I gladly embrace this
Opportunity to offer You my most
hearty Thanks for the singular Fa-
vour you have done me in desir-
ing Donald Roy MacDonald to ho-
nour me with a Visit. He has been
with me several Times, &and has
given me some excellent Nar-
ratives, well worth the remark-
ing. He is a very sensible, clever,
pretty Fellow, &and my worthy Patro-
ness is much pleased with him.

I hope, long before this Time,
my Memorandum by Malcolm Mac-
Leod &and my Letter by Donald Mac-
Leod have reached You, &and I would
fain flatter my selfmyself with the Ex-
pectation of your giving a ready &and (793)
&and chearfulcheerful Compliance to my
Requests, which will lay me un-
der particular Obligations to
You, and will be doing an inex-
pressible Service to the Cause
of Truth &and Justice.

I should not act the Part of
a sincere Friend, did I not remark
to You, that there is a pa-
per handed about, as a Matter
of great Curiosity, both in Lond-
on &and Edinburgh, which is given
out to be an exact✝ Transcript
of that remarkable Letter, which
the Laird of MacLeod is said to
have written to You on a certain
Subject. I am persuaded, a thous-
and Copies of it (if not more) are
in London, &and as many in &and about
Edinburgh. A Gentleman, who
came lately from London, and
brought a Copy of it along with
him, was pleased to make me a Visit 794 (794)
Visit, &and to allow me to take a
Copy for my selfmyself; but I can as-
sure You, I have all along po-
sitively refused to give Copies
of it ^even to even my best Friends,
who have taken Care, upon my
Refusal, to procure Copies from
other Hands. Your Friend, James
MacDonald,1 can well vouch this
for me. I have been, &and am still,
so scrupulous in this (which I
deem a Point of great Delicacy)
as not to shewshow my Copy at all;
that so it may not be said, that
I have had any the smallest
Hand in spreading it. When I
declared my SurprizeSurprise to the Gen-
tleman, who allowed me to take a
Transcript from his Copy, how such
a Thing should be so common, he
told me, that it was so far from
being a Secret in London, that,
on the contrary, it was as public
there as any Thinganything in Writ could be, 795 (795)
be, he doubted not, but it might
soon appear in Print. — For
your Satisfaction, Dear Sir, &and my
own Information, I have thought
fit to send you inclosedenclosed an
exact Copy of it as it is hand-
ed about; for none of them has
any Date or Place. Be so good
as to inform me, if the Copy be
really in the same Words with
the Original, and, if it be so, to
let me know the Date of the
Letter. If the Copy be false &and
forged, I would earnestly beg,
once more, to have a faithful
Copy under your own Hand,
that so it may not only be pre-
served carefully, but likewise
that I may have it in my Pow-
er to destroy the Credit of the
spurious Copy, which every Bo-
dyeverybody looks upon as genuingenuine. To
make you easy and secure as to 796 (796)
to the Correspondence I so ear-
nestly desire you may honour me
with, I do solemnly declare. upon
the sacred Word of a Christian
&and a Clergyman, that whatever
Discoveries (either upon this or
any other Point) you are pleas-
ed to favour me with, they shall
be a dead Secret, untilluntil a pro-
per Season come about, and
shall not be communicated
to any (as Matters stand now)
without your particular Allowance.

I am glad, it is in my Pow-
er to inform You, from good Au-
thority, that Bettie Burk fre-
quently makes Mention, in her
conversing with Friends, of Mac-
Donald of Kingsburgh with
great Respect and warm Af-
fection; but you must not let
Mrs MacDonald know this lest
Jealousy should arise in her Breast.

With the utmost Sincerity I
heartily wish You &and Mrs MacDo-
nald a happy &and comfortable
New-Year with large Amends;
&and that all Things good and
happy may ever attend You &and
all your Concerns, is the ear-
nest Prayer of,