I would have you do for me<.> I write to Mr Maclauran at the same time: I cannot say but I am somewhat uneasy Mr Duff’s presentation is not yet come down.48 But I am very sure that if in that or any thing that casts up it be proper to medle for me neither Mr
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Maclauran nor you will forget me. I had once some thoughts of writing to the Sollicitor49 or my Lord Provost of Edinburgh.50 But considering how litle I have the honour to be of their acquaintance I thought it better to refer all to you and Mr Maclauran. I am Dearest Sir
with the sincerest respect
your most
humble servant
George Turnbull
8. To CHARLES MACKIE
MS: EUL, La. II. 91; unpubl.
[Utrecht], 10 January 1730
Dear Sir,
I heartily wish you many happy returns of years. I was indeed Longing most impatiently to hear from you; But your friendship I could never suspect; nor would I fear the indolence you complain off did any opportunity offer of doing me or any friend a real service. Your letters will ever be most agreable to me when they bring me good accounts of your self & your’s; But this last indeed brought me news which gave me a very sensible uneasiness. Poor Trotter51 is he indeed taken from us! And must Mr Scot52 also die! How vain and uncertain is human life sed ita visum Superis!53 I am glad however to hear my other friends are so weel; & that Mr Warrender54
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is to come abroad with that young Lord: sure I am his Lordship is very lucky: And how earnestly must I wish who know & like Warrender so weel that he would come to this place & that it might be our mutual happiness to travel together. And indeed this is an exceeding good place for study. Mr Wauchope55 who gives his kind service to you & with whom I am very happy gives great application & with Excellent success. But I need not trouble you with an account of the colleges he attends. Lord George Hay56 who is just come here within these few days, I would gladly hope, will follow his good Example. He is recommended to my care in the most obliging manner by the Marquis;57 & lodges in the same house with us. Allow me to give some account of my self<.> I attend the college of Mr Otto upon the Pandects & believe me it is an Excellent one.58 I have likewise a privatissimum upon Grotius in conjunction with Mitchel,59 who you may be sure remembers you most kindly, & My Lord Cornberry60 with whom I have the honour to be very weel acquainted & who is indeed the most virtous wise young gentleman I ever knew & at the same time has a vast deal of Life & wit. No doubt you know Mr Otto’s Thesaurus juris is now finished & the price mounts every day.61 It is certainly a curious collection. Mr Cunninghame62 to whom Otto has been vastly obliged in making that
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collection says it has much dimi<ni>shed the value of a Law library he had gathered from all parts of the world with great care. And By the bye Cunninghame has been here severall days; he is a worthy good man but the most entetaea about his readings of Horace & Phaedrus.63 I have been often with him & he with me; & I am sure I could divert you a litle if I durst; But all I dare say is that you will soon see another learned work of his in which he is to defend as warmly as ever he attacked a certain Learned Doctor at the Expence of a very Reverend prelate.64 Mr Duker65 whose Thucidides we will now have in three months gives Mr Wauchope a privatissimum upon Sueton.66 He is realy as Good as he is learned & the last he has given unquestioned proofs of. He is likewise busy just now in giving the finishing stroke to some notes upon Livy upon his collegue Mr Drakenburg’s67 account a book the world will likewise very soon see. You see then Dear Charles how I employ my time here. And tho I am Exceeding happy in Mr
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Wauchope & will never part with him upon any consideration while he has any use for me; yet you know sufficiently my inclinations do not give me to be a Wanderer: if therefore Will Scot happens to die (which I sincerly pray heaven may forbid) Could it possibly be brought about, the profession of the law of nature is much to my taste and I would willingly make a bargain with Mr Scot about it: The Greek Class is the most profitable & perhaps if other folks could be brought to consent to it he would not be averse to return to it upon certain terms.68 And I have now three hundred pounds good. No doubt you sufficiently understand me & I would have you to talk with my good friend Mr Maclauran about it. To no other but you two will I ever write or speak of the matter. I can’t think but considering how long I have chiefly applied my self to that study & the opportunities I just now have of farder improving my self; it might be said I might be trusted with that profession. And in short what upon that melancholy event which it seems there is reason to dread I would have proposed to Mr Scot is that I should be made professor of the Law of nations & that he should return to the Greek but supply both till it please God to send me safe back with Mr Wauchope & have both salaries; & that upon my return I should enter upon the profession & the salary & pay him a reasonable consideration. If this appears to you Romantick & unpracticable it is only told to a friend with whom I can trust any thing & who I know would very gladly serve me. My kind respects to my good friend Mr Maclauran<.> I thank him for all his favours & particularly his goodness to my brothers. pray remember me to Mrs Macky69 & to John Stevenson70 & all our friends in the castle<.> pray let me hear from you now & then. I wish you would write
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to Doctor Mitchel71 who is now at Paris & send the letter to me that I may write along with it<.> I want to corespond with him for he can be of great use to me<.>
your’s
G. Turnbull
9. To CHARLES MACKIE
Address: A Monsieur Charles Macky Professeur en Histoire a Edinburgh
par Londre
MS: EUL, La. II. 91; unpubl.
Paris, 23 October 1730
Dear Sir
I long now to hear from you & hope you’l give me that pleasure soon. We had a very agreable journey allong the Rhine; & were so agreably disapointed at the German courts we saw that we design to see more of them; in going to Italy we will pay a visit to the Court of Lorrain & so see Strasburg Munich perhaps Vienna & go thro the Tirroll. The Court at Brussels is vastly stupid; But Brussels is a delightfull place. To Enjoy the company at Spa & Aix la chappelle we deserted the Rhine came thro Treves a wretched country saw luxembourg a town I don’t know whether it may not at present be the strongest in the world: its mines are prodigious. At Spa we had very good company & at Aix no less so; for the prince of Orange was there: who Every body agrees, was his body as good as his spirit, would be a very Extraordinary young prince.72 We chose after that to go into Brabant & Flanders & from thence to come to Paris that we might see a litle of its magnificence
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before we take up our winter quarters which I suppose will be at Angiers if there are not too many English there. There are vast numbers here But I can give no account of any of em for we never go to the English coffeehouse but shun our country men as much as is possible. I only see Doctor Pringle73 sometimes; a valuable acquaintance I assure you. Pray write to me
