| Administrative History | Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771). The modern poet most admired by Beattie. Beattie heard in 1765 that Gray was visiting Scotland, introduced himself by letter, and spent two days with Gray at Glamis Castle. Gray advised Beattie on 'The Hermit' and 'The Minstrel'. Beattie supervised the publication in 1768 of a magnificent edition of Gray's poems by the Foulis Press in Glasgow.
Presumably the 'Mr Williamson' mentioned in this letter is Peter Williamson (1730 - 1799), publisher and adventurer. As a young boy, Williamson was kidnapped by a merchant from his Aberdeenshire home and transported to the American plantations. He returned to Aberdeen in 1758, where he was prosecuted for libel by merchants for his account of the kidnapping in which he exposed the role played by local magistrates and businessmen. He was at once convicted, fined, and banished from the city, while his tract [his memoirs, 'French and Indian Cruelty Exemplified in the Life and Various Vicissitudes of Peter Williamson'], which had passed through several editions in Glasgow, London, and Edinburgh, was ordered to be burnt by the public hangman at the market cross. In response Williamson brought legal action against the magistrates in Aberdeen, and in 1762 was awarded £100 damages by the court of session. He was also successful in a second suit brought in 1765 against the parties engaged in the trade of kidnapping. |
| Description | Letter from Thomas Gray, Old - Park, near Darlington, Durham, to James Beattie, Aberdeen, mentioning Mr Williamson; regarding the work received from Beattie - regarding poetry and the reading of Mr Ferguson's book [Adam Ferguson (1723 - 1816), philosopher and historian, published his 'An Essay on the History of Civil Society' in 1767]. Letter also mentions a Lord Gray.
Letter is accompanied by an annotation, which is partly incomplete and signed with James Beattie's initials:
"...in some parts cannot be understood ... that one to which it is an answer, ... therefore I have inclosed. J B".
Reverse of letter is annotated: 'Mr Gray of Cambridge 12 August 1767' and 'Printed'. |