| Description | Diary of William Smith. In addition to entries on personal matters, there is an account of the writer's activities as a member of the legal profession in Aberdeen and of his connection with the Methodist Society, including summaries of sermons preached by John Wesley, Christopher Hooper and others on circuit. Interspersed are entries of a miscellaneous character, sometimes in different hands, relating to methodism, religion or law, including the following:
'The qualifications of a member of a Society for Christian Edificiation' (folios 17 verso - 20)
not dated
Account of visit of John Wesley to Aberdeen. (folios 28 - 33)
2 - 7 May 1761
Copy of letter to Christopher Hooper, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Methodist affairs. (folio 36)
18 June 1761
Copy of letter to Robert Miller, merchant in Edinburgh, with request to forward hymnbooks (folio 39)
31 August 1761
Copy of letter to John Wesley. (folio 40)
28 September 1761
Account of ‘collections received weekly from the Society’. (folio 43 verso - 44)
14 June - 4 October 1761
Copies of letters [? to Wesley]; discusses building of preaching house in Aberdeen and circuit arrangements. (folios 63 - 64 and folios 66 - 67)
24 November 1761, January 1762
Copy of part of 6th book of 'History of Joseph, A Poem by Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe'. (folios 70 - 71)
not dated
'Lord's Prayer in verse by Dr. Fawkes' (folio 72 verso)
not dated
'Ten Commandments in verse by William Dodd' (folio 73)
not dated
Copies of correspondence between James Price, Gosport (Hampshire) and Robert Roberts, Portsmouth (Hampshire). (folios 75 - 77)
6 December l762
Legal maxims, in Latin. (folios 86 verso - 88)
not dated
Notes respecting differences between dry measures at Danzig and Aberdeen; prices of grain calculated accordingly. (folio 91 verso)
21 December 1765
'Epitome of the Gospels' (folios 111 - 125)
not dated
'Extract of a Letter from Glasgow concerning a Rabbi': describes his conversion to Christianity. (folios 125 verso - 126)
11 August 1785
Note of inscriptions on gravestones in the churchyard at Leslie (Aberdeenshire), concerning the family of Chalmers, the diarist's mother, Janet Chalmers, and his father, Adam Smith. (folio 128 verso)
29 August 1788
Copy of letter to Rev. John Barbour on the keeping of, and proposed contents of, minute book of the Methodist Society in Aberdeen. (folio 130)
9 September 1789 |