| Administrative History | James Boswell (1740 - 1795). The friend and biographer of Samuel Johnson, who appears to have been an early friend of Beattie, though it is unclear when they first met. He is first mentioned in the Beattie correspondence in 1770. He introduced Beattie to Johnson in 1771. |
| Description | Letter from James Boswell, Edinburgh, to James Beattie, Aberdeen, telling Beattie that Boswell is looking forward to seeing him; regarding Boswell's friend, Mr John Sinclair of Ulbster [Sir John Sinclair (1754 - 1835), first baronet, an agricultural improver, politician, and codifier of ‘useful knowledge’]; Scotticisms and Webster's [Alexander Webster (1707 - 1784), Church of Scotland minister] collection. Boswell writes about his stay in Chester during the residence of the Bishop [Beilby Porteus (1731 - 1809), bishop of Chester in 1776 & London in 1787; DD at Cambridge c. 1765 and friend of Beattie], and David Hume's and Mr Beattie's collection of Scotticisms. Boswell asks Beattie to send his collection of Scotticisms to Sinclair and writes about Beattie's revision of the late Mr Riddock's [or, Riddoch's] Sermons. Boswell sends his compliments to Mrs Riddock [or, Riddoch] and mentions seven subscriptions.
Annotation on the reverse of letter: 'answered'. |