| Administrative History | James Hay Beattie [1768-1790]. Eldest son of Beattie. Named, with permission, after Beattie's patron James Hay, Earl of Erroll. His childhood is lovingly recorded in many letters, which show that Beattie was always a deeply involved parent, and in the memoir Beattie wrote shortly after James Hay's death. His childhood and adolescence were marred by his mother's mental illness, and her total disasppearance from his life when he was aged about eleven. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School, and then Marischal College from 1781 to 1786. He considered entering the church, but Beattie secured his appointment on 28 Spetember 1787 as his own assistant and successor. James Hay sometimes taught the Arts class, but was already ill with tubercolosis, of which he died on 19 November 1790. His father assembled a substantial volume of his prose and verse, printed in an edition of 200 copies for circulation among his friends in 1794, and subsequently published with Beattie's own poems in 1799 |
| Description | Letter from James Hay Beattie, Aberdeen, Friday, 4 o' clock in the afternoon, to James Beattie, Gordon Castle, mentioning the poor weather and telling his father that Mr Smith has sent him a chaise, along with this letter. Letter mentions that James Hay had sent his father two letters and the fiddle string, and that he has heard the south mail [by ship] has been lost due to bad weather. James Hay writes that he will have everything ready for his father's reception and will ask Ruddinan to prepare a new string for James Beattie's fiddle.
Annotated on reverse with sums. |