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Letters, drafts, and documents of and concerning Henry Mackenzie., 1781-1825.

 File
Identifier: MS.646

Scope and Contents

The contents include:

(i) Letters and drafts of letters of Henry Mackenzie to William Carmichael, USA, Minister to Spain, 1781, referring to the New Town of Edinburgh, Principal Robertson, Professor Adam Ferguson, Dr Blair, Adam Smith, his own literary work, and the founding of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in the hand of an amanuensis with corrections by Mackenzie (folio 1); to Pitt, 1792, thanking him for his ‘valuable additions’ to Mackenzie’s ‘Review of the Principal Proceedings of the Parliament of 1784’ (folio 12); to Lord Melville, 1806, relating to Melville’s acquittal and ‘my idea of writing the life of Mr. Pitt’ (folio 14); to Professor Dugald Stewart, 1810 (folio 16); to his son Hugh, 1812 (folio 18); to Walter Scott on his ‘Tales of my landlord’, 3rd Series, 1819 (folio 20); to the Lord Chief Commissioner, regarding the Highland Society’s address to the King, 1822 (folio 22); and to Archibald Constable, on Scott’s ‘Tales of the crusaders’, 1825 (folio 24);

(ii) Letter of Henry Mackenzie’s son, Joshua Henry Mackenzie, afterwards Lord Mackenzie, a Senator of the College of Justice, giving an account of his Spring Circuit, 1799 (folio 27);

(iii) Burgess tickets conferred by various towns on Henry Mackenzie, 1799, 1804 (folios 29, 44-45), and extract from the minutes of the Town Council of Nairn making Joshua Henry Mackenzie a burgess, 1806 (folio 30);

(iv) Copy of a letter of Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, to Lieutenant-General Charles Churchill, 1743, differing from the version printed in Coxe’s ‘Memoirs’ (London, 1798), volume i, page 762 notes (folio 32);

(v) Letter about the probable behaviour of the Hessians then relieving Blair Atholl, 1746 (folio 33);

(vi) Letter of Thomas Barrow to John Home about the situation in France, undated; Barrow appears to be the ‘cordial friend’ of William Collins’s ‘Ode on the popular superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland’, called ‘John Barrow’ by the Reverend Alexander Carlyle in ‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’, volume i, part ii, page 65 (folio 35);

(vii) Extract from Lord Webb Seymour’s note-book (kept during a tour through the Hebrides made about 1799), relating to his investigations into the authenticity of ‘Ossian’; partly printed in the ‘Report of the Committee of the Highland Society appointed to inquire into the ... Poems of Ossian’ (Edinburgh, 1805), pages 55-58 (folio 37);

(viii) Letter of George Rose to Mackenzie, asking him to help him with a sketch of Pitt to be added to a new edition of his pamphlets on finance, 1806 (folio 41).

Dates

  • Creation: 1781-1825.

Conditions Governing Access

Normal access conditions apply.

Conditions Governing Use

Normal reproduction conditions apply, subject to any copyright restrictions.

Extent

45 Leaves ; Folio and quarto inlaid in folio.

Language of Materials

From the Series: Undetermined

Arrangement

45 folios.

Repository Details

Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository

Contact:
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700