52 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 



cu*" confideration ; for his fchemes were profecuted frequently to 

 the detriment of his private fortune. 



IN 1755, be addreffed two Letters to the Truftees for Fifhe- 

 ries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland, containing 

 Obfervations on the common mode of treating Wool in this 

 country, and fuggefting a more judicious fcheme of manage- 

 ment. Thefe were publiflied, by direction of that Board, in 

 1756 : And the method there recommended having been uni- 

 verfally followed in practice, has been of real advantage to the 

 public, by improving the quality of Scottifh wool. He like- 

 wife, in 1761, wrote a paper on the Advantages of Shallow 

 Plowing, which was read to the Philofophical Society, and is pub- 

 limed in the third volume of their EfTays. 



IN 1741, Mr CLERK was appointed Lord Treafurer's Re- 

 membrancer in Exchequer ; and, when the forfeited eftates 

 were put under the management of Commiffioners in 1752, he 

 was fixed on as a proper perfon to fill a place at their Board. 

 In 1760, he was named one of the Truftees for Fifheries, Ma- 

 nufactures and Improvements : And in 1763, Commiffioner of 

 the Cuftoms in Scotland. 



His conduct in the difcharge of the public trufts thus com- 

 mitted to him, was fuch as gained him the efteem and confi- 

 dence of his colleagues. The two Boards of Truftees, in par- 

 ticular, often committed affairs of importance to his fole 'ma- 

 nagement ; and he never failed to acquit himfelf to their entire 

 fatisfaclion. Nor was his ability in their bufinefs more remark- 

 able than his delicacy : For fo fcrupulous was he, that though 

 he had juftly acquired confiderable influence at thofe Boards, 

 he was never fufpecled of having once employed it in improper 

 endeavours to ferve his perfonal friends. In the courfe of his 

 duty as a Commiffioner of the Cuftoms, he faithfully improved 

 every opportunity of doing fervice to the Revenue. 



ONE inftance, among many, deferves particular notice, both as 

 being a proof of the confidence repofed in him by the Board of 



Cuftoms, 



