146 Some LETTERS OF PATRICK MILLER. 
34 23rd May, 1793. 
35 14th June, 1794. 
36 3rd June, 1796. 
37 18th June, 1798. A similar view is expressed on 27th June, 
1794. ‘‘ For my part I would rather have £200 clear of my own 
than hold any commission in a service where money and political 
interest are, in general, the only guides to preferment.’’ 
38 20th June, 1794. 
39 27th December, 1795, and 16th January, 1796. 
40 16th October, 1797. 
41 14th April, 1790. 
42 Spanish sheep, or the fine woolled Negrette and Paular 
breeds from Spain, were kept by Mr Stewart of Hillhead, who seems 
to have introduced them first to these parts (Singer, p. 309). By 
1812 they had not yet become properly acclimatised, which may 
account for Miller’s experience. They produced a fine merino wool. 
It was soon found that crossed with the Ryeland breed they did very 
well, General Dirom having a flock at Burnfoot (ibid., 607). 
43 13th March, 1792. 
43a Mr John Cunningham, father of Allan, was Miller’s steward 
until his death in 1800. 
44 Culley’s breed is, of course, the modern Border Leicester. In 
1767 Matthew and George Culley, pupils of Robert Bakewell of 
Dishley, Leicestershire, started farming in Northumberland, bringing 
north with them a small flock of the improved Leicester sheep which 
Bakewell had rendered famous (Scottish Journal of Agriculture, 1921, 
October, p. 408). It is recorded that by 1812 Miller’s Border Leices- 
ters were flourishing on his farm of Pennyland (Singer, 370). 
45 3rd May, 1792. 
46 8th April, 1793. 
47 29th March, 1794. 
48 2nd June, 1794. 
49 3rd June, 1796. 
50 Major Wm. Maxwell, 1765-1786, was ruined by the stoppage 
of the Ayr Bank in 1772. His wife, Mary Boscawen, daughter of 
Viscount Falmouth, apparently survived him, and the estate, when 
purchased by Miller, was no doubt burdened with her jointure. 
51 Ist July, 1798. 
52 11th June, 1799. 
53 19th March, 1799. It is possible that these statements were 
not very real, but were expressed in his letters to his son to ward off 
further pecuniary demands. But such a reading is totally alien to 
Miller’s character. 
54 28th November, 1798. 
55 8th April, 1799. It is worth recording that Miller paid for 
Dalswinton £25,000 in 1785, and it was sold by his executors in 1822 
for £120,000. 
