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

Isleworth, Feb. 25, 1709.
" Dear Bobby — I have nothing to write to thee but only
this, that if we continue to aspire unto our Almighty Origi-
nal, we shall still be united, however far separated in this
world. Now I bide by the river Thames, amidst fields and
gardens, where I have nothing to interrupt my conversation
within but an hour or two attendance at night upon two of
the most innocent, sweet, sprightly little boys I ever knew.
All my ambition now is to live forgotten by all, doing them
all the real service [which] lies in my power. I sha'nt
trouble you with scribbling ; we already know one another
well enough. All I shall say is, that should it be my for-
tune to be tossed from Greenland to Good Hope, yet after
twenty years absence our souls shall be as much united as
ever, and I shall embrace you at meeting with all the free-
dom of a Philadelphian. So live happy, and if we never
meet here, may we meet after this on the road to Elysium.
I am your loving
" Ramsay."
" If after this you chance to see Sandy Strachan, Johnny
Anderson, Davidson, and the lads about Rosshearty, mind
me to them ; but to Mr Moor, your dear friend, in a parti-
cular manner. — R." 11
The above letter was addressed — " Mr Robert
Keith, Governor to the Right Hon. my Lord Keith,''
who says — " This last was Mr Alexander Moor, Epis-
copal minister at Fraserburgh, the best of men I ever
saw. Johnny Anderson left the legacy in the West
Indies. I had contracted acquaintance with Mr Ram-
say at Edinburgh the preceding winter." The two
" most innocent, sweet, sprightly little boys" described
by the Chevalier, were the sons of the Earl of
Wemyss already mentioned.
In the Catalogue of MSS. belonging to the Faculty
of Advocates at Edinburgh is the entry of a dona-
tion to the Library by Bishop Keith. It is entitled —
" Register of Assignations 1574," and is described —