MR. PINKERTON TO MR. M. LAING. Hampstead, April 6th, 1800. The portraits are not yet come to hand, which I rather wonder at; but perhaps Mr. Campbell expects that I should send for them. If you have rightly stated Mr. Caldwall's ideas, they seem to me rather Irish. It is not my fault that he works slowly; and I have myself many mouths to feed; so that I cannot afford to pay an artist more than he really gains. It will be three or four years before I make any use of his drawings, if I ever use them at all; and a London publisher, far from making any addition, would rather be inclined to think them too high priced. Lady Ancram, in her letter to me, recommended two portraits, one or both of which have been copied; and I think it might be said, in general terms, that those which she has recommended have been already done; for it would be absolutely impossible for me to think of injuring the work by uninteresting sacrifices to family pride. But, on the other hand, as her ladyship has been extremely polite, if she only claim admission for one or two of her favorites, we must show her that the gallantry of chivalry is not wholly extinct. I leave this to your own prudence; but you can state to her the expense already incurred; and I beg you will on no account pledge me for the appearance of such portraits as she may select. I cannot help smiling at your formal enumeration of the Earl of Buchan's promises. That peer has so often deluded me in this way, that I beg to hear no more of them. If he send any thing, good.* I wish, however, you would apply for the Cardinal Beaton in Fifeshire; as the portrait is singularly interesting: I hope it is genuine ;-a consideration which renews my wonder at Caldwall's expectations, when I am in fact paying for several drawings absolutely useless to me or to any publisher, because they are not authentic. Your botanic professor could, I suppose, inform me at once what place is meant by Coryton, a name which occurs in Lightfoot† about a dozen times. Mr. Walker quite mistakes my meaning, which neither relates to the plants nor the etymon, but solely to the situation of the place, or rather what could be intended. I have not had time to look into M'Farlane's preface; but, if he meant any thing serious, he ought to have written a work on the subject; for castles cannot be destroyed by pop-guns; and, before he proves that Europe is Celtic, he must prove that all Europe speaks Irish. I suppose I shall not distinguish him by any particular favor, * How very sad is this remark, after all the active and disinterested kindness which had been shown to Mr. Pinkerton by Lord Buchan; a kindness very little deserved by any similar conduct on his part, or even by common courtesy in his letters to that peer! + Flora Scotica. but pass his book in silence, as I have done ten or twelve others of at least equal consequence. I am impatient to see your History, and am glad to hear that the Appendix is in the press. if At your convenience, I should be obliged to you you would look at the monuments of the Seton family in Seton; and, if the faces be well preserved, order drawings to be taken. MR. M. LAING TO MR. PINKERTON. April 6th, 1800. I hope the ten portraits sent last have arrived safe. I enclose a list of some from the catalogue of portraits at Yester, omitting the more recent ones by Sir G. Kneller and Medina;* and a list of pictures at Panmure, hastily taken by Dr. Gillies' Although the name of Medina is now but little known in the annals of painting, this artist was considered of sufficient importance in his time to have been invited into Scotland by the Earl of Leven, under an engagement that he would procure him a subscription of 500l. worth of business. During his residence there, he was knighted by the Duke of Queensberry; and such was the patronage he received that he never returned to Brussels, whence he came, but died at Edinburgh, and was buried in the church-yard of the Grey Friars of that city in 1711. He was of a Spanish family who had settled in the Low Countries, where he was a scholar of Francis Du Chatel, but endeavored to form his style by studying the works of Rubens. Lord Orford, in his Anecdotes of Painting (Works, III. p. 375,) has given a portrait of Medina and an account of his life. brother. To-morrow I shall send the catalogue of those at Tynningham, of no great value. As Caldwall must have soon done at Newbottle, you will consider where or on what subjects he should be next employed. Let me know also whether to employ Carfrae, the young man whom Lord Buchan recommended, in doing a portrait here, Pitcairn's for instance, to be sent up as a specimen. My own opinion is, that Caldwall might be employed here or at Yester, and recommended to those who offer portraits gratis, and that Carfrae, if he answers Lord Buchan's recommendation, as he is a young man and works expeditiously, might be sent at a cheaper rate, to take scattered portraits in the North, or in the neighbourhood of Dryburgh. of Mr. G. Chalmers transmitted to the late Mr. Robertson, minister of Dalmeny, author of the History of Mary Queen of Scots, 1793, a copy an English translation, found in the Paper-Office, of Mary's long letter to Bothwell from Glasgow, different from the Scotish translation which was published. I have received it from Robertson's relations, and have written to Mr. Chalmers, to know what part of it was marked with Cecil or Elizabeth's hand, but have got no answer. It was considered by him and Robertson as an indisputable proof of the forgery. To me it appears an incontestable proof of the authenticity of the letters; as it and the Scotish are evidently two different versions from the same original. If you could procure from Mr. Astle any information concerning the original in the Paper-Office, I would transmit by the first opportunity a copy of the version, with a few queries, to be laid previously before him. I would add a short remark, which I intend to publish, on the specimens of Erse manuscripts in his Essay on Writing, which are indisputably Irish manuscripts brought to the Highlands. Portraits formerly at Pinkie House, now at Yester, the Marquis of Tweedale's. Alexander Henderson, by Vandyke. Two pictures of Gentlemen, one in armor, by Jameson. Earl of Kinnoul, half. G. Buchanan, upon wood. Lord Marchington (Mersington, I suspect, a Lord of Session at the Revolution.)-See Balcarras's Mem. Prince Henry, at length, when a child. Countess of Dunfermline, half; very curious, by F. Zucchero. Dame Isabel Hamilton, Lady Seton, on wood, 1589. Earl of Dunfermline, at length, by Vandyke. Lord Chancellor Seton, half; by F. Zucchero. Lord Seton, upon wood, æt. 27; an. 1558. Countess and Earl of Roxburgh, two portraits, by Kneller. Countess of Lauderdale, by Lely. Duke of Lauderdale, by Lely. Countess of Cassilis, by Mic. Wright, 1662. Lady Erskine, by Lely. Earl of Errol, by Cornelius Jansen. Earl of Buccleuch, in armor. First Marquis of Tweedale, by Lely. Lady J. S. when young, afterwards Lady Tweedale, on wood. Countess of Tweedale. Earl of Tweedale. Lady Grizzle Lesly, Countess of Dunfermline. Old Earl of Buccleuch. VOL. II. K |