Spottiswoode Society > History of the affairs of the Church and State of Scotland from the beginning of the reformation to the year 1568 > Volume 1

VI PREFACE.
The Editor has to lament the paucity of materials
in his Sketch of Bishop Keith's life. This is the more
to be regretted, as his family connections, the eminent
position he occupied in the Church, and his talents and
acquirements, brought him into intercourse with many
of the most distinguished men of his time in Scotland,
particularly in Edinburgh. After the Sketch was
printed, the Editor was kindly presented by James
Maidment, Esq. Advocate, with the copy of a letter
to Bishop Keith, the original of which was in the
possession of the late Messrs Constable and Co., the
celebrated Publishers. It is from the Chevalier
Ramsay, author of the " Travels of Cyrus " and
other works, then Preceptor to David Lord Elcho,
and his brother the Hon. James Wemyss, the sons
of David third Earl of Wemyss, and the latter of
whom succeeded his father as fourth Earl in 1720,
his elder brother having died in 1715. The Cheva-
lier was subsequently patronized by Archbishop Fene-
lon of Cambray, who procured for him the appoint-
ment of Preceptor to the Duke de Chateau- Thierry,
and to the Prince de Turenne, afterwards Marshal
of France. While in this situation he was selected
by the exiled son of James II., to superintend the
education of his sons, Charles Edward, and Henry,
who was subsequently Cardinal York. As the Che-
valier Ramsay was born in 168(3, and Bishop Keith
in 1681, he was consequently five years younger
than the latter. The Bishop was at the date of the
Chevalier's familiar and gossipping epistle, acting as
Preceptor to his Noble " Chief," the Earl Marischal,
and his brother the Hon. James Keith. The letter
is dated Isleworth, a village in the parish of its name,
on the Thames, in the county of Middlesex, opposite
Richmond, and he thus addresses his friend : —