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 chartularies 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, 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 research, 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 Seigneur D'Aubigny et de Concressault and Comte d'Evreux, is in the possession of General Stuart, although he wants the third manuscript volume of Abercrombie's Worthies, which, in his preface to his second volume, he announces as containing 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 Castlemilk 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 collateral 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 Française, 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 Library, but can no where observe this book, Houston's Ecosse Française, 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 des Harengs, abandoned by the jealousy or the cowardice of Le Comte de Clermont, (the immediate ancestor of the Bourbon reigning family,) during the siege of Orleans, 1428. But General Stuart is in search of every minute particular concerning Sir John of Darnley's force, carried from Scotland, in 1419-20, with the names of his brothers and principal officers who accompanied him to France, made part of his regular corps, or were distinguished or extinguished either at Baugé, 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, Bâtard 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 Antiquités d'Orleans," but can no where get it. Every thing that is known in the best French histories concerning Bernard Stuart d'Aubigny, who commanded the French auxiliaries to Henry of Richmond, at Bosworth field, and was Charles the VIII.'s and Lewis the XII.'s lieutenantgeneral 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 Française, 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.† 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 Scotland, I beg leave to mention a curious enough passage I met with yesterday in Aristophanes's * Geo. Dempster, of Dunnichen, Esq., was educated for, and practised at the Scotch Bar, on quitting which he represented the boroughs of Forfar, &c. in four Parliaments, from 1768 to 1790. He was author of some papers in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Highland Society of Scotland, besides a Discourse, containing a Summary of the Proceedings of the Directors of the Society for Extending the Fisheries of Great Britain, printed 1789. Just at this time, Mr. Pinkerton printed his Vitæ Antiquæ Sanctorum Scotia: the letter from the Society of Antiquaries, returning him thanks for a copy of it, bears date 9th July, 1789. 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, because I foolishly neglected the Greek language, after having pretty nearly overcome its difficulties at College. Ipse vero statim velut obsoletum esse dixit citharâ canere ; Et canere potantem tanquam mulierem hordea molentem. 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. Knightsbridge, July 22nd, 1789. I cannot conceive how my Discourse has happened 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 address. 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 |