54 AVILLIAM CUMING, M.D. 



scales of the degrees in the thermometers of De Lisle, Fahren- 

 heit, and Reaumur. ' There is also a memorandum comparing 

 the amount of rainfall in two gauges placed respectively above 

 and below the chimnies at the top of the same house. On 

 February 7th, 1784, he informs Gough of a recent great 

 snowfall, blocking the road from Dorchester to Bridport. 

 Between 1 1 p.m. and 7 a.m. the Fahrenheit thermometer stood 

 at 19 degrees beneath freezing. We may infer that Cuming 

 possessed an accomplishment most useful to' an archseologist, 

 for in a letter to Gough (dated May 23rd, 1778, Saturday), the 

 doctor says that he intends next week to sketch the monument 

 erected about a month ago by her husband to the memory of 

 Lady Milton. This is an elaborate piece of Westmacott's work 

 in the church of Milton Abbas, containing figures of Caroline 

 Lady Milton and Joseph Damer, Baron Milton, afterwards 

 (1792) Earl of Dorchester. Perhaps Cuming made sketches 

 when, in che autumn of the same year, he saw some Roman 

 remains at Chatham, discovered while the fortifications were 

 being enlarged. But he seldom journeyed so far from home, 

 and there in May, 1774, he read the newspapers' account of the 

 opening of Edward L's tomb at Westminster Abbey — an 

 important archaeological event. Philology naturally appealed 

 to Cuming's antiquarian predilections. On May 22nd, 1776, he 

 informs Gough that he has been urging Mr. G. Baton and 

 " some others to compile a Dictionary of the ancient and 

 vulgar Scottish Language, which by the more general Inter- 

 course of the Inhabitants of the different Parts of the Island will 

 become daily more difficult to execute. Could such a Work be 

 effected by the joint Labours of a judiciously selected Society in 

 Scotland, I think it would be a valuable Aquisition (sic), and 

 would contribute more to elucidate our old English Poets than 

 all the Glossaries and vague Conjectures of the whole Tribe of 

 Editors and Commentators." Long afterwards (in 1808) this 

 design was accomplished single-handed by John Jamieson, D.D. 

 I trust that Cuming was not hoaxed by a sham Latin inscrip- 

 tion published anonymously in 1756, although a copy of it is 



