hesitation, made this reply: "No; I believe "scepticism may be too sturdy a virtue for a woman.' Miss Gregory* will certainly remember, that she has heard her father tell this story. How different is Doctor Gregory's 'Legacy' † to Mr Hume's! "Do me the favour, Madam, to let me know that you are well; that your nephew is just such as I wish him to be; and that the Duchess-dowager of Portland, Mrs Delany, Mrs Carter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and our other friends, are all in good health. I never pass a day, nor (I believe) an hour of the day, without thinking of them, and wishing them all imaginable happiness. Sometimes I flatter myself with the hope of seeing you all once more before I die; it is a pleasing thought; but, "Shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it." * Daughter of the late Dr John Gregory, who, at the date of this letter, was on a visit at Mrs Montagu's. Miss Gregory is now the wife of my respected friend, the Reverend Mr Alison. § + Dr Gregory's elegant little posthumous work, " A Father's Legacy to his Daughters." See Vol. I. p. 41. § Ibid. p. 250. "How shall I thank you, Madam, for all your goodness! your refusal to accept of any indemnification for the expence of my advertisements, is a new instance. I am ashamed, and know not what to say: Dii tibi―et mens sibi conscia recti, præmia digna ferant." The following little artless tale, referred to in a former letter, is well told, and does credit to the goodness of Dr Beattie's heart; although, unfortunately, his endeavours to serve his old friend, I believe, proved unsuccessful. LETTER CXXXVI. DR BEATTIE TO THE DUCHESS OF GORDON. Aberdeen, 5th July, 1779. "I now sit down to make good the threatening denounced in the conclusion of a letter, which I had the honour to write to your Grace about ten days ago. The request I am going to make I should preface with many apologies, if I did not know, that the personage to whom I address myself is too well acquainted with all the good emotions of the human heart, to blame the warmth of a school-boy attachment, and too generous to think the worse of me for wishing to assist an unfortunate friend. "Three weeks ago, as I was scribbling in my garret, a man entered, whom at first I did not know; but, on his desiring me to look him in the face, I soon recollected an old friend, whom I had not seen, and scarcely heard of, these twenty years. He and I lodged in the same house, when we attended the school of Laurencekirk, in the year 1747. I was then about ten years old, and he about fifteen. As he took a great liking to me, he had many opportunities of obliging me; having much more knowledge of the world, as well as more bodily strength, than I. He was, besides, an ingenious mechanic, and made for me many little things: and it must not be forgotten, that he first put a violin in my hands, and gave me the only lessons in music I ever received. Four years after this period, I went to college, and he engaged in farming. But our acquaintance was renewed about five years after, when I remembered he made me the confident of a passion he had for the greatest beauty in that part of the country, whom he soon after married. "I was very glad to see my old friend so unexpectedly; and we talked over many old stories, which, though interesting to us, would have given little pleasure to any body else. But my satisfaction was soon changed to regret, when, upon inquiring into the particulars of his fortune during these twenty years, I found he had been very unsuccessful. His farming projects had miscarried; and, happening to give some offence to a young woman, who was called the housekeeper of a gentleman on whom he depended, she swore she would be revenged, to his ruin; and was as good as her word. He satisfied his creditors, by giving them all his substance; and, retiring to a small house in Johnshaven,* made a shift to support his family by working as a joiner: a trade which, when a boy, he had picked up for his amusement. But a consumptive complaint overtook him; and though he got the better of it, he has never since been able to do any thing that * A small fishing-town in the county of Kincardine. requires labour, and can now only make fiddles, and some such little matters, for which there is no great demand in the place where he lives. He told me, he had come to Aberdeen on purpose to put me in mind of our old acquaintance, and see whether I could do any thing for him. I asked, in what respect he wished me to serve him. He would do any thing, he said, for his family, that was not dishonourable: and, on pressing him a little further, I found, that the height of his ambition was to be a tide-waiter, a land-waiter, or an officer of excise. I told him, it was particularly unlucky that I had not the least influence, or even acquaintance, with any one commissioner, either of the excise or customs: but, as I did not care to discourage him, I promised to think of his case, and to do what I could. I have since seen a clergyman, who knows my friend very well, and describes his condition as still more forlorn than he had represented it, “It is in behalf of this poor man, that I now venture to implore your Grace's advice and assistance. I am well aware, that, though his case is very interesting to me, there is nothing extraordinary in it; and that your Grace must often be solicited for others in like circumstances. It |