Education for Life. George Turnbull

or speak of the matter. I can’t think but considering how long I have chiefly applied my self to that study & the opportunities I just now have of farder improving my self; it might be said I might be trusted with that profession. And in short what upon that melancholy event which it seems there is reason to dread I would have proposed to Mr Scot is that I should be made professor of the Law of nations & that he should return to the Greek but supply both till it please God to send me safe back with Mr Wauchope & have both salaries; & that upon my return I should enter upon the profession & the salary & pay him a reasonable consideration. If this appears to you Romantick & unpracticable it is only told to a friend with whom I can trust any thing & who I know would very gladly serve me. My kind respects to my good friend Mr Maclauran<.> I thank him for all his favours & particularly his goodness to my brothers. pray remember me to Mrs Macky⁶⁹ & to John Stevenson⁷⁰ & all our friends in the castle<.> pray let me hear from you now & then. I wish you would write

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      to Doctor Mitchel⁷¹ who is now at Paris & send the letter to me that I may write along with it<.> I want to corespond with him for he can be of great use to me<.>

      your’s

      G. Turnbull

      9. To CHARLES MACKIE

      Address: A Monsieur Charles Macky Professeur en Histoire a Edinburgh

       par Londre

      MS: EUL, La. II. 91; unpubl.

      Paris, 23 October 1730

      Dear Sir

      I long now to hear from you & hope you’l give me that pleasure soon. We had a very agreable journey allong the Rhine; & were so agreably disapointed at the German courts we saw that we design to see more of them; in going to Italy we will pay a visit to the Court of Lorrain & so see Strasburg Munich perhaps Vienna & go thro the Tirroll. The Court at Brussels is vastly stupid; But Brussels is a delightfull place. To Enjoy the company at Spa & Aix la chappelle we deserted the Rhine came thro Treves a wretched country saw luxembourg a town I don’t know whether it may not at present be the strongest in the world: its mines are prodigious. At Spa we had very good company & at Aix no less so; for the prince of Orange was there: who Every body agrees, was his body as good as his spirit, would be a very Extraordinary young prince.⁷² We chose after that to go into Brabant & Flanders & from thence to come to Paris that we might see a litle of its magnificence

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      before we take up our winter quarters which I suppose will be at Angiers if there are not too many English there. There are vast numbers here But I can give no account of any of em for we never go to the English coffeehouse but shun our country men as much as is possible. I only see Doctor Pringle⁷³ sometimes; a valuable acquaintance I assure you. Pray write to me & send me a copy of a letter in latin you have describing Winesene house;⁷⁴ you had it from Mr Anderson⁷⁵ But I have almost quite forgot where it is only I remember you read it to me & I must see the place & have the description. pray send it to me. & if in any thing I can serve I am sure you know you have nothing to do but to command. Forget not my compliments to your Lady Nor to any of my Friends: I need not name em. I never was in better health; & I am very easy every way: yet this travelling life with all the pleasures that attend it has its allay. Mitchel⁷⁶ is returned to Holland to study Law at the Corpus another winter But joins us in the beginning of summer some where or other. This is a place one would not soon weary of did not they spend so much time at cards & game so high: But on that account I believe it is impossible to get much into the grande monde here: And perhaps the loss is not great. There are fine things to be seen; & very good company of another taste to be found. I want much to hear from Mr Maclauran<.> I hope he will be so kind as to introduce me to some of his acquaintances.⁷⁷ I think to see the Chevalier Ramsay⁷⁸

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      this afternoon; But what I’ll think of him I don’t know; his caracter is a meer proteus. But I want to be with all sorts of folks if I can. Prithee let me know if there are any changes among our friends since I heard from you last. None of my brothers ever write. I give my self here entirely to reading french authors. Sometimes however I steal a look of a Roman & sometimes of a Greek author I like to see the difference: speaking french with the volubility of a french man I’ll never attain; But I understand & am understood: and perhaps that is enough. I begun Italian last winter & that I am sure I’ll find an easier task to master even as to speaking. When I begin to write to you or any of my friends I find a pleasure I imagine my self with you & become tedious without saying any thing. it is time to take leave I am

      Sir

       Yours most sincerely

       & affectionately

      George Turnbull

      10. To CHARLES MACKIE

      Address: To Mr Charles Macky Professor of History at Edinburgh par Londre

      MS: EUL, La. II. 91; unpubl.

      Marseilles, 23 September 1731

      My Dear Sir

      It is now long since I had the pleasure of hearing from you: your colleges are now over & I may venture to trouble you. We are to go for Lions in a few days; & after some litle stay there to Geneve. We are four in company & have had hitherto a very pleasant journey. But to say the truth there is not much worth the while in this voyage: I did flatter my self with spending some time in Italy before seeing you But when friends press coming home & young Gentlemen have no very great taste for Antiquities the Governours would be in the wrong to press an Italian voyage & that is my case

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      & that too of my brother Governour in company; one of the Best men & Best scholars I know Mr Markland of Cambridge who published the Epistola Critica to Dr Hare & after that Statius.⁷⁹ Will you forgive me my Dearest friend if I open my mind a litle to you & tell you that as the time of coming home draws near my cares increase. I can’t bear the thoughts of being out of business: travelling again or the care of some body at home is all I can project: and I wish I could be sure of some such good opportunity. I will be at home in time enough to go abroad again the next season for setting out. And I sometimes am thinking with my self who there is in our country that is worth the while: sometimes the Marquis of Clidsdale⁸⁰ comes in my head tho’ he be too young to travel: and the Marquis of Tweddale⁸¹ honoured me frequently while I was at Utrecht with very kind letters. Sometimes my Lord Eglinton⁸² comes into my head. Can you forgive all this foiblesse:⁸³ Or is there any in giving sin<c>ere vent to a sincere friend? If there is any occasion casts up may not I be mentioned tho’ I am not home since I am to be so soon. And if any thing does may I not Expect better terms than I have at present for in truth there is nothing to be gained by a hundred pound abroad if one does as must be done to be acceptable to company in france. But enough of this you understand me; & I am sure have me at heart. I fancy we may be in England next spring early. There are troubles & cares innumerable in the charge of a young Gentleman abroad was he ever so good & wise and I am lucky enough: But there are cares & troubles in Every Station of Life; & if nothing else offers a good

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      opportunity of travelling again would give me joy because it would give me something to do. My humble service to your lady, to Mr Maclauran & all friends. pray tell Mr Maclauran that his treatise upon motion is much longed for abroad; & much wanted.⁸⁴ It is long since I said to several who are impatient to see it that it would be soon published: But I have forgot whether he designed it in English or in Latin: if in English I wish he would get it translated into french. I never write to any body a journal of my travels; all I have seen has been described again <and> again. The affair of the Jesuite & the Girl of which you have certainly heard is still in dependence before the Parliament of Aix; & is the only subject of conversation in these parts of the world. The Jesuites Exert all their force to get him innocented. But the populace are warm