Autograph letter signed with initials : Edinburgh, to the Marchioness of Abercorn, [1813] May 21.

Concerning plans to meet Longtown and travel together with their families for two days; mentioning a parcel of books which had apparently gone astray; concerning the difficulties of embarking on historical work concerning Scotland before 1748 as suggested by Lord Abercorn, but saying he would like to do so if he could skip a chapter that might displease [Lady Douglas]. Describing at great length a case (relating to the late Duchess of Gordon's family) concerning an inheritance possibly due to the grandson of Scotch landed gentleman of the Carruthers of Dormont family; describing how the gentleman believed that he was not the father of his wife's daughter and so had her brought up in ignorance of her family; reporting that the grandson returned by happenstance to the neighborhood of his now-dead grandfather, learned the story of his mother from the innkeeper, brought suit against his grandfather's estate, and gave a celebratory dinner following an initial favorable ruling, but was found dead the next morning. Briefly discussing Scottish and English marriage-law, noting that as neither acknowledges marriages performed in the other state, it is possible to simultaneously have a legitimate wife in both England and Scotland without practicing bigamy.