| Description | Correspondence to Anthony Adrian Keith-Falconer, 5th Earl of Kintore
Letters to the 5th Earl of Kintore 1778 - 1804, from:
Provost Jopp; Patrick Crawfurd; Robert Bruce, the Earl's agent at Keith Hall; Lord Airlie; John Marschall; Lord Adam Gordon and Lord Barnard; Henry Dundas; Lords Mansfield, Stormont, and Selkirk; George Campbell; Baron Keith; Lords Napier, Cathcart, Findlater and Crawfurd; Colonel (later General) Hay; Lord Balcarres; Lord Aberdeen; A. Brodie; J.D. Horn Elphinstone; Sheriff Alexander Burnett; Lords Douglas, Somerville, Elphinstone and Haddington; Dr Bannerman and others, chiefly merchants.
Concerning:
matters relating to the Mearns volunteer militia; the patronage of public, ecclesiastical and military offices; rumours about and comments upon the war against France; the use of the Earl's vote in the election of Scottish representative peers, particularly in the by-election of 1787; the use of his influence in parliamentary elections in north-east Scotland; horse breeding and hunting; road and bridge building in north-eat Scotland, and its financing; the sale of land for the Aberdeenshire canal; and various personal and domestic matters.
Includes:
1. a letter from the philosopher David Hume, grandson of Sir David Falconer of Newton, telling Lord Kintore that his elder brother has become "a compleat Scots Laird ... never setting a foot in town" while he himself is "not a great deal out of it, having to cultivate the 'farms' of the Parliament House and College , which as requiring no great outlay, and being less liable to scanty Crops, answer a younger Brother better", Edinburgh, 2 June 1793
2. a letter from General Hay, Aberdeen, in response to an invitation to meet Mr A. Brodie at the Burn, saying that while he has no objection to meeting Mr Dundas, he feels that this "might not be agreeable to our Landlord or perhaps his Guest", Leith Hall 2 August 1802
3. a letter from Sheriff Burnett giving details of the scheme for raising voluntary contributions to the exchequer in Kincardineshire, for war purposes, 23 March 1798
4. a letter from Principal George Campbell of Marischal College, concerning the proposed union with King's College, 1786
Also three copy letters from the Earl of Kintore to Henry Dundas concerning the Kincardineshire militia, with one on the same subject to Sheriff Burnett, 1798
2 bundles |