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THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO MR.

PINKERTON.

Strawberry Hill, Oct. 2nd, 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 II. 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 Lauderdale, was not, I believe, a parliamentary general; 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. 4th, 1785.

I embraced the first opportunity of examining

Thomas Astle, Esq., predecessor of Mr. Lysons in the

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 fabulous to deserve attention. The genealogies are of the same cast. I have long wished that some selections 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 language of North Britain in the 14th and 15th centuries. Wintoun was first a canon of St. Andrew's, and was afterwards prior of Lochleven, from about 1395 to 1413. Several extracts might be made from the two last books: as

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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 History of the Origin and Progress of Writing, &c. &c. &c., died Dec. 1, 1803, aged 68. A memoir of his Life and Writings will be found in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, Vol. iii. p. 202.

if

fair copy of this Chronicle, which you may see, you will do me the favor of calling at the StatePaper 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 Palice of Honor by Gawin Douglas.

MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF

BUCHAN.†

Knightsbridge, near London,
Nov. 24th, 1785.

Though I could with ease have procured a letter from either of my friends Mr. Walpole, Mr.

The Chronicle of Andrew Wintoun is quoted by Mr. Pinkerton 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 Britannica, 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 versification is easy, and the style often animated; and it has the farther advantage of being written in the pure language of the country,

Tyl ilke mannys wndyrstandyng;'

a thing of great consequence to our Scottish lexicographers." + David, 11th Earl of Buchan, author of the Lives of Thomson the poet, of Fletcher of Saltoun, and of Napier of Merchiston, devoted himself, throughout a long life, most zealously and honorably to the pursuit of literature, and was at all

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 lordship 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. Creach to send your lordship two copies, one for yourself, and another for the library of the Society of Antiquaries: these I hope you will honor me by accepting, as a mark of my regard for your lordship and the Society.

From the introductory parts of this work, your lordship will see that I propose publishing legitimate editions of many of our old Scotish poets, who, if given in the ancient orthography, and conformably 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 vulgar. 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. He died in the month of April 1829, at the age of 86.

this manuscript, if I 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 lordship,) you will join your interest to that of Lord Hailes, in order to prevail on the Society of Advocates to permit a literal copy of this manuscript to be taken at my expense. I know, my lord, that, in Scotland, other ideas are often entertained 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 interfere 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 Signet, 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 lordship, if any person or persons in the Society of

VOL. I.

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