A valuable library was about to be dispersed in Paris, which contained a rare copy or edition of the Bible, and George III. commissioned his bookseller, Mr. Nichol, to procure it for him at a certain limit as to price. Mr. Nichol, intimate with Mr. Lumisden, whose literary character qualified him to pronounce as to the authenticity and value of this work, employed him to examine, and, on approval, to make this purchase, which he did, obtaining it at a far lower price than had been mentioned. The king, delighted with his acquisition, asked Mr. Nichol how he had managed to get it. Mr. Nichol replied he had ‘applied to a friend of his much connected with literature, whom he could trust,’ etc., etc. ‘Well, but who is your friend,’ said the king, ‘I suppose he has a name?’ ‘A gentleman named Lumisden, your Majesty,’ said Mr. Nichol. ‘Oh!’ replied the king, ‘the Prince’s secretary.’ The king, with true courtesy, never called Charles Edward aught but ‘the Prince.’ ‘Yes, your Majesty,’ said Mr. Nichol shyly, ‘the same.’ ‘Well, Nichol,’ said the king, ‘I am much obliged by the trouble Mr. Lumisden has taken; pray, make him my compliments, and tell him so; and I should like to send him some little token of this. What shall it be?’ Nichol suggested ‘a book, perhaps,’ and it is said the king laughed and said, ‘Oh, yes! a book, a book! that would suit you!’ However, the message was sent, and Mr. Lumisden’s reply was, that he should be gratified by the possession of a copy of Captain Cook’s Voyages, then just published, in which he took a deep interest, and considered they owed their success to the individual patronage given them by the king himself.
A very handsome copy of Anson’s and Cook’s Voyages, in nine quarto volumes, was sent to Mr. Lumisden by the king. They were left by Mr. Lumisden to my father [Sir Thomas Strange], and he bequeathed them to his son James, now Admiral Strange, in whose possession they are. [Written in 1883.]
In 1797 Lumisden published a volume at London entitled Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome and its Environs ... with Engravings, his only literary legacy excepting this account of the battles in Scotland. I have failed to discover at what period of his life this manuscript was written.
Lumisden died in Edinburgh in 1801. His usual lodging had been in the Luckenbooths, the very heart of the old town, but he had recently changed his quarters to the then new Princes Street, and to the very newest part of that street, the section west of Castle Street. To the imagination it seems strangely incongruous, yet as a link between the past and the present not entirely unfitting, that this aged partisan of the House of Stuart, probably the last Scottish gentleman who personally served that dynasty whose capital was the ancient city, should meet his death in the newest part of that modern street which is the glory of the Edinburgh that the Stuarts never knew.
ORIGINS OF THE ’FORTY-FIVE
PAPERS OF JOHN MURRAY OF BROUGHTON
A COPY OF ORIGINAL PAPERS written by John Murray, Esq., Secretary to the Young Pretender, containing a History of the first Rise and Progress of the Late Rebellion from the End of the year 1742 to 1744.
N.B.—The original is written by Mr. Murray’s own hand and was found after the Battle of Culloden, and seems to have been originally design’d as Memoirs, etc.
Copy of a shattered Leaf belonging to the original Manuscript
Edgar to Murray
During all this winter[108] my Lord T[ra]q[uai]r,[109] as I observed before, was at London with Lord Semple[110] and Mr. Drummond,[111] and the gentlemen in the Highlands immediately concerned in his Majesties affairs were employed in cultivating his interest amongst their vassals and neighbours, which was the more easily done as the most part of that country are naturally Loyal and at the same time ... run so high against the Government, that any scheme proposed ... was most acceptable. It seems after his Lordship had been there sometime, he wrote a letter to his Majestie, in answer to which I received one enclosed to me from Mr. Edgar,[112] dated the 5th of July 1742, which was this.... It is a long time since I had the pleasure of writting to you which has been occasioned by my knowing you was informed of everything by Bahady, and that being the case I did not care to ... venture all ... time when I shall ... to say to you as I ha ... view of recommending them ... for Lord [Tra]q[uai]r to your care ... of it with much satisfaction ... to assure you of my best respect and of the longing I have to tell you by word of mouth how much I am yours. As Lord T[ra]q[uai]r has been lately at London and knew there how things were going it is useless for me to enter here ... matters and as the King has particular directions to give you ... sent I shall add nothing ... but by his Majesties Com ... kind compliments ... that the family a ... I am with all my h....