Education for Life. George Turnbull
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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