I beg, you’ll give me, in
your own Hand-writing, as minute &and
circumstantial an Account as you can
possible how you happened to be made
Prisoner, when &and where, what Hard-
ships &and Civilities you met with, &and
from whom, during the Time of
your tedious &and severe Confinement.
Forget not to mention Captain John
Hay’s seeing You, &and taking no Notice
of You, in your deplorable Distress,
&and to narrate particularly Mr David
Ross’s singular &and unaccountable Be-
haviour towards you; for I love Truth,
let who will be either justified or
condemned by it. As far as your Me-
mory can serve, have a particular
Attention to Dates &and to Names of
Persons &and of Places, &and omit not to
give a parlrparticular Account how, when, &and by qmwhom
your Liberation was at last happily
brought about. Share not Words, and,
after drawing out the History of your Distress, 1052 (1052)
Distress, let it lie by you for some
Time, before you dispatch it to me,
that so you may have Leisure to re-
consider it, &and to insert any Thinganything
you may have forgot to mention. For-
give the Freedom I take in giving
you such particular Directions as to
the Favour I ask of You; for I love
a precise Nicety in all Narratives
of Facts, as indeed one cannot ob-
serve too much Exactness in these
Things. Your History is to have a Place
in my Collection, which (I thank God)
is already beyond sixty Sheets of large
Paper, neatly bound up in several
8voOctavo Volumes. I spare no Pains &and
ExpenceExpense in procuring genuingenuine and
well-vouched Accounts of Things, &and
hitherto I have been successful e-
ven beyond my Expectations. I
wish, you may transmit to me the
Account of your own Distresses, &c.etc.
by the same Hand, that brings this
to you. Donald MacLeod &and Malcolm
MacLeod afforded me no Small Plea-
sure by informing me✝, that you bore up
exceeding well under all your Mis-
fortunes with great Courage &and Chear-
fulness,Cheerfulness, &and that you kept your Health while 1053 (1053)
while others were dying about You
like rotten Sheep. Mr Taylor like-
wise gave me excellent &and agreeable
Accounts of you. The two MacLeods
joined in giving me a most moving
History of the ✝barbarous Usage the
Prisoners met with, when lying upon
the Thames opposite to Tilbury-Fort.
Let me have your Account of that
Scene of Misery; for I aim much
at having several different Vouch-
ers for one &and the same Fact.