[39] Letters, vol. ii. p. 7.
[40] Burt’s Letters, vol. ii. p. 96.
[41] Letters, vol. ii. p. 97.
[42] The following quotations from Mr Dunbar’s Social Life in Former Days, giving details of household furniture and expenses, may be taken as “a correct index of the comforts and conveniences” of the best off of the old Highland lairds; for as they refer to Morayshire, just on the borders of the Highlands, they cannot be held as referring to the Highlands generally, the interior and western districts of which were considerably behind the border lands in many respects:—
“Sir Robert Gordon’s Allowance for his Lady and Family, from December 14th 1740 to December 14th 1741.
| Sterling. | |||
| £ | S. | D. | |
| Imprimis, to 36 bolls malt, at 8 shillings and 4 pence per boll, | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to 36 bolls meal, at same price, | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to 10 bolls wheat, at 13 shillings and 4 pence per boll, | 6 | 13 | 4 |
| Item, to 12 beeves at £1 per piece, | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to meal to servants without doors, | 9 | 7 | 6 |
| Item, to servants’ wages within and without doors, | 41 | 5 | 0 |
| Item, to cash instantly delivered, | 50 | 6 | 2 |
| Item, to be paid monthly, £4, 4s., | 50 | 8 | 0 |
| —————— | |||
| £200 | 0 | 0 | |
| —————— | |||
| “Servants’ Wages 1741. | |||
| Imprimis to gentlewomen | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to five maids, | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Item, to two cooks, | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to two porters, | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to Robin’s servant, | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to the groom, | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Item, to the neighbour, | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| Item, to three out-servants, | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Item, to two herds, | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| —————— | |||
| £41 | 5 | 0 | |
| —————— | |||
“Inventar of Plenishing in Thunderton’s Lodging in Duffus, May 25, 1708.
“Strypt Room.
“Camlet hangings and curtains, feather bed and bolster, two pillows, five pair blankets, and an Inglish blanket, a green and white cover, a blew and white chamber-pot, a blew and white bason, a black jopand table and two looking-glasses, a jopand tee-table with a tee-pat and plate, and nine cups and nine dyshes, and a tee silver spoon, two glass sconces, two little bowles, with a leam stoap and a pewter head, eight black ken chairs, with eight silk cushens conform, an easie chair with a big cushen, a jopand cabinet with a walnut tree stand, a grate, shuffle, tonges, and brush; in the closet, three piece of paper hangings, a chamber box, with a pewter pan therein, and a brush for cloaths.
“Closet next the Strypt Room.