1. LORD CARDROSS to Mr. DA COSTA. "MY DEAR SIR, December 1765. "I shall have the pleasure of meeting you at the Royal Society to-night; but, as I may not find a proper opportunity of speaking to you aside, I write this to mention a favour I have to ask of you which I forgot to take notice of the other day. You must know I have taken it into my head to gather duplicates from my obliging friends to erect a little Museum in Scotland. If you, my good Sir, do me the favour to set apart such specimens from your collection as may be easiest spared, I in return, from the pretty general correspondence I have formed, will give you specimens from time to time which may be new to you, and to the Royal Society. I intend to beat about for recruits in this service; and hope you will be serjeant to my recruiting party. Doctor Walker is to leave London in a fortnight; and I could be glad to send by sea in his baggage such things as Ι have already collected and such things as I may be able to procure. I am, dear Sir, with sincere regard,

"Your most obliged humble servant,

2. "MY DEAR SIR,

"I do myself the favour of calling to acquaint you that on recollection I shall not send down to Scotland the specimens till the middle of January, so I need not be in such haste; but any day you please to appoint shall be happy to accompany you, when you are setting apart the specimens you are so good as to promise me, in addition to what I have already, for I will not dispatch my collections till they amount to somewhat more considerable. Adieu ! CARDROSS."

3. LORD CARDROSS to Dr. BIRCH *.

George-street, Hanover-square, Dec. 3, 1765. "Lord Cardross's best compliments to Dr. Birch, and begs he will be so kind as to assist Mr. Lind, the bearer of this, a most ingenious gentleman who is going to Canton in China, and Lord Cardross knows Dr. Birch corresponds with some of the Jesuits there. Mr. Lind wants to go up the Country that he may bring home to Europe some useful drawings."

4. LORD CARDROSS to Mr. DA COSTA.

"Walcot, near Bath, June 14, 1766. "Lord Cardross's best compliments to Mr. Da Costa, and hopes that during the vacation of the Royal Society he will arrange some of the fossils, &c. for the Museum Cardrossianum in Caledonia, as he is to send off a large pacquet to that part of the world in autumn. Also begs Mr. Da Costa would tell my Lord how the Conspectus, &c. goes on, and would tell Mr. Magellan that his Lordship expects and wishes to hear from him soon. Compliments to his son David Riz."

From the British Museum, Addit. MSS. 4302.

5. "MY DEAR SIR, "As I shall be in London very soon, may I beg you will have the goodness to set apart for me such specimens of your collection of ores and fossils, &c. as you can spare, and depend upon my giving you in return many things that are new and curious to you, making up the deficiency freely in any manner you please. "I have collected a good many things of late; and in particular the bones of an immense elephant, found in a bed of ochre in Somersetshire at a great depth. If you have interest enough with your natural history friends to get me some of their duplicates, I would make it up to them. I ever am, my dear Sir,

Walcot, near Bath, Oct. 22, 1766.

"Yours affectionately,

CARDROSS."

6. The EARL of BUCHAN to Mr. NICHOLS. "SIR, Edinburgh, Feb. 13, 1782. "Your attention to the infant Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland is a proof of that liberality of sentiment which distinguishes the legitimate members of the great republic of letters. To a fond father this attention must be particularly pleasing; and I do most cordially thank you in my own name and in that of the Society for your fostering and generous care of our interests and reputation.

"Poor as we are in Scotland in the magnificent remains of a classic age, there are many things worthy of attention which may employ our researches.

"The account of the institution and progress of the Society, together with a list of the discourses which have been read at the meetings, a list of the donations received, and of the members, is now in the press, compiled and printed by Mr. William Smellie, printer to the Society, and will be ready (as I suppose to be delivered) about the 12th of March, price 2s. 6d. 4to. Messrs. Cumyng and Paton will take care to transmit a copy to you in course, I am, Sir, with real esteem,

"Your obliged humble servant,

BUCHAN."

7. "SIR, Edinburgh, July 8, 1782. "Your repeated attentions to the infant Society lately established in Scotland for exploring the antiquities of nations, and of this country in particular, together with numerous objects connected with such pursuits, give me great satisfaction, and demand my warmest acknowledgments.

of

"No doubt I am very anxious to see my child past the age helplessness, and the risk of being lost or neglected when I am gone; and the kindness of such zealous friends as you have been, will, I hope, soon make me easy about a body of men whom I strove successfully to bring together for the good of my country and the promotion of useful learning. I am, Sir, with regard, your obliged humble servant, BUCHAN."

8. "SIR, Edinburgh, Aug. S, 1782. "I have snatched this opportunity of Dr. Aitken, a Member of our Society, going to town, to return you my sincere and warm thanks for your attention to my child the Scottish Antiquarian Society; it grows, and will I hope soon be a chopping boy. Your kindness to it, when it was as it were hanging at its mother's breast, will all find a place in the breast of, Sir,

"Your obliged servant,

9. The EARL of BUCHAN to Mr. GOUGH. "SIR, Edinburgh, Aug. 9, 1782. "I take the opportunity of Dr. Aitken, a Member of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, his going to London, to convey a letter of thanks to you for your attention to my favourite literary child.

"It grows apace, and, if properly cherished, will be soon able to shift for itself. An account of its progress, published by Mr. Smellie, the translator of Buffon, accompanies this as a present from the Society to you in token of respect. By a strange blunder of the press, I look in vain for your name among the lists of the Society; this is corrected indeed among the errata, but ought especially not to have been there. Interesting communications are daily received; and, by a resolution of the members to present copies of their books when authors, a little nucleus of a library is already formed. The Society having no funds as yet for purchase, makes this an important and flattering circumstance. Your worthy correspondent George Paton informs me frequently of your welfare and useful employment, which gives me pleasure.

"I do hope that I shall be the happy instrument of exciting a spirit in this country to dig up, examine, and explain the monuments of its antient story,-a spirit of general literature, in addition to that polished taste for historical composition and for more abstruse inquiry which has made Scotland known in the republic of letters. I am Sir, with regard,

"Your obedient humble servant,

10. The EARL of BUCHAN to Mr. NICHOLS. "SIR, Edinburgh, March 15, 1783. "I return you many thanks for your acceptable letter of the 15th of February, which I only received a few days ago, together with the following books for the Society, which is much indebted: 1. The History, &c. of Hinckley, 4to; 2. Proofs, &c. 4to; 3. Statesman's Remembrancer; 4. Collatio Codicis Cotton. Gen. 8vo; 5. Consiglio, &c. Sig. Sherlock, Svo.

"These tracts, particularly that of Hinckley, have furnished

me with agreeable entertainment, and are an acceptable donation to the library of our infant institution. I had, and still have, much to struggle with in promoting the interests of erudition in this country; and the illiberal opposition made to the charter of the Society by the College of Edinburgh, the lawyers, or faculty of Advocates, and the Society calling itself the Philosophical, prove very glaringly that it is no easy matter to copy the institutions of more polished nations in a country where a sordid monopolising spirit, engrafted on the remains of antient barbarity, checks the progress of every thing that can tend to take the people out of their trammels. In about a fortnight after you have received this letter, the caveats and answers of our Society will reach you, and you will then see how ungenerously I have been requited by my countrymen for endeavouring to make them happier and more respectable.

"This is the common lot of men who have a spirit above that of the country and age in which they act, and I appeal to posterity for my vindication.

"I could have passed my time much more agreeably among Englishmen, whose character I preferred to that of my own countrymen, in a charming country too, where my alliances with the noblest and best families in it, and my political sentiments, would have added much to my domestic as well as civil enjoyment; but I chose rather to forego my own happiness for the improvement of my native country, and I expect hereafter, that the children of those who have not known me, or received me as they ought to have done, will express their concern, and blush on account of the conduct of their parents.

"Præclara conscientia igitur sustentor cùm cogito me de Republica aut meruisse quum potuerim aut certè nunquam nisi divinè cogitasse.' I am, Sir, with esteem,

BUCHAN.

"Your obliged humble servant, "P. S. Your portrait will be most cordially received as that of a generous friend to our Institution. The portrait of your worthy partner will be most acceptable also."

Kirkhill, June 8, 1783.

11. "SIR, "I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 29th of May, informing me of the fortunate purchase you have made of

"The Society of Antiquaries (of which the Earl of Buchan is Præses) have at last succeeded, after some opposition from the University, in obtaining a royal charter. This excellent Institution has for its object the investigation of natural and civil history in general, and the antiquities of Scotland in particular. The University of Edinburgh, dreading a rivalship in this Society in the branch of natural history, warmly opposed the charter, and proposed the establishment of a society upon a more extensive plan, to be called, The Royal Society of Scotland. The dispute was referred to the Lord Advocate of Scotland, and it has been decided that the Society of Antiquaries should have their charter." Gent. Mag. 1783, vol. LIII. p. 440.

the rare book of Bellenden. The price you paid for it is much less than I expected; and I return you, in my own name and that of our Curators, hearty thanks for the trouble you have taken on this occasion.

"The book you kindly present to our library shall be carefully deposited as soon as it shall come to my hand; and I desire you to be persuaded that you do not bestow your favours on the ungrateful.

66 I expect soon to see the fruits of my circular letters to ingenious persons in different parts of Scotland relating to local histories; several I know are now at work. Macfarlane's collections contain accounts of many parishes which are mentioned by Mr. Gough in his great topographical work. I made an attempt lately to purchase them, but was foiled by higher hopes of sale at London. They ought to be in our library; and I have still hopes of seeing them there, because I know that I could make them subservient to more accurate and useful details. I have seen a very good specimen of parochial history by Mr. Warton in that of Kiddington. I wrote one of my parish (I mean that in which I reside) which is a very small and uninteresting one, as an encouragement to others to proceed on a plan of that sort; and I am glad to find the example has been useful. It is amazing the effect a pioneering genius has in exciting the curiosity of mankind to explore new paths and unbeaten regions. Mr. Pennant found us very inattentive but a few years ago; but now men think their time better employed in innocent researches of that sort, when they find leisure from more important pursuits, than in penny quadrille, backgammon, or spitting into a stream from the parapets of a neighbouring bridge. If I had had better health, and a little more money, I could have done more; but I have had much greater success under all my obstacles than my most sanguine expectations gave me to suppose some years ago.

66

My insatiable thirst of knowledge, and a genius prone to the splendid sciences and the fine arts, has distracted my attention so much that the candid must make ample allowances for me in any one department; but considering myself as a nobleman, and not a Peer of Parliament, a piece of ornamental china as it were, I have been obliged to avail myself of my situation to do as much good as I possibly could without acting in a professional line, which my rank and my fate excluded me from. Our annual publication is gone to press. The first volume of our Transactions will appear about the 14th of November.

"The Biographical part of my plan, which I know will be very agreeable to you, goes on briskly. Some whom I have set to work will no doubt be tempted to sell their works to the booksellers rather than print them in our Transactions; but it matters not how knowledge is disseminated if truth be the object, and it be faithfully and carefully pursued. It is the