Autograph letter signed : Edinburgh, to [William Johnson] Temple, 1767 Feb. 1-Mar. 8.

Telling him he is "sincerely happy that [Temple is] at length the Reverend Mr. Temple" and giving his opinion of clergymen; mentioning [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau and [James] Thomson; discussing the benefits and drawbacks of being a bachelor and being married; mentioning his mistress and explaining, "I have now prevailed with my love to let me take a house for her, and as it will be my Family I shall provide what is necessary. In this manner I am safe & happy & in no danger either of the perils of Venus or of desperate Matrimony"; remarking that he is "now advancing fast in the law" and "coming into great employment"; expressing reservations about his plans for his mistress: "I am however uneasy about her. Furnishing a house & maintaining her with a maid will cost me a great deal of money. And it is too like marriage or too much a settled plan of licentiousness. But what can I do? I have allready taken the house & ... I cannot in honor draw back. Besides, in no other way can I have her"; describing his jealousy upon learning of his mistress's "former intrigues"; alluding to works by [William] Robertson and David Hume; commenting on his "Account of Corsica" and mentioning General [Pasquale] Paoli; describing a night of drunken debauchery and having to confess his infidelity to his mistress the next day because he had caught "some infection."