1823,1 Slephensiana, No, XIX, 



which sonic Goths had lately destroy- 

 fd, thons"h it is in one of the aisles of 

 the church in Stirliuff. 



Could your lordship give me an 

 answer to the following queries: — Is 

 there any manuscript of the poet Bar- 

 bour, or is there any edition of his 

 MOrks prior to the year 1665 ? Do any 

 poems exist in the Bucban, or in the 

 old Pictish language; or are there any 

 older Scottish poems th:in those <jf 

 which a specimen was lately published 

 by Lord Hailes ; What are the oldest 

 manuscripts relating to the history of 

 Scotland .' 



Witli my humble compliments to 

 Lady Buchan, I have the honour to 

 be, with the greatest respect, 

 j\Iy lord, 

 Your lordsliip's most obedient 



and faithful humble servant, 

 John Anderson'. 

 Glasgow College; Nov. 12, 1786. 



333 



My Lord, — In consequence of 

 your letter of the 28tli of Fe- 

 bruary last, which I was honoured 

 with in course of post, I applied 1o 

 Mr. Clow, the executor of Dr. Simson's 

 will, and to Mr. Andrew Foulis, the son 

 of the celebrated printer, for materials, 

 which, in conjunction with my own, 

 might enable me to write the life of 

 Dr. Simson, and of Mr. Foulis ; and 

 this I shall be happy to do, out of 

 respect to them, and to your lordship's 

 desire. 



Mr. Clow's answer to me was, tiiat 

 he had some years ago, at the desire 

 of the late Dr. Hunter, transmitte<l to 

 him a short account of Dr. Simson's 

 life and writings, to be inserted in the 

 " Biograpliia Britannica;" tliat he 

 gave a copy of that account to Dr. 

 William Traill, formerly a professor 

 at Aberdeen, who has undertaken 1o 

 add to it an account of Dr. Simson 

 under the character of an eminent 

 geometrician ; and that he tranrfmitled 

 a copy of the same to tiie late Earl 

 Stanhope, who approved oi' it, and of 

 the proposal of Dr. Traill's addition. 

 These facts make it improper for me 

 to write any thing for the Antiquarian 

 Society of Scotland till they arc pub- 

 lixhed. 



The answer that I got from Mr. 

 Foulis was, that he would examine 

 his lather's papers, and supply me with 

 facts and dates ; and 1, in return, pro- 

 mised to .send nothing to the Sotiety 

 till it should bo revised by him ; whllt 



the merit of his father would be the 

 more consi)icnous, that it was not 

 illumined by filial duty, but by an im- 

 partial friend. I must wait, therefore, 

 till Mr. Foulis aeconii)Iislies his [)ro- 

 iiiise ; while, in the mean time, I have 

 the honour to be, with the greatest 

 respect, IMy lord, 



Your lordship's most obedient 

 and most faithful humble servant, 

 John Andi:rson. 

 Glasr/ow College ; March 15, 1787. 



HENRY VII. 



Some person giving an account to 

 Henry Vli. of certain bold jjrocecd- 

 ings that had passed in Parliament, 

 with many expressions of concern, the 

 king, whoso heart was callous to the 

 feelings of honesly and virtue, replied 

 that the most profitable way of weak- 

 ening the factious patriots was by 

 preferring the chief of them. This 

 principle he had resolved to adhere to, 

 and it became a well-known rule witli 

 him. He also taught, that " when the 

 most sober and wise part of them 

 draweth oil", the residue are but a rude 

 multitude and rope of sand." 



BORNHOLM. 



The island of l?ornholm may be 

 esteemed, since the loss of Norway, 

 the most \aluable possession of the 

 crown of Denmark, in a mineral 

 point of view, 'ihere are many 

 causes combine to prevent an active 

 and thorougii investigation of its 

 treasures; amongst the foremost of 

 which may be reckoned the financial 

 embarrassments of Denmark, and the 

 jealousies attending an undefined idea 

 of manorial rights, inseparable from 

 absolute governments. The attempts 

 made by i)rivate individuals, not na- 

 tives, have been too limited in point of 

 abilities and resources to produce any 

 beneficial elfects to themselves or the 

 country. Not long since, two scienti- 

 fic gentlemen, Professor Oersted and 

 M. Flsmark, were sent by the govern- 

 ment to examine into the mineral pro- 

 ductions of tiie iksland; but the super- 

 ficial examination of the best theoreti- 

 cal philosoplicrs must always fall 

 greatly short of those discoveries 

 wliieli could be made by practical men, 

 furnished with the proper powers for 

 actual research. Its mineral products 

 are coal, excellent iron-stone, copper- 

 ore, lead-ore, fire-clay, fire-slone, sand- 

 stone, pebbles, and cement. The coal 

 hitherto worked is an inferior kind of 

 tlic coal called kennel or canal coal, 

 similar 



