Papers of David Skene: correspondence: Letter from David Skene to his father, Andrew Skene Letter from David Skene, Edinburgh, to Andrew Skene (his father), in which he defends his spending - thought his father wanted him to 'live as the other gentlemen sons of a moderate fortune did'; has endeavoured to stick to this rule and does not see that he could have saved much of what he has spent and states 'how my paying 7 pence for my dinner out of town looks preposterous, I do not know'. He tells his father that Dr Rutherford himself had said that he could not attend his patients without paying a due to the infirmary and nor could he view operations for 6 pence. He states that Mrs Chalmers is pretty well and has pills, and describes her reaction to them; has only seen Monro in class as he has been taken up with the severe illness of his son; he never received any money from Lady Campbell but received a guinea from Provost Challmers; he describes difficulties in sending a pot of conserve to his father and of obtaining a medicinal compound for him; has delivered the letter to Mrs Leith and dined one day with Mrs Farquharson and he describes briefly operations performed in Infirmary, November 1751. November 1751