Narrative of a Conversation with MacDonald of Kingsborrow, March 6th 1751, in the Canongate

Wednesday Morning (twixt 8 &and 9 o’ Clock)
March 6th, 1751 []. I waited upon Mr Mac-
Donald of Kingsborrow, Senior, at his
Quarters in the Canongate, when (among
other Things) he told me, that the Laird
of MacLeod had complained to one
Lieutenant MacLeod MacDonald (a
Relation of Kingsborrow’s) that he
[MacLeod] had been ill used by
Kingsborrow, in that Kingsborrow would
not deliver up to him the original Let-
ter, nor give him a Copy of it; for
that he [MacLeod] had forgot what
he had written in that Letter. Lieu-
tenant MacDonald said, he was per-
suaded, that the LairdLord behoved to be
mistaken as to Kingborrow’s giving a
Copy of Said Letter to the LairdLord him-
self, &and accordingly engaged to procure
a Copy, to which the LairdLord agreed.
Soon after Lieutenant MacDonald
brought a Copy of the Letter from
Kingsborrow’s own Hands to the LairdLord
of MacLeod, who perused it with great
Attention, &and expressed himself in these
or the like Words, “I have never seen a
‘genuine Copy of the Letter till now, &and
I believe this to be a genuine Copy in-deed.1632(1632)
“deed. But O! this is the Devil of
“a Letter – this is the Devil of a
“Letter!”

At the same Time Kingsborrow declar-
ed, that the Copy, which was headed
about, was not genuine, but that it
contained the Substance of the Origi-
nal, though the Original was still
worse. He refused to give me a Copy of
the Letter, because (as he said) he was
unwilling to give any offence to seve-
ral worthy persons, who were con-
nected with the LairdLord of MacLeod;
&and withal; he positively declared, that
he had never given a Copy of the
Letter to any person whatsomeverwhatsoever,
but that some person or other, from
perusing the Original Letter with
Attention &and Leisure, had endeavoured
to draw out a Copy from Strength of
Memory, which came far short of the
original Letter. – Kingsborrow gave me
a most wretched Character of the LairdLord of
MacLeod in more Instances than one
He informed me, that his Son ^ie Kingsborough son] &and Flora Mc^Donald
were married at Armadale in Sky upon
Tuesday, NovrNovember 6th, 1750.