| Description | Letter to James Gordon of Letterfourie, London, from his brother Alexander in Madeira, asking him to send out hams, pickled ox tongues, a barrel of cured beef, Scots barley and split peas, shortage of beef has made it hard to feed everyone in the house, ‘who at same time have or affect more Daintiness than might be supposed or well becomes them’, he himself does not like salt beef but eats it to set an example when they cannot get fresh, ‘in time you will no doubt think of sending us out some woman for a house keeper I can’t say that I much feel the want of one … you know I have got a girl in Scotland whom I am obliged to support and bound to care for as she is now a woman, I think she might do well enough to serve me in that capacity’, ‘Mouat and Duff … would you believe it, they refuse sleeping in the same room altho in different beds, this has chagrined me a good deal’, 22 October 1760 |