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

RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP KEITH. li
of the Bishops to 1824, including of course all the Post-
Revolution Bishops.
Bishop Keith sent copies of his " Catalogue" to Berlin,
with a letter to his illustrious relative Field-Marshal Keith.
This elicited a reply from that distinguished soldier, which
in turn caused an epistle of thanks from the Bishop to his
former pupil. The correspondence is worthy of being trans-
ferred to these pages from Bishop Russell's biographical
outline. The letter to the Field-Marshal is dated Bonny-
haugh, near Leith, October G, 1755 : — " Sir, This comes by
Robert Keith, my grand-nephew, and son to Alexander
Keith of Uras, who was your servant at the time I had the
honour to be preceptor to you and your brother the Earl. 1
This lad's elder brother, Alexander, was in Paris last year,
and as he was bred a sailor, the Earl was pleased to take
particular care of him, and to provide for him according to
his education. 2 Your Excellency will see how I have been
employed of late from the book herewith sent ; three copies
of which come to your hands, one for the King of Prussia,
a second for the Earl, and a third for yourself, by this same
young man, whom I hereby beg to recommend to your
patronage and friendship ; and as he inclines to the sea, he
may perhaps turn out to be useful to the King of Prussia,
for the boy is abundantly smart, and has a good genius. He
will likewise put into your Excellency's hands a copy of the
genealogy of his forefathers, to the which I was prompted
by the pretensions of another, as you will see. 3 About a
1 The Bishop here means the Earl Marischal, whom he still recognized
as the Earl Marischal, notwithstanding his attainder.
2 The Earl Marischal was appointed by Frederick III. of Prussia his
Ambassador Extraordinary at Paris in 1750. In 1759 he was nominated
Prussian Ambassador at Madrid, where he discovered the secret family
compact by which the different Princes of the House of Bourbon had
bound themselves to assist each other. He communicated this important
fact to the British Government, for which George II. rewarded him by a
pardon in 1759, and he was kindly received by that monarch in London
on the 15th of June 1760. An Act was passed that year, and another in
1761, in his favour.
3 This was the " Vindication of Mr Robert Keith, and of his young
grand-nephew, Alexander Keith, from the unfriendly representation of