Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

The Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk
Chapter XIV - 1769-1770 AGE, 47-48


The window-tax alarmed the clergy more and more, and as I had been the great champion in maintaining on every occasion that the Scottish clergy by our law ought to be exempted from this tax, on the same grounds on which they are exempted from paying the land-tax for their glebes, while one of our meetings were deliberating what was to be done, I told them that as I intended to be in London in the spring on private business, I would very gladly accept of any commission they would give me, to state our claim to the King's Ministers, and particularly to the Lords of the Treasury; and at least to prepare the way for an application for exemption to the Parliament in the following year, in case it should be found expedient. Robertson, who had thought it more advisable to pay rather than resist any longer, was surprised into consent with this sudden proposal of mine, and frankly agreed to it, though he told me privately that it would not have success. The truth was, that Mrs. Carlyle's health was so indifferent that I became uneasy, and wished to try Bath, and to visit London, where she never had been, on our way. The clergy were highly pleased with my offer of service without any expense, and I was accordingly commissioned, in due form, by the Committee on the Window-Tax, to carry on this affair. We prepared for our journey, and set out about the middle of February. We had the good fortune to get Martin, the portrait-painter, and Bob Scott, a young physician, as our companions on our journey. This made it very pleasant, as Martin was a man of uncommon talents for conversation. We stopped for two days with the Blacketts at Newcastle, and then went on by Huntingdon, and after that to Cambridge. As I had not been there when I was formerly in London, I was desirous to see that famous university; and besides, had got a warm exhortation from my friend Dr. Robertson, to diverge a little from the straight line, and go by Hock-well, where there were the finest eels in all England. We took that place in our way, and arrived long enough before dinner to have our eels dressed in various ways; but though the spitch-cocked had been so highly recommended by our friend, we thought nothing of them, and Mrs. Carlyle could not taste them, so that we had all to dine on some very indifferent mutton-broth, which had been ordered for her. I resolved after this never to turn off the road by the advice of epicures.

We got to Cambridge in the dark, but remained all next forenoon, and saw all the public buildings, some of which are very fine, particularly King's College Chapel. As none of us had any acquaintances there that we knew of, we were not induced to stay any longer, and so made the best of our way to London.

My youngest sister Janet, a beautiful, elegant, and pleasing young woman, having gone to London to visit her married sister, had herself married, in 176o, a gentleman who had been captain of a trading vessel in the Mediterranean, and, having been attacked by a French or Spanish privateer, took her after a short engagement.

[See Scots Magazine, December 1759:-

"CAPTURES BY PRIVATEERS, ETC.

"By the Dragon, Bell, and the Greyhound, Dewar, both from London, Le Pendant, Jos. Geruhard, from St. Domingo ; carried into Gibraltar."

See also the Caledonian Mercury, 15th December 1759 "The Dragon, Bell, and the Greyhound, Dewar, both from London, are arrived at Gibraltar, and have carried a French prize with them."—Note appended to the MS.]

He was a very sensible clever man, much esteemed by his companions, and had become insurance-broker. On our arrival in London, therefore, which was on the 11th February, we took up our residence at their house, which was in Alderman-bury. They had also a country-house, where their children resided the whole year, and where they spent the summer months; and being only nine miles from London, with a very good road, my brother-in-law could easily ride every day to attend to his business, and return to dinner. Merton was a very agreeable place. The house had been originally built by Lord Eglinton, and soon after forsaken and sold. There was a large garden of three acres, divided into three parts, and planted with the best fruit-trees, on which, when I afterwards saw it in the season, I said there were more peaches and apricots than grew then in Midlothian; for I well remember that [there were very few] till we had hothouses here, which had then only had a beginning, by Lord Chief-Baron Ord, at the Dean, and Baron Stuart Moncrieff, and were not in great numbers till 1780.

About the third night after we came, we went with the Bells to the Scotch dancing assembly, which then met in the King's Arms Tavern, in Cheapside, where we met many of our acquaintance, and were introduced to several others with whom we were not before acquainted. I was glad to find from them all that my brother-in-law was in high esteem among them as a man of business, not only for his integrity, but his aptitude for business. My sister was much admired as a fine woman, and no less for the elegance and propriety of her manners than for her handsome face and fine person. He had the good luck to be called Honest Tom, in distinction to another who frequented Lloyd's Coffeehouse, who was not in so much favour, and was besides a very hot Wilkite. After a few days more we were invited to a fine subscription-dinner in the London Tavern, where there was a company of about fifty ladies and gentlemen. The dinner was sumptuous, but I was not much delighted with the conversation. The men, especially, were vulgar and uneducated; and most of the English among them violent Wilkites, and gave toasts of the party kind, which showed their breeding where the majority were Scotch. It was with some difficulty that I could get Honest Tom to treat their bad manners with ridicule and contempt, rather than with rage and resentment.

Having now been near a week in London, it was proper that I should give a commencement to the business which I had undertaken; I therefore applied myself to making the necessary calls on Dr. Gordon of the Temple, a Scotch solicitor-at-law, and the Lord Advocate for Scotland, and whoever else I thought might be of use. I had drawn a short memorial on the business which Dr. Gordon approved, but wished it to be left with him for corrections and additions. This I did, but was surprised to find, when he returned it several weeks after as fit to be sent to the press, that there was hardly any change on it at all. But I was still more surprised, when calling on the Lord Advocate (James Montgomery, Esq.), and opening the affair to him, to hear him answer that he wished me success with all his heart, but could give me no aid; for, he added, that when the clergy were lately in four years' arrears, the payment of which would have greatly distressed them, Dr. Robertson had come to him in Edinburgh, and had strongly interceded with him to get that arrear excused, and he would answer for the punctual payment by the clergy in future. He had, accordingly, on this promise, applied to the Duke of Grafton, then First Minister, and obtained what the Doctor had asked on the condition promised. In this state of things it was impossible that he could assist me as Lord Advocate, but that, as a private gentleman, he would do all he could; that was, to introduce me to the Minister, to speak of me as I deserved, and to say that he thought the petition I brought very reasonable, and agreeable to the law of Scotland. All this he punctually fulfilled, for he was an honourable man.

The Church of Scotland had been at all times very meanly provided ; and even when they were serving their country with the utmost fidelity and zeal at the time of the Restoration, and ever afterwards supporting that part of the aristocracy which resisted the encroachments of the Crown and maintained the liberties of the people—even then their most moderate requests to be raised above poverty were denied. [Whether or not the author meant to say Reformation, the word Restoration must have been a slip.—J. H. B.] After the union of the crowns, and even after that of the legislatures, they have, on every application for redress, been scurvily treated. The history of our country bears the strongest testimony of their loyalty to the king, while they warmly opposed every appearance of arbitrary power even to persecution and death. They were cajoled and flattered by the aristocracy when they wanted their aid, but never relieved, till Cromwell considered their poverty, and relieved them for the time. Yet, after Presbytery was finally settled at the Revolution, the clergy were allowed almost to starve till, down in our own time, in the year 1790, a generous and wise man was raised to the President's chair, who, being also President of that Court when it sits as a committee of Parliament for the augmentation of ministers' stipends, with the concurrence of his brethren had redressed this grievance, and enabled the clergy and their families to survive such years of dearth as the 1799 and 1800, which, but for that relief, must have reduced them to ruin. This happened by good hick while the land estates in Scotland were doubled and tripled in their rents, otherwise it could not have been done without a clamorous opposition. [The Lord President of the Court of Session here referred to is Sir Islay Campbell. This matter is again alluded to, p. 554 - J H B.]

It is observable that no country has ever been more tranquil, except the trifling insurrections of 1715 and '45, than Scotland has been since the Revolution in 1688—a period of 117 years; while, at the same time, the country has been prosperous, with an increase of agriculture, trade, and manufactures, as well as all the ornamental arts of life, to a degree unexampled in any age and country. How far the steady loyalty to the Crown, and attachment to the constitution, together with the unwearied diligence of the clergy in teaching a rational religion, may have contributed to this prosperity, cannot be exactly ascertained ; but surely enough appears to entitle them to the high respect of the State, and to justice from the country, in a decent support to them and to their families, and, if possible, to a permanent security like that of the Church of England, by giving the clergy a title to vote on their livings for the member of Parliament for the county, which would at once raise their respect, and, by making them members of the State, would for ever secure their interest in it, and firmly cement and strengthen the whole.

Before I began my operations relative to the window-tax, I witnessed something memorable. It being much the fashion to go on a Sunday evening to a chapel of the Magdalene Asylum, we went there on the second Sunday we were in London, and had difficulty to get tolerable seats for my sister and wife, the crowd of genteel people was so great. The preacher was Dr. Dodd, a man afterwards too well known. The unfortunate young women were in a latticed gallery, where you could only see those who chose to be seen. The preacher's text was, "If a man look on a woman to lust after her," etc. The text itself was shocking, and the sermon was composed with the least possible delicacy, and was a shocking insult on a sincere penitent, and fuel for the warm passions of the hypocrites. The fellow was handsome, and delivered his discourse remarkably well for a reader. When he had finished, there were unceasing whispers of applause, which I could not help contradicting aloud, and condemning the whole institution, as well as the exhibition of the preacher, as contra bonos mores, and a disgrace to a Christian city. [Compare Dr. Carlyle's attitude towards this notorious man and that of Walpole in the following extract from one of his letters to George Montague:—"A party was made up to go to the Magdalene house . . . Prince Edward, Colonel Brudenel his groom, Lady Northumberland, Lady Mary Coke, Lady Carlisle, Miss Pelham, Lady Hertford, Lord Beauchamp, Lord Huntingdon, old Bowman, and I . . . Lord Hertford at the head of the Governors with their white staves met us at the door, and led the prince directly into the Chapel, where before the altar was an armchair for him, with a damask blue cushion, a prie-Dieu, and a footstool of black cloth with gold nails. . . . At the west end were enclosed the sisterhood, about one hundred and thirty in all in greyish-brown stuffs. As soon as we entered the chapel the organ played, and the Magdalens sang a hymn in parts ; you cannot imagine how well. . . . Prayers then began, psalms, and a sermon: the latter by a young clergyman, one Dodd. [The Rev. William Dodd; was executed in 1770 for forgery.] . . . He apostrophised the lost sheep, who sobbed and cried from their souls; and so did my Lady Hertford and Fanny Pelham, till I believe the city dames took them both for Jane Shores. . . . In short it was a very pleasing performance, and I got the most illustrious to desire it might be printed."]

On the day after this I went to the House of Peers, and heard Sir Fletcher Norton's [Elected speaker of the House of Commons in 1770, and created Baron Grantley of Markenfield in 1782.] pleading on the Douglas Cause, on the side of Douglas, but in a manner inferior to what I expected from his fame: but this was not a question of law, but of fact. I dined and supped next day with Colonel Dow, who had translated well the History of Hindustan, and wrote tolerably well the Tragedy of Zingis. As James M'Pherson, the translator of Ossian, and he lived together, and as his play, in point of diction and manners, had some resemblance to the poems of Ossian, there were not a few who ascribed the tragedy to M`Pherson; but such people did not know that, could M'Pherson have claimed it, he was not the man to relinquish either the credit or profits which might arise from it, for the tragedy ran its nine nights.

Dow was a Scotch adventurer, who had been bred at the school of Dunbar, his father being in the Customs there, and had run away from his apprenticeship at Eyemouth, and found his way to the East Indies, where, having a turn for languages, which had been fostered by his education, he soon became such a master of the native tongue as to accelerate his preferment in the army, for he soon had the command of a regiment of sepoys. He was a sensible and knowing man, of very agreeable manners, and of a mild and gentle disposition. As he was telling us that night, that, when he had the charge of the Great Mogul, with two regiments under his command, at Delhi, he was tempted to dethrone the monarch, and mount the throne in his stead, which he said he could easily have done :—when I asked him what prevented him from yielding to the temptation, he gave me this memorable answer, that it was reflecting on what his old schoolfellows at Dunbar would think of him for being guilty of such an action. His company were Dr. John Douglas and Garrick, the two M'Phersons, John Home, and David Hume who joined us in the evening. [Colonel Alexander Dow is known as the translator and continuer of the Persian History of Hindostan, and the writer of Tales from the Persian, and of another tragedy besides his Zingis, called Sethona. The editor is not aware, however, of any other source of information about the personal adventures referred to in the text.—J. H. B.]

I have before, I believe, given some account of them all but Robert M'Pherson, the chaplain, whom I had not known till now. Though not a man of genius, he was a man of good sense, of a firm and manly mind, and of much worth and honour. He was a younger brother of M'Pherson of Banchors, a man near the head of the clan in point of birth, but not of a large fortune. He had been bred at Aberdeen for the Church, but before he passed trials as a probationer, he had been offered a company in his regiment of Highlanders by Simon Fraser, and had accepted. But when the regiment rendezvoused at Greenock, he was told, with many fair speeches, that the captains' commissions were all disposed of, much against the colonel's will, but that he might have a lieutenancy, or the chaplainry if he liked it better. M'Pherson chose the last, and took orders immediately from the Presbytery of Lochcarron, where he returned for ten days. He soon made himself acceptable to the superiors as well as to the men, and after they landed in Nova Scotia, in every skirmish or battle it was observed that he always put himself on a line with the officers at the head of the regiment. He was invited to the mess of the field officers, where he continued. On hearing this from General Murray, I asked him (M'Pherson) if it was true. He said it was. How came you to be so foolish? He answered, that being a grown man, while many of the lieutenants and ensigns were but boys, as well as some of the privates, and that they looked to him for example as well as precept, he had thought it his duty to advance with them, but that he had discontinued the practice after the third time of danger, as he found they were perfectly steady.

Dining with him, and General James Murray and one or two more, at the British one day, I put him on telling the story of the mutiny at Quebec, when he had the command after the death of Wolfe. He told us that the first thing he had done was to send and inquire if Mac had taken advantage of the leave he had given him to sail for Britain the day before, for if he had not sailed, there would have been no mutiny. But he was gone, and I had to do the best I could without him ; and so he went on. Not being certain if this anecdote might not have been much exaggerated, according to the usual style of the windy Murrays, as they were styled by Jock at the Horn, I asked Mac, when the company parted, how much of this was true? He answered, that though the General had exceeded a little in his compliments to him, that it was so far true, that he, being the only Highland chaplain there—he of Fraser's regiment having gone home--he had so much to say with both of them that he could have persuaded them to stand by their officers and the General, in which, if those two regiments had joined, they would have prevented the mutiny.

One anecdote more of this worthy man, and I shall have done with him. In one of the winters in which he was at Quebec he had provided himself in a wooden house, which he had furnished well, and in which he had a tolerable soldier's library. While he was dining one day with the mess, his house took fire and was burned to the ground. Next morning the two serjeant-majors of the two Highland regiments came to him, and, lamenting the great loss he had sustained, told him that the lads, out of their great love and respect for him, had collected a purse of four hundred guineas, which they begged him to accept of. He was moved by their generosity, and by and by answered, "That he was never so much gratified in his life as by their offer, as a mark of kindness and respect, of which he would think himself entirely unworthy if he could rob them of the fruits of their wise and prudent frugality;" and added, "that, by good fortune, he had no need of the exertions of their generosity." The annals of private men I have often thought as instructive and worthy of being recorded as those of their superiors.

Having formerly given some account of James M'Pherson and Garrick, I shall say nothing more of them here, but that in their several ways they were very good company. Garrick was always playsome, good-humoured, and willing to display; James was sensible, shrewd, and sarcastic. Dow went a second time out to India, and after some time died there.

By this time I had discovered that I should have no need to go to Bath, as Mrs. C. had fallen with child, which left me sufficient time to wait even for the very slow method of transacting Treasury business, which made me sometimes repent that I had undertaken it. I had found Sir Gilbert Elliot at last, who both encouraged and assisted me. I had also met Mr. Wedderburn, who was not then in the line of doing me much service. Mr. Grey Cooper, [Afterwards Sir Grey Cooper, Secretary of the Treasury and a Privy Councillor.] who had been brought forward by the Honourable Charles Townshend, and was then a Secretary of the Treasury, frankly gave me his services. But the only person (except Sir G. Elliot) who understood me perfectly was Mr. Jeremiah Dyson. He had been two years at Edinburgh University at the same time as Akenside and Monckly, and had a perfect idea of the constitution of the Church of Scotland and the nature and state of the livings of the clergy. Of him I expected and obtained much aid. Broderip, secretary to the Duke of Grafton, on whom I frequently called, gave me good words but little aid.

On the 23rd of this month I went with John Home to the first night of his tragedy of the Fatal Discovery, which went off better than we expected. This was and is to my taste the second-best of Home's tragedies. Garrick had been justly alarmed at the jealousy and dislike which prevailed at that time against Lord Bute and the Scotch, and had advised him to change the title of Rivine into that of the Fatal Discovery, and had provided a student of Oxford, who had appeared at the rehearsals as the author, and wished Home of all things to remain concealed till the play had its run. But John, whose vanity was too sanguine to admit of any fear or caution, and whose appetite for praise rebelled against the counsel that would deprive him for a moment of his fame, too soon discovered the secret, and though the play survived its nine nights, yet the house evidently slackened after the town heard that John was the author. Home, however, in his way, ascribed this to the attention of the public, and especially of the Scotch, being drawn off by the Douglas Cause, which was decided in the Houcz of Lords on the 27th, forgetting that this took up only one night, and that any slackness derived from that cause could not affect other nights.

To finish my account of this play, I shall add here that Garrick still continued to perform it on the most convenient terms. Mrs. Carlyle, John Home, and I, dined with Mr. A. Wedderburn at his house in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and went to the Fatal Discovery with him and his lady and his brother, Colonel David Wedderburn, when we were all perfectly well pleased. We returned with them to supper, Wedderburn having continued cordial and open all that day; his brother was always so.

We became acquainted with my wife's uncle and aunt, Mr. Laurie and Mrs. Mary Reed, brother and sister of her mother by another wife. Mr. Reed was a mahogany merchant in Hatton Wall, a very worthy and honourable man; and his sister, whom I had seen once or twice before in Berwick, was a handsome and elegant woman, though now turned of thirty, with as much good sense and breeding as any person we met with. Mr. Reed was not rich, but between an estate of £250, which he had near Alnwick, and his business, he lived in a very respectable manner. Their mode of living was quite regulated, for they saw company only two days in the week ;on Thursday, to dinner, when you met a few friends, chiefly from Northumberland ; and here, if you pleased, you might play cards and stay the evening. On Sunday evening they likewise saw their friends to tea and supper, but they were too old-fashioned to play cards, which was very convenient for me. The uncle and aunt were proud of their niece, as they found her, in point of conversation and manners, at least equal to any of their guests; and the niece was proud of her uncle and aunt, as in him she found as honest a man as Mr. Bell, and in her a woman who, for beauty and elegance, could cope with my sister, who was not surpassed by any lady in the city. Here I met with many old acquaintances, and made some new ones, such as Sir Evan Nepean and his lady, then only in their courtship, and A. Collingwood, a clever attorney, said to be nearly related to the family of Unthank—indeed, a natural son of my wife's grandfather. To this very agreeable place we resorted often; and when I came the next year alone, I availed myself of it, especially on Sunday nights.

I was much indebted to my hospitable friend, Dr. Blair of Westminster, at whose house also I met with sundry people whose acquaintance I cultivated. On the 26th of this month I met him at Court, after having attended service in the Chapel Royal and in the chaplain's seat, and was by him introduced in the drawing-room to Lord Bathurst, then very old, but extremely agreeable ; Dr. Barton, Dean of Bristol, Rector of St. Andrew, Holborn, etc., and to Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester—very excellent people, whose acquaintance I very much valued. [Josiah Tucker, whose works on Trade anticipated some of the established doctrines on political economy.—J. H. B.]

On the 27th I attended the House of Peers on the Douglas Cause. The Duke of Buccleuch had promised to carry me down to the House; but as I was going into Grosvenor Square to meet him at ten o'clock, I met the Duke of Montague, who was coming from his house, and took me into his chariot, saying that the Duke of B. was not yet ready. He put me in by the side of the throne, where I found two or three of my friends, among them Thomas Bell. The business did not begin till eleven, and from that time I stood, with now and then a lean on the edge of a deal board, till nine in the evening, without any refreshment but a small roll and two oranges. The heat of the house was chiefly oppressive, and Lord Sandwich's speech, which, though learned and able, yet being three hours long, was very intolerable. The Duke of Bedford spoke low, but not half an hour. The Chancellor and Lord Mansfield united on the side of Douglas; each of them spoke above an hour. Andrew Stuart, whom I saw in the House, sitting on the left side of the throne, seemed to be much affected at a part of Lord Camden's speech, in which he reflected on him, and immediately left the House; from whence I concluded that he was in despair of success. Lord Mansfield, overcome with heat, was about to faint in the middle of his speech, and was obliged to stop. The side-doors were immediately thrown open, and the Chancellor rushing out, returned soon with a servant, who followed him with a bottle and glasses. Lord Mansfield drank two glasses of the wine, and after some time revived, and proceeded in his speech. We, who had no wine, were nearly as much recruited by the fresh air which rushed in at the open doors as his lordship by the wine. About nine the business ended in favour of Douglas, there being only five Peers on the other side. I was well pleased with that decision, as I had favoured that side: Professor Ferguson and I being the only two of our set of people who favoured Douglas, chiefly on the opinion that, if the proof of filiation on his part was not sustained, the whole system of evidence in such cases would be overturned, and a door be opened for endless disputes about succession. I had asked the Duke of B., some days before the decision, how it would go; he said that if the Law Lords disagreed, there was no saying how it would go; because the Peers, however imperfectly prepared to judge, would follow the Judge they most respected. But if they united, the case would be determined by their opinion ; it being [the practice] in their House to support the Law Lords in all judicial cases.

After the decision, I persuaded my friends, as there was no coach to be had, not to attempt rushing into any of the neighbouring taverns, but to follow me to the Crown and Anchor in the Strand, where we arrived, Thos. Bell, Alderman Crichton, Robert Bogle, junior, and I, in time enough to get into a snug room, where we wrote some letters for Scotland, the post then not departing till twelve; and after a good supper, Bell and I got home to Aldermanbury about one o'clock, where our wives were waiting, though not uninformed of the event, as I had despatched a porter with a note to them immediately on our arrival in the tavern.

The rejoicings in Scotland were very great on this occasion, and even outrageous: although the Douglas family had been long in obscurity, yet the Hamiltons had for a long period lost their popularity. The attachment which all their acquaintances had to Baron Mure, who was the original author of this suit, and to Andrew Stuart, who carried it on, swayed their minds very much their way. They were men of uncommon good sense and probity. [Andrew Stuart, often mentioned by Carlyle, had devoted the whole energies and prospects of his life to the Hamilton side of the cause. He challenged Thurlow, the leading counsel on the opposite side, and they fought. His bitter "Letters to Lord Mansfield " have often been read, like those of Junius, as a model of polished vituperation.—J. H. B. When the Douglas case was decided in the Court of Session by the casting vote of the Lord President "some one asked Boswell why all the people of extraordinary sense were Hamiltonians?" "I cannot tell," he answered; "but I am sure all persons of common sense are Douglassians."—Ramsay's Scotland and Scotsman.]

Mrs. Pulteney being still living, we had a fine dinner at Bath House, after which, Mrs. Carlyle and I paid an evening visit to Mrs. Montague. Pulteney [Already referred to (pp. 296, 418, etc.) as Sir William Johnstone or Sir William Pulteney. He was not made a baronet until 1794.] at this time had fallen much under the influence of General Robert Clerk, whom I have mentioned before. I happened to ask him when he had seen Clerk; he answered he saw him every day, and as he had not been there yet, he might probably pay his visit before ten o'clock, and then enlarged for some time on his great ability. Clerk had subdued Pulteney by persuading him that there was not a man in England fit to be Chancellor of Exchequer but himself. Mrs. Pulteney's good sense, however, defeated the effect of this influence. Pulteney was unfortunate in not taking for his private secretary and confidential friend Dr. John Douglas, who had stood in that relation to the late Lord Bath, and was one of the ablest men in England. But on Pulteney's succession he found himself neglected, and drew off. Clerk came at ten, as Pulteney had foretold, and I saw how the land lay.

On this first mission to London I was much obliged to Sir Alexander Gilmour, who was a friend of the Duke of Grafton's. He knew everybody, and introduced me to everybody. One day he carried me to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Cornwallis), who received me graciously; in short, I called on all the Scotch noblemen and Members of Parliament, many of whom I saw, and left memorials at every house where I called. Lord Frederick Campbell [Second son of John, fourth Duke of Argyle, was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, and in 1768 Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, in which capacity he laid the foundation stone of the Register House in Edinburgh in 1774. He was instrumental in recovering from London many valuable records of the Scottish Parliament.] was particularly obliging. At this time I dined one day with Sir A. Gilmour on a Sunday, after having been at Court; General Graham and Pulteney, and Colonel Riccart Hepburn, dined there. In the conversation there, to my surprise I found [Graham] talking strongly against Administration for not advising the King to yield to the popular cry. Gilmour opposed him with violence, and I drew an inference, which proved true, that lie had been tampering with her Majesty, and using political freedoms, which were, not long afterwards, the cause of his disgrace. Graham was a shrewd and sensible man, but the Queen's favour and his prosperity had made him arrogant and presumptuous, and he blew himself up. [This is probably the "Colonel Graeme" who, according to Walpole (who says he was a notorious Jacobite, and out in the '45), negotiated the marriage of George III., having been "despatched in the most private manner as a traveller, and invested with no character, to visit various little Protestant courts, and ] Not long make report of the qualifications of the several unmarried princesses.)—See Mem. of Geo. III., ch. v.—J. H. B.] after this time he lost his office near the Queen, and retired into obscurity in Scotland for the rest of his days.

My connection with physicians made me a member of two of their clubs, which I seldom missed. One of them was at the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street, [Now represented by Anderton's Hotel.] where they had laid before them original papers relating to their own science, and had published a volume or two of Essays, which were well received. Armstrong, who took no share in the business generally, arrived when I did, about eight o'clock; and as they had a great deference for him, and as he was whimsical, they delayed bespeaking supper till he came, and then laid that duty on him. He in complaisance wished to turn it over on me, as the greatest, or rather the only stranger, for I was admitted speciali gratia; but I declined the office. The conversation was lively and agreeable, and we parted always at twelve. There was another club held on the alternate Thursday at the Queen's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, which was not confined to physicians, but included men of other professions. Strange the engraver [The father of line engraving in Great Britain. He was born in Orkney in 1721. A staunch Jacobite, he served throughout the insurrection of 1745 in the Prince's Life Guards. He married Miss Lumisden, sister of Andrew Lumisden, who was one of the Prince's household at Rome. Strange was knighted in 1787.] was one, a very sensible, ingenious, and modest man.

In the course of my operations about the window-tax, I had frequently short interviews with Lord Mansfield. One day he sent for me to breakfast, when I had a long conversation with him on various subjects. Amongst others, he talked of Hume and Robertson's Histories, and said that though they had pleased and instructed him much, and though he could point out few or no faults in them, yet, when he was reading their books, he did not think he was reading English: could I account to him how that happened? I answered that the same objection had not occurred to me, who was a Scotchman bred as well as born; but that I had a solution to it, which I would submit to his lordship. It was, that to every man bred in Scotland the English language was in some respects a foreign tongue, the precise value and force of whose words and phrases he did not understand, and therefore was continually endeavouring to word his expressions by additional epithets or circumlocutions, which made his writings appear both stiff and redundant. With this solution his lordship appeared entirely satisfied. By this time his lordship perfectly understood the nature of our claim to exemption from the window-tax, and promised me his aid, and suggested some new arguments in our favour.

I made a very valuable acquaintance in the Bishop of London, R. Jerrick, having been introduced to him by his son-in-law, Dr. Anthony Hamilton, whom I met at Dr. Pitcairn's. I found the Bishop to be a truly excellent man, of a liberal mind and excellent good temper. He took to me, and was very cordial in wishing success to my application, and was very friendly in recommending me and it to his brethren on the bench. He never refused me admittance, and I dined frequently with him this year and the next. He was then considered as having the sole episcopal jurisdiction over the Church of England in America. He was so obliging to my requests that he ordained, at my desire, two Scotch probationers, who, having little chance of obtaining settlements here, were glad to try their fortune in a new world. As I was unwilling to forfeit my credit with this good man, I had not recommended them but with perfect assurance of their good characters. The first, whom I think he had sent to Bermudas, he gave me thanks for when I saw him a year after, as, he told me, he had fully answered the character I had given him. He [the Bishop] was a famous good preacher, and the best reader of prayers I ever heard. Being Dean of the Chapel Royal, he read the communion service every Sunday. Though our residence was at my sister's in Aldermanbury, as I had occasion frequently to dine late in the west end of the town, I then lodged in New Bond Street with my aunt, and resorted often at supper to Robert Adam's, whose sisters were very agreeable, and where we had the latest news from the House of Commons, of which he was a member, and which he told us in the most agreeable manner, and with very lively comments.

My good aunt Paterson's husband, a cousin of Sir Hew Paterson, took care to have us visit his son's widow, Mrs. Seton, the heiress of Touch, whose first husband was Sir Hew's son, who had died without issue. There we dined one day with a large company, mostly Scots, among whom were Mrs. Walkinshaw [Katherine, third daughter of John Walkinshaw of Barrow-field and Camlachie (who was uncle to Lord Karnes) and Katherine, daughter of Sir Hugh Paterson of Bannockburn. Katherine was bed-chamber woman and afterwards housekeeper at Leicester House to the Princess Dowager of wales, mother of George III. John Walkinshaw had ten daughters, the youngest of whom was Clementina, the reputed mistress of Prince Charles Edward.—Tweed's Edition of McUre's History of Glasgow.] —who had a place at court, though she was sister of the lady who was said to be mistress to Prince Charles, the Pretender's son—and David Hume, by that time Under-Secretary of State. The conversation was lively and agreeable, but we were much amused with observing how much the thoughts and conversation of all those in the least connected were taken up with every trifling circumstance that related to the Court. This kind of tittle-tattle suited Dr. John Blair of all men, who had been a tutor to the King's brother, the Duke of York, and now occasionally assisted Dr. Barton as Clerk of the Closet to the Princess Dowager of Wales. It was truly amusing to observe how much David Hume's strong and capacious mind was filled with infantine anecdotes of nurses and children. Mr Seton was the son of a Mr. Smith, who had been settled at Boulogne, a wine merchant, was a great Jacobite, and had come to Scotland in the time of the Rebellion, 1745. Poor Mrs. Seton, whose first husband, Paterson, was, by his mother, a nephew of the Earl of Mar, had fallen a sacrifice to that prejudice, for Seton possessed no other charm. I call her a sacrifice, because his bad usage shortened her days. She was a very amiable woman. His future history is well known. [Archibald Seton successively filled several high offices in the Indian service, and died in 1818—Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxxviii. p. 184. The mansion of Touch, long the abode of one of the old Seton families, is a venerable square tower, with later adjuncts, on the slope of the Gargunnock Hills, about three miles from Stirling.—J. H. B.]

At this time we had a dinner from Dr. Gartshore, whose wife, the heiress of Rusco, in Galloway, was my cousin. [Dr. Maxwell Gartshore, a native of Kirkcudbrightshire, died after a long and successful professional career in London, in 1812. —J. H. B.] Besides Drs. Blair and Dickson, there were several dissenting parsons, such as Drs. Price, Kippis, and Alexander, who were very bad company indeed, for they were fiery republicans and Wilkites, and very pedantic, petulant, and peremptory. Blair and I, however, with the help of Dickson, kept them very well down. Gartshore himself acted the part of umpire, with a leaning to their side, as they had an ascendant over many of his patients.

John Home, who was very obliging to us, when I was at liberty, in the middle of April, went with Mrs. Carlyle and me to see Hampton Court and Windsor. After we had seen the first, we went and showed Mrs. Carlyle Garrick's villa in Hampton Town, which she was highly pleased with. The family had not yet returned to the country. We went all night to Windsor. In the morning we called on Dr. Douglas and his lady, a granddaughter of Sir George Rooke, of Queen Anne's reign, then in residence. He engaged us to dine with him. We went to church and heard him preach an excellent sermon, though ill delivered. His conversation was always instructive and agreeable. He had a greater number of anecdotes, and told them more correctly, than any man I ever knew. In going through his library, which was pretty full of books, he selected one small elegant French novel, and gave it as a keepsake to Mrs. Carlyle, which she and I were much pleased with, as a token of regard.

WVe had passed one day with Mrs. Montague by invitation, which did not please us much, as the conversation was all preconceived, and resembled the rehearsal of a comedy more than the true and unaffected dialogue which conveys the unaffected and unstudied sentiments of the heart. What a pity it was that she could not help acting; and the woman would have been respectable had she not been so passionately desirous of respect, for she had good parts, and must have had many allurements when she was young and beautiful.

John Home went with us to see Sion House, the inside of which had been most beautifully adorned by Robert Adam. We dined with Mr. and Mrs. Barry, who had been old friends of John's, and Barry had been his military companion at Falkirk, and escaped with him from Doune Castle. John was much attached to him, and he deserved it. His wife was very amiable. There dined with us M'Pherson and Blair, besides Home. Our stay in London drew to a close, and having obtained all I expected from the Treasury, which was encouragement to apply to Parliament next year, I made haste to show Mrs. Carlyle what she had not seen.

We went to Greenwich in the morning, and the same day dined again with Mr. and Mrs. Seton, and supped with my old friend, Lady Lindores.

I sat to Martin for the large picture that went next year into the Exhibition : this was for the third time. Another sitting in January thereafter did the business. We went to the opera with my sister. We stayed for our last fortnight at my aunt's, as my business at the Treasury made it more convenient, and my wife had to make all her farewell visits. She had not seen Garrick, who was at last to play for three nights. With difficulty and bribery we got places; but Mrs. C. felt sick, and we were obliged to leave it in the middle. We went to see Westminster Abbey, and dined with our kind friends, the Blairs, who had engaged us. My sister being now gone to Merton with her children, we took aunt and passed a day there. On the last day we went into the city, and took leave, and dined at uncle Reed's.

We dined on the 25th April at the Brand's Head with some friends, and set out on our journey northwards at five in the evening. Mr. Home had got a partner, a young man of the name of Douglas, going to Berwick. This lad being fantastic and vain, because he had an uncle who was under-doorkeeper to the House of Commons, diverted us much. To enjoy him, Home and I took him stage about. My wife was delighted with him in the inns, but she did not choose him to go in the chaise with her, as she was at this time apt to be sick. My wife's condition made me resolve to travel slow, though we were to halt some time at Newcastle.

We had agreed, for my wife's amusement and our own, to take the middle road, and go down by Northampton and Nottingham, where we had never been ; and were much amused with the beauty of the country, and the variety of its scenery. When we came to Nottingham, however, as the road was rough, which did not suit Mrs. Carlyle's present condition, and the houses and horses inferior, [we thought] it would be better to turn into the east road again, and make the best of our way to Doncaster. When we drew near that place, Mrs. Carlyle found out that we had changed our route, and was well pleased. We had come by Mansfield and Welbeck (the Duke of Portland's), and the Duke of Norfolk's, places well worth seeing. The road goes through the trunk of a famous oak tree. The woods in that part of the forest of Willingham are very fine, and the oaks are remarkably large. We arrived at Wallsend, a very delightful village about four miles below Newcastle, on the road to Shields, where Mr. Blackett had a very agreeable house for the summer. There were other two gentlemen's houses of good fortune in the village, with a church and a parsonage-house. Next day, the 1st of May, was so very warm that I with difficulty was able to walk down to the church in the bottom of the village, not more than two hundred yards distant.

Mary Home, a cousin-german of Mrs. Blackett's and my wife's, was residing here at this time, and had been for several months at Newcastle. This was the young lady who John Home married, who was then a pretty lively girl, and reckoned very like Queen Charlotte. She unfortunately had bad health, which continued even to this day; for she is now sixty-seven, and is still very frail, though better than she has been for several years. It was in some respects an unlucky marriage, for she had no children. Lord Haddington, however, said she was a very good wife for a poet; and Lady Milton having asked me what made John marry such a sickly girl, I answered that I supposed it was because he was in love with her. She replied, "No, no; it was because she was in love with him."

We stayed here for eight or ten days, and visited all the neighbours, who were all very agreeable, even the clergyman's wife, who was a little lightsome; but as her head ran much on fine clothes, which she could not purchase to please her, but only could imitate in the most tawdry manner, she was rather amusing to Mrs. B., who had a good deal of humour —more than her sister, who had a sharper wit and more discernment. The husband was a very good sort of man, and very worthy of his office, but oppressed with family cares. Mr. Potter, I think, was an Oxonian.

We did not fail to visit our good friend Mr. Collingwood of Chirton, and his lady, Mary Roddam, of both of whom my wife was a favourite. We went down together to Berwickshire in the middle of May, where we remained some days at Fogo Manse, the Rev. Mr. William Home's, where, leaving John with his bride, we came on to Musselburgh about the 27th of May, near the end of the General Assembly.

I had been persuaded to buy a young horse from a farmer near Mr. Home's, an awkward enough beast, but only four years old, which, if he did not do for a riding-horse, might be trained to the plough, for I had, at the preceding Martinmas, entered on a farm of onehundred acres of the Duke of Buccleuch's. On the Saturday morning after I came home, I unfortunately mounted this beast, who ran away with me in my green before the door, and was in danger of throwing me on the railing that was put up to defend a young hedge. To shun this I threw myself off on the opposite side, in sight of my wife and children. I was much stunned, and could not get up immediately, but luckily, before she could reach the place, I had raised myself to my breech, otherwise I did not know what might have befallen her in the condition she was in. No harm, however, happened to her; and the new surgeon who had come in our absence, a John Steward or Stewart, a Northumbrian, an apprentice of Sandy Wood's, was sent for to bleed me. I would not be bled, however, till I had made my report on the window-lights ready for the General Assembly, which was to be dissolved on Monday, lest I should not be able to write after being bled, or not to attend the Assembly on Monday. But it so happened that I was little disabled by my fall, and could even preach next day.

When we returned from the south, we were happy to find our two fine girls in such good health ; but my mother, and unmarried sister Sarah, had lived for some time close by us, and saw them twice every day. Sarah, the eldest, was now eight years of age, and had displayed great sweetness of temper, with an uncommon degree of sagacity. Jenny, the second, was now six, and was gay and lively and engaging to the last degree. They were both handsome in their several kinds, the first like me and my family, the second like their mother. They already had made great proficency in writing and arithmetic, and were remarkably good dancers. At this time they betrayed no symptoms of that fatal disease which robbed me of them, unless it might have been predicted from their extreme sensibilities of taste and affection which they already displayed. It was the will of Heaven that I should lose them too soon. But to reflect on their promising qualities ever since has been the delight of many a watchful night and melancholy day. I lost them before they had given me any emotions but those of joy and hope.

On the 25th of September this year, Mrs. Carlyle was delivered of her third daughter, Mary Roddam, and recovered very well. But the child was unhealthy from her birth, and gave her mother the greatest anxiety. She continued to live until June 1773, when she was relieved from a life of constant pain. In iith November that year she had her son William, who was very healthy and promising till within six or eight weeks of his death, when he was seized with a peripneumony, which left such a weakness on his lungs as soon closed his days.

On Monday I went to Edinburgh, and rendered an account of my mission at the bar of the General Assembly. I received the thanks of the General Assembly for my care and diligence in the management of this business, and at the same time was appointed by the Assembly their commissioner, with full powers to apply to next session of Parliament for an exemption from the window-tax, to be at the same time under the direction of a committee of Assembly, which was revived, with additions. This first success made me very popular among the clergy, of whom one-half at least looked upon me with an ill eye after the affair of the tragedy of Douglas. There is no doubt that exemption from that tax was a very great object to the clergy, whose stipends were in general very small, and besides, was opposing in the beginning any design there might be to lay still heavier burdens on the clergy, who, having only stipends out of the tithes allocated, together with small glebes and a suitable manse and offices free of all taxes and public burdens, would have been quite undone had they been obliged to pay all that has since been laid on houses and windows.

For as much use as the clergy were at the Reformation, and for as much as they contributed to the Revolution, and to preserve the peace and promote the prosperity of the country since that period, the aristocracy of Scotland have always been backward to mend their situation, which, had it not been for the manly system of the President (Islay Campbell), must have fallen into distress and contempt. As it is, their stipends keep no pace with the rising prosperity of the country, and they are degraded in their rank by the increasing wealth of the inferior orders. Had the nobility and gentry of Scotland enlargement of mind and extensive views, they would now, for the security of the constitution, engraft the clergy into the State, as they have always been in England, and by imparting all the privileges of freeholders, except that of being members of Parliament, on their livings, they would attach them still more than ever to their country; they would widen the basis of the constitution, which is far too narrow, without lessening their own importance in the smallest degree, for there could be no combination of the clergy against their heritors; on the contrary, they would be universally disposed to unite with their heritors, if they behaved well to them in all political business; but I know very few people capable of thinking in this train, and far less of acting on so large and liberal a plan. In the mean time, on account of many unfortunate circumstances, one of which is, that patrons, now that by help of the Moderate interest, as it is called, there is no opposition to their presentations, have restored to them that right they so long claimed, and for most part give them the man they like best; that is to say, the least capable, and commonly the least worthy, of all the probationers in their neighbourhood. [The sentence seems incomplete, but sic in MS.—J. H. B.] The unfitness of one of the professors of divinity, and the influence he has in providing for young men of his own fanatical cast, increases this evil not a little, and accelerates the degradation of the clergy. His cousin, Sir James H. Blair, never repented so much of anything as the placing him in that chair, as he soon discovered the disadvantage to the Church that might [arise] from his being put in that situation. It is a pity that a man so irreproachable in his life and manner, and even distinguished for his candour and fairness, should be so weak; but he does more harm than if he were an intriguing hypocrite.

During the summer 1769, after I had given the clergy such hopes of being relieved from the window-tax, they set about a subscription (the funds of the Church being quite inadequate at any time, and then very low) for defraying the expense of their commissioner, and of procuring an Act of Parliament. Nearly two-thirds of the clergy had subscribed to this fund, for a sum of about £400 was subscribed, if I remember right, by subscriptions from five shillings to one guinea, and put into the hands of Dr. George Wishart, then Principal Clerk of the Church.

Mrs. C. having recovered from her late inlying, I now prepared to go to London to follow out the object of my commission; and lest I should be too late, I set out in such time as to arrive in London on the 21st of December. I had a Major Paul as my companion in the chaise, and though we took five days to it, the expense in those days was no more than £10, 8s. 7d. As my business lay entirely in the west end of the town, I took up my lodging in New Bond Street, and engaged the other apartment for John Home, who was to be there in a fortnight. But I immediately took Neil [ ], a trusty servant, who had been with him last year, and could serve us both now, as I required but very little personal service. The very day after I came to London, I had wrote a paper signed Nestor, in support of the Duke of Grafton, who was then in a tottering state. This paper, which appeared on the 23rd of December, drew the attention of Lord Eli-bank and other Scotch gentlemen who attended the British Coffeehouse, which convinced me that I might continue my political labours, as they were acceptable to Administration. At this time I did not know that the Duke of Grafton was so near going out, but soon after I discovered it by an accident. On one of the mornings which I passed with Lord l\Iansfield, after he had signified his entire approbation of my measures to obtain an exemption for the clergy of Scotland, I took the liberty of saying to him in going downstairs, that his lordship's opinion was so clear in our favour, that I had nothing to wish but that he would be so good as to say so to the Duke of Grafton. His answer surprised me, and opened my eyes. It was, "I cannot speak with the Duke of Grafton; I am not acquainted with his Grace; I never conversed with him but once, which was when he came a short while ago from the King to offer me the seals. I can't talk with the Duke of Grafton; so good morning, Doctor. Let me see you again when you are further advanced." I went instantly with this anecdote to my friend Mrs. Anderson, at the British, and we concluded almost instantly, without plodding, that the change of the ministry was nigh at hand. When I saw her next day, she told me she had seen her brother, Dr. Douglas, who was struck with my anecdote, and combining with it some things he had observed, concluded that the fall of the Duke of Grafton was at hand, which proved true.

This accordingly took place not long after, when Charles York, the second son of the Chancellor Hardwick, having been wheedled over to accept the seals, and being upbraided severely for having broken his engagements with his party, put himself to death that very night; which was considered a public loss, as he was a man of parts and probity. Pratt was appointed Chancellor, and Lord North became minister. I was in the House of Commons the first night that he took his place as Premier. He had not intended to disclose it that night; but a provoking speech of Colonel Barre's obliged him to own it, which he did with a great deal of wit and humour. Barre was a clever man and good speaker, but very hard-mouthed. [See the debate is the Parl. Hist., xvi. 705 et seq.—The name of Colonel Isaac Barre, so conspicuous in its day, is so completely excluded from ordinary biographical works of reference, that it may be useful to refer to a curious notice of him by Walpole in his Memoirs of George iii. (i. 109). Colonel Barre gives an account of his own services in a speech reported in Parl. Hist., xxiii. 156. —J.H.B.] I was the first person at the British after the division ; and telling Mrs. Anderson the heads of North's speech, and the firmness and wit with which he took his place as First Minister, she concluded with me that he would maintain it long. Lord North was very agreeable, and, as a private gentleman, as worthy as he was witty; but having unluckily got into the American war, brought the nation into an incredible sum of debt, and in the end lost the whole American colonies. He professed himself ignorant of war, but said he would appoint the most respectable generals and admirals, and furnish them with troops and money; but he was weak enough to send the Howes, though of a party opposite to him, who seemed to act rather against the Ministers than the Americans. They were changed for other commanders; but the feeble conduct of the Howes had given the Americans time to become warlike, and they finally prevailed. North maintained his ground for no less than twelve years through this disgraceful war, and then was obliged to give way that a peace might be established. This at first was thought necessary to Great Britain; but Lord North's attempt to make a coalition with his former opponents having failed, and Charles Fox's scheme of governing the nation by an aristocracy, with the aid of his India Bill, being discovered and defeated, made way for Mr. Pitt's [William the Younger.] first Administration in 1783, which soon restored national credit and promised the greatest prosperity to the British empire, had it not been interrupted by the French Revolution in 1789, and the subsequent most dangerous war of 1798. It was discovered early in this period that the revolt and final disjunction of our American colonies was no loss to Great Britain, either in respect of commerce or war. I have been led to this long digression by Lord North's having become Premier in the beginning of the year 1770.

Although the discharge of my commission required attention and activity, yet the Lords of the Treasury having frequently referred me for an answer to a distant day, I took the opportunity of making frequent excursions to places where I had not been.

One of the first of them was to Bath with John Home, to pay a visit to his betrothed, Mary Home, whom he married in the end of summer. He had sent her to Bath to improve her health, for she was very delicate. We set out together, and went by the common road, and arrived on the second day to dinner.

Miss Home had taken a small house at Bath, where she lived with a Miss Pye, a companion of hers, and a friend of Mrs. Blackett's. They lived very comfortably, and we dined with them that day. Bath is beautifully built, and situated in a vale surrounded with small hills cultivated to the top; and being built of fine polished stone, in warm weather is intolerably hot ; but when we were there in the beginning of March it was excessively cold. The only thing about it not agreeable to the eye is the dirty ditch of a river which runs through it.

On the morning after we arrived, we met Lord Galloway in the pump-room, who having had a family quarrel,had retired to Bath with one of his daughters. The first question he asked me was, if I had yet seen our cousin, Sandie Goldie, his wife being a sister of Patrick Heron's. I answered no, but that I intended to call on him that very day. "Do," said his lordship, "but don't tell his story while you are here, for he is reckoned one of the cleverest fellows in this city, for being too unreasonable to sign receipts for above £1000, the produce of the reversion of his estate. He makes a very good livelihood at the rooms by betting on the whist-players, for he does not play." Lord Galloway engaged us to dine with him next day. [Alexander Stewart, sixth Earl of Galloway. He died in 1773.] We went to the rooms at night, and to a ball, where I was astonished to find so many old acquaintances.

We had called on Goldie, who engaged us to dine with him. The day after we were to dine at Lord Galloway's. We met with Dr. Gusthard, M.D., who had the charge of Miss Home's health. He was the son of Mr. Gusthard, minister of Edinburgh, and being of good ability and a winning address, had come into very good business. Lord Galloway, though quite illiterate by means of the negligence of his trustees or tutors, was a clever man, of much natural ability, and master of the common topics of conversation. We dined next day at Alexander Goldie's, where we had the pleasure of his lordship's company. In our landlord we discovered nothing but an uncommon rapidity of speech and an entertaining flow of imagination, which perhaps we would not have observed if we had not known that he had been cognosced at Edinburgh, and deprived of the management of his estate.

Next day we made a party to Bristol hot wells, and added to our company a Miss Scott, of Newcastle, a very pleasing young woman, who afterwards married an eminent lawyer there ; and another lady, whose name I have forgot, who was a good deal older than the rest, but was very pleasant, and had £30,000, by which means she became the wife of one of the Hathorns. This place appeared to me dull and disagreeable, and the hot wells not much better. Next day we dined at Dr. Gusthard's, and the day after set out on our return to London. We resolved to go by Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge, as neither of us had ever been there, both of which raised our wonder and astonishment, especially Stonehenge, but as we were not antiquarians, we could not form any conjecture about it. We got to London next day before dinner.


Return to Book Index Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast