instability of success, and in which we but too sensibly feel, how necessary is public protection, to encourage and sustain us, even in our least chequered and unclouded career. I have the honour to be, Sir, with grateful respects, your very obliged servant,

(Signed)

EDMUND KEAN.

Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart.

When our intention was first intimated to Mr Kean, he said, "That the approbation of the Edinburgh audience, he had ever rated, as one of the proudest feathers in his dramatic plume, and the testimony proposed, he would treasure with the most zealous regard and gratitude."

6. SIR WILLIAM NAIRNE, BART.

Regarding the Castle of Dunsinane.

I have long felt an ardent wish, to see some building erected on a spot, not only celebrated in history, but immortalised in the splendid effusions of Shakespeare, as the Hill of Dunsinane. I visited this celebrated place as far back as the year 1772, when only about eighteen years of age, and found a number of people in the neighbourhood, from whom I learnt all the traditions of the country, and was astonished to discover that they corresponded so much with the incidents detailed in Shakespeare's drama.

Dunsinane Hill, (which in Gaelic means "The hill of ants,)" is supposed to have derived that name, from the great number of persons employed in erecting the fortress on its top. It is situated about ten miles S. S. E. from Birnam wood; six miles N. E. from Perth, and stands isolated in the Sidla ridge of hills, in the form of a sugar loaf, a thousand feet above the level of the sea, and six hundred above its own base. Its flat summit is always beautifully verdant. There is still

the appearance of several parapet walls, ditches, and outposts, ascribed to Macbeth. The original height of the rampart, which is about two hundred feet in diameter, cannot now be ascertained; but, from the immense mass remaining, it must have been very considerable. Several openings into this mass have been made, and it appeared to consist of whin and quarry stones, mortar, and slates, which must have been brought from a distance. In the sections across the area, on the top, scorched grain, charcoal, burnt fir, and oak beams, and the bones of horses, cattle, sheep, &c. were found, so that the fortress seems to have been destroyed by fire. It must be the earnest wish of every antiquary, that the spot were more thoroughly explored, as perhaps the most celebrated monument of antiquity in Scotland.

Impressed with these ideas, I earnestly advised Sir William Nairne, who, as one of the Scotch Judges, was called Lord Dunsinnan, to erect a monument on the top of that celebrated eminence, and, in return, had the honour of receiving from him the following answer :

SIR,

Dunsinnan, 6th September 1808.

I have had the honour to receive your letter. The public is under great obligations to you, for the active industry which you have employed, in investigating and preserving the antiquities of the country, and I return thanks for that part of it, which you have been pleased to bestow on what concerns my property. Although I am not sure if the fine green top upon the black hill, which affords evident marks of manual labour and habitation, would receive much embellishment from any thing that could be built upon it, yet I should willingly give my consent to any gentleman, who thought it would be ornamental to the country, to make such an erection as you should approve of, because I am sure it would be in the best taste; but, as to myself, the truth is, that I have been laying out so much of my money in the valley, that I really could

not at present afford any thing to the hill. I am, however, much obliged to you for suggesting the idea, whether it should or should not be hereafter realised.

I have the honour to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient and faithful servant,

Sir John Sinclair, Bart.

WM. NAIRNE.

However much attached to the improvements of agriculture, I could not help lamenting that the cultivation of the valley, should, in this case, prevent the embellishment of the hill.

There is little chance of any thing being effected for promoting so desirable an object, except by public subscription, the amount of which might be laid out under the direction of the Antiquarian Societies of Perth and Edinburgh.

7.-JAMES BRuce, esq. of KINNAIRD, THE ABYSSINIAN

TRAVELLER.

No doubt, I believe, is now entertained, by impartial inquirers, regarding the veracity of this celebrated traveller, as the various accounts he gave of the country he visited, have since been confirmed by the evidence of persons who have resided in Abyssinia. He was by some considered to be a repulsive and uncourteous character, but, in my intercourse with him, he was quite the reverse; and it is impossible for any one to write a letter, penned with more courtesy, than the one I subjoin. I had accidentally purchased a work respecting a discovery of the sources of the Nile, which I thought might interest him, and of which I requested his acceptance. His answer was as follows:

SIR,

Kinnaird House, Aug. 21. 1790.

I have received the honour of yours of yesterday's date, and am very much obliged to you, for the old edition of Father Jeronymo, which I never had before seen.

I see the publishers have very judiciously left out a great deal of the stories, that do that historian and his translator little credit. I shall, when bound, place it in my library, among the tracts I have received from the indulgence of my friends. When writing upon the country, the subject of that Jesuit's performance, I shall mention, with the gratitude I ought, the honourable name of the donor.

I beg the favour that you will believe, if I can be of any sort of use to you here, that you may at all times command my best services; and that I have the honour to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient faithful humble servant,

JAMES BRUCE.

8.-DAVID Wilkie, esq. the celebrated painter.

I happened to dine in company with Mr Wilkie, the celebrated painter, and, in the course of the conversation, asked him "How he came to adopt that profession?" I inquired, "Had your father, or your mother, or any of your relations a turn for painting? or what led you to follow that line ?" Upon which Mr Wilkie said, "The truth, Sir John, is, that YOU made me a painter." "How, I! (with astonishment I exclaimed), I never had the pleasure of meeting with you before." To which Mr Wilkie replied, "When you were drawing up the Statistical Account of Scotland, my father, who was a clergyman in Fife, had much correspondence with you respecting his parish, in the course of which you sent him a coloured drawing of a soldier, in the uniform of your Highland Fencible regiment. I was so delighted with the

sight, that I was constantly drawing copies of it, and that made me a painter."

Some copies of the engraving, which was productive of such a fortunate result, are still extant.

It is astonishing on what trifling incidents the choice of a profession depends, and it is singular that two circumstances, so totally unconnected with each other, as my having drawn up the Statistical Account of Scotland, and having raised a regiment of Fencibles, when combined, should have contributed to form so celebrated an artist. Mr Wilkie's father, who was minister of the parish of Cults, in Fife, was a remarkably able man, and particularly distinguished for knowledge in mathematics and arithmetic. He wrote a very clever work, called "The Theory of Interest," of which I wished to procure a copy; and having applied to his son for that purpose, I had the pleasure of receiving from him the following answer:

DEAR SIR,

Cambo House, Crail, Oct. 20. 1824.

The work by my late father, to which you are pleased to allude, The Theory of Interest, was subsequently published by him, but is now, from the lapse of years, entirely dispersed. Should there be, however, upon my return to Kensington, any copy remaining at hand, be assured it will give me very great pleasure to be allowed the honour of presenting it to you, in memory of that respect which my father entertained for one, whose friendship and good opinion he was, while he lived, so justly proud of. I have the honour to be, with high esteem, Dear Sir, your very faithful servant,

DAVID WILKIE.

Sir John Sinclair, Bart.