 shall be glad to see it produce a 
 contrary effect. 
 
 " I am much obliged, Sir, by the candid manner in which 
 you have oijened your mind to me, throughout the whole of your 
 (genuine) letter. It has increased the good opinion I had be- 
 fore conceived of you. 
 
 "You will please to preserve the incendiary epistle ; as it is 
 possible we may hereafter have occasion to refer to it, should the 
 writer pursue his machinations."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 439 
 
 or a friend. I shall postpone the publication a few 
 weeks longer. 
 
 MR. PINKERTON TO MR. LAING. 
 
 January 28th, 1797. 
 
 I am obliged to you for your letter, and for your 
 good opinion of my little labors. Your two chap- 
 ters in Henry's last volume I read with more plea- 
 sure than any part of the work, and entertain the 
 best expectations of your History, the design of 
 which has been repeatedly mentioned tome. Your 
 letter revived my thoughts on Gowrie's conspiracy, 
 which were almost dormant, having for this twelve- 
 month been correcting through the press my His- 
 tory, from 1371 to 1542. It is now printed off; 
 and I shall diversify my present leisure by renew- 
 ing my design of a short tract on that strange 
 business. Literature is already loaded with large 
 books on small subjects ; and I only mean, 1st, to 
 repeat the opinions of former writers ; 2d, to pro- 
 pose my own ; 3d, to offer some proofs and argu- 
 ments in its support ; and 4th, to answer some 
 objections. 
 
 I think of printing it anonymouslij next summer; 
 and, as your letter is extremely to the purpose, if 
 you have no objection, I shall subjoin it, omitting 
 the complimentary parts. If I remain anonymous, 
 perhaps (if you consent) you will prefer my only 
 saying it is " from an able writer, now employed
 
 440 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 in writing the History of Scotland, from the union 
 of the crowns to that of the kingdoms/' 
 
 I wish you could send me Lord Hailes' anony- 
 mous Tract on the Gowrie Conspiracy,* 1757, 
 12mo. It may be split in parts, and sent me under 
 cover: ''Andrew Stuart, Esq. M. P. Grosvenor 
 Street, London." 
 
 Permit me now to return to a far more important 
 business, your own History. Having fulfilled my 
 design of publishing an authenticated History of 
 the House of Stuart, from 1371 to 1542; so that, 
 if death had surprised me in the midst of a long 
 toil, still by Lord Hailes' labors. Dr. Robertson's, 
 &c., no part of our annals remained unillustrated ; 
 I shall resume, in 2 vols, 4to., the early part, from 
 Agricola to 1371. At a most remote distance I 
 viewed the part 1542 — 1707, in 20 books; 10 
 of history, 1542—1603; 10 of Annals, 1603— 
 1707 : at the end, a brief chronological deduc- 
 tion to modern times. But in the reigns of Mary 
 and James, little could have been added or illus- 
 trated (at least it strikes me so at a distance) ; and 
 glad I am that your labors in the latter period may 
 relieve me from so heavy a burden. I therefore 
 hope and intend to close my toils with the earliest 
 division, in which much still remains ; my Inquiry 
 and Lord Hailes' Annals being rather materials than 
 history, and many new materials having arisen. 
 In our modern history I above all things wished, 
 
 * " y4 Discourse of the unnatural and vile Conspiracy , at- 
 tempted by John, Earl of Gowrie, and his brother, against His 
 Majesty's person, at St. Johnstoun, upon the 5th August, 
 IGOO." Edin. 17-37.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 441 
 
 and still wish that some able writer, residing at 
 Edinburgh, where the chief materials are, would 
 undertake a large, formal, and rather prol'uv history 
 of Scotland under the Commonwealth, 1649 — 1660: 
 eleven years of deep obscurity in our history and 
 literature. Baillie's unprinted letters,* numerous 
 papers in the Advocates' Library, the manuscript 
 of Glencairn's conspiracy, Hailes' Remarks, &c. 
 &c. might all furnish ample new materials, and 
 most piquant articles for an appendix. A most in- 
 teresting 4to volume might be formed on those 
 few years, treated with the anecdotical minuteness 
 of memoirs, not with the reserved dignity of his- 
 tory ; and nothing could strike in more with our 
 own times, and suggest topics more congenial to 
 the current of sentiment in all parties. 
 
 I should consider myself as rendering an emi- 
 nent service to our literature, if I could persuade 
 you to undertake this part, first and separately. 
 It would be in quite a different style and manner 
 from your History, and would by no means pre- 
 clude it, but, on the contrary, excite attention and 
 expectation. In your subsequent history you would 
 of course give a rapid masterly abstract of those 
 eleven years in a different style and manner from 
 
 * Is not Mr. Pinkerton in a mistake, in speaking of these let- 
 ters as unprinted? In Dr. Watts's Bibliotheca Britannica, I 
 find, " Letters and Journals, containing an impartial account 
 of public transactions, civil, ecclesiastical, and military, in 
 England and Scotland, from the beginning of the civil wars in 
 1C57 to the year 1662, by Robert Baillie ; with an account of 
 the Author s life prefixed, and a glossary annexed, by Robert 
 Aiikcn." Edin. 1775, 2 vols. 8vo.
 
 442 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 the memoirs ; and the space is so short that no 
 charge of repetition could arise, any more than if 
 you had only published a previous dissertation on 
 an obscure period. In short, were I residing in 
 Scotland and writing your period, I should cer- 
 tainly pursue this plan, just as I published my 
 Inquiry before I commenced my History ; for, on 
 obscure topics, double light is necessary. 
 
 I have at your service manuscript anecdotes of 
 Cromwell in Scotland, and a list of all the scarce 
 pamphlets in the Museum, 1649 — 1660, any ex- 
 tracts from which I can order, and can direct your 
 materials here as if for myself. Whatever be your 
 determination, it will give me pleasure if I can 
 serve you in your researches ; and do not hesitate 
 to employ me ; for I can retaliate on you for any 
 little article I may want from the Edinburgh re- 
 positories. 
 
 MR. LAING TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 9th, 1797. 
 
 I have delayed for some days to answer your 
 esteemed favor, in order to learn with certainty, 
 whether the Tract which accompanies this was the 
 only publication by Lord Hailes on Gowrie's con- 
 spiracy. You will see that it is a publication of the 
 court-narrative with notes, suggested at first to 
 Jiis lordship by visiting Gowrie's house at Perth, 
 which, I am sorry to add, is to be removed very
 
 ? 
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 443 
 
 soon, to make way for barracks.* Mr. John Da- 
 vidson examined the house with Lord Hailes : his 
 idea is at least singular, though suggested, I sup- 
 pose, by local circumstances, that James had re- 
 tired backwards, and, from his constitutional ti- 
 midity, had caught and excited the alarm, in con- 
 sequence of which the two unfortunate brothers 
 perished. I am told by Sir H. Moncrieff, that 
 there was a woman some years ago alive at Perth, 
 whose great-grandmother's wedding-dinner was 
 borrowed by Gowrie, (who had dined himself,) and 
 brought into his house to entertain the king; a 
 proof, were the anecdote certain, that his visit was 
 not expected by the earl. Mr. Scott, a minister 
 of Perth, from whom, I believe, this traditionary 
 fact was derived, possesses, I have heard,, some 
 historical anecdotes respecting the conspiracy. Yet 
 no such thing appears in his Statistical Report : nor 
 is it likely that any additional facts of importance 
 are now to be procured. If information, however, 
 of such anecdotes, or if any extracts from Calder- 
 wood's Manuscript History be necessary, I shall 
 be happy to make the inquiries or extracts. The 
 
 * " The Earl of Gowrie's house, which was originally built by 
 the Countess of Iluntly, about the year 1520, still remains at 
 Perth. In the year 1746, it was given by the magistrates to 
 William, Duke of Cumberland, who sold it to government for 
 the purpose of containing barracks for a company of artillery. 
 This house stands at the south end of the street, called the Wa- 
 tergate. It was the scene of one of the most problematical 
 events in Scottish history, that is, the execution of what is called 
 the Gowrie Conspiracy '^ — Beauties of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 
 276, 1007.
 
 444 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 manuscript contains, if I recollect right, some mi- 
 nute contradictions of James's narrative, which, 
 perhaps, are mostly inserted in the republication 
 of Adamson's Th?r?iodia* at Perth. If any part of 
 my last letter deserve to be insertea m your treatise 
 on the conspiracy, the manner in which you pro- 
 pose to introduce it will be much more gratifying 
 than the mention of my name. 
 
 As to the work I am engaged in, it is the humblest 
 and least important part of our annals ; or rather, 
 a provincial history, subordinate to the English. 
 Your suggestion, that I may relieve you from a 
 distant toil, if I can complete with any tolerable 
 success the last portion of Scottish history, is a 
 motive that will quicken my diligence and care. 
 I have considered attentively your idea of a pre- 
 vious anecdotical history, or memoirs of Scotland 
 during the usurpation ; but, having already passed 
 that period, and reached the middle of Charles II. 's 
 reign, I am now straining to the goal, I mean the 
 union, on which I have a prospect of obtaining 
 some original materials. Till I have reached it, I 
 am unwilling to indulge in a retrospect ; and, from 
 the inspection of Woodrow's voluminous collection 
 of manuscripts in the Advocates' Library, I am afraid 
 that a minute account of that period would possess 
 few attractions. Our history was then suspended 
 under a foreign yoke. The manuscripts which I 
 
 * The Muses Threnodie, or Mirthful Mourning, on the death 
 of Mr. Gall, with a Description of Perth, and an Account 
 of Cowrie's Conspiracy, Sfc. by Henry Adamson. Edin. 1638, 
 4to. The same book was lepiinted with Notes by J. Cant, 
 Perth, 177 1, 2 vols. 12mo.
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 445 
 
 have examined contain little else, than the squabbles 
 of the clergy in their provincial synods, and of the 
 protesters and public resolutioners, of which Bur- 
 net has given us such a lively and just description. 
 The memoirs of the period are chiefly the lives of 
 the clergy, such as Rutherford, Blair, and Living- 
 stone, which contain no part of the information or 
 the judgment of Baillie's letters. The period of 
 the usurpation appeared so barren, that, after 
 Glencairn's insurrection, I was obliged to suspend 
 the narrative of public events, and enter into the 
 minute, yet perhaps more instructive, details of 
 domestic government, &c., the revenues, arts, man- 
 ners and literature of Scotland. At the same time, 
 in the revisal of the work, I shall bestow a much 
 more careful examination on this period. The 
 work may be finished next winter ; and, as the 
 ensuing spring and summer will be dedicated to 
 the revisal, I shall not fail to profit from your ex- 
 hortations. According to its bulk, the anecdotical 
 history of the period may either be inserted in 
 notes, or digested into an appendix. 
 
 I have detained you too long on this selfish sub- 
 ject; but the manuscript anecdotes and informa- 
 tion, which you so liberally offer to communicate, 
 I shall receive and return with gratitude. I con- 
 ceive that they may be of infinite use in the revisal, 
 and may be easily incorporated in transcribing a 
 second copy of my work for the press ; but I am 
 afraid my researches here will make you no adequate 
 return ; especially as I spend the better part of the 
 year, the summer and the autumn, in the Orkneys, 
 of which I am a native.
 
 446 CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 
 The slow arrival of books from London will de- 
 prive us for a month of the perusal of your History. 
 The information derived from Gibbon was not 
 necessary to raise our expectations. Your Inquiry 
 had already produced a durable impression of the 
 truth respecting our ancient history, which con- 
 tinues daily to increase, and is more durable, be- 
 cause at first, perhaps, it was reluctantly received. 
 For myself I fairly acknowledge, that I was be- 
 wildered with Celtic poetry and tradition, till your 
 Dissertation and Inquiry disabused my mind ; but 
 I know not a man, not born a Celt, whom they have 
 failed to convince.* That you may enjoy health 
 and leisure to reduce those valuable materials into 
 the history you have undertaken, and to accom- 
 plish every other literary object, is my sincere wish. 
 
 * Mr. Pinkerton's triumph did not prove altogether so easy 
 as Mr. Laing here anticipates. He found a very stout and very 
 able opponent in the anonymous author of a publication, entitled, 
 A Vindication of the Celts, from ancient authorities; with ob- 
 servations on Mr. Pinkertons hypothesis concerning the Origin 
 of the European Natiotis, in his Modern Geography and Dis- 
 sertation on the Scythians or Goths. A critique on this work 
 is to be found in an early number of the Edinburgh Review, II. 
 p. 355, where the opinions of both authors are examined with 
 great ability, but with considerable coarseness ; and an opinion 
 is pronounced in favor of Mr. Pinkerton, adding, that "while 
 the Vindication destroys what is weak and exposes what is 
 false in that gentleman's Dissertation, it may be of great service 
 to him ; if he is not too obstinate to give up what is untenable, 
 and too proud, or too hardened, to confess and correct his lite- 
 rary delinquencies."
 
 MR. PINKERTON. 447 
 
 DR. GILLIES TO MR. PINKERTON. 
 
 Portman Square, Feb. 16th, 1797. 
 
 Indisposition confining me a few days to the 
 house, I delayed acknowledging the receipt of your 
 very obliging present until I should be able to cal 
 at Mr. Dilly's. He will perhaps have told you that 
 I was not unacquainted with the work, though I 
 did not know who was the author of it ; yet I con- 
 jectured, and my conjectures have proved well 
 founded. I have again perused your History in 
 print to the beginning of the reign of James II., 
 and mean to proceed with the remainder as fast as 
 the printing two sheets a day of my English Aris- 
 totle* will allow. I have already spoken of it to 
 many of my friends in a way which its merit re- 
 quires. I know not whether in a certain quarterf 
 I can be of any use ; but that is not, you may be 
 assured, for want of inclination. 
 
 * Dr. Gillies published " Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, com- 
 
 prisi7ig his Practical Philosophy , translated from the Greek ; 
 
 illustrated by Introduction and Notes, the Critical History of 
 
 his Life, and a neiv Analysis of his Speculative Works. London, 
 
 1786—97, 2 vols. 4to. 
 
 t See Letter from Mr. Dilly, p. 43». 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 rniNTED hy a. j. vali-it, ked lion court, fleet streft. 
 
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