Earls of Middleton, Lords of Clermont and of Fettercairn

Charles, Second Earl of Middlcton. 1 8 7
place. But there is one point which seems to be
of great importance, which is whether the merchant
who owns the goods No. 551 (the Parliament of
England) is broken ; there are many good reasons for
believing it, considering the great dependence he had
on the other. This would be the greatest advantage
that could happen to the Company, because it was he
who supported all the interlopers, and before a new
joint stock could be made up, the market would be
stopped.
" Pray present my service to your Hamburgh x
partner, and tell him that I had wrote to him if I had
been at any certainty,, and that the accepted bills will
be very quickly paid, and that if he will make a con-
siderable venture now, the return will make him a
leading man upon the 'Change."
The Earl of Middleton wrote another letter of
this date, with more particular directions concerning
the measures to be taken by James's friends : —
r " 1 3th" January, 1695.
" Sir,
" I received yours of the 10th December,
which I could not answer by last post because I was
ill. You may easily imagine that to be well thought
of by one so generally and deservedly esteemed
1 Earl of Marlborough.