Country Code
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GB
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Repository Code
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233
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Repository
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National Library of Scotland
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Reference
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GB233/MS.3430-518
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Title
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Correspondence and papers of the Very Rev John Lee, Principal of Edinburgh University, with the material collected by him
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Dates
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1584-1873
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Access Status
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Open
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Description
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MS.3430-49 Correspondence, together with some papers, 1637-1873, n.d. The earlier material (MSS. 3430-1) consists almost entirely of correspondence of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and includes appointments of Commissioners to the Assembly from 1638 onwards; accounts of the intrusion of ministers into parishes, and similar disputes, 1702-55; reports on the prevalence of Roman Catholicism, with lists of papists and renunciations of popery, 1703-51; and correspondence on the supply of books especially to the Highlands, in association with the S.P.C.K., 1704-31. Other subjects include the affairs of the Universities of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, and the Infirmary, Edinburgh. Among the correspondents are Hugh Blair (copies of letters), 1795, and the Rev. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk, 1786-99. Lee's own correspondence starts in 1797 and continues until his death in 1859. It relates to the concerns of all the offices which he held, from that of minister of the Hanover Street Chapel in London to those of Moderator of the General Assembly and Principal of Edinburgh University, and also to the many public affairs in which he took an active interest. Scottish church and university affairs preponderate. The former include Lee's parochial charges; his life-long dispute with the King's Printers over the printing of Bibles for Scotland from 1822 onwards; his work to improve the status of the Church of Scotland in the Canadas, 1826; Sabbath profanation from 1832; education in Ireland, 1832-3; Dr. Chalmers's Church Extension Bill, 1836, which occasioned the quarrel between Lee and Chalmers; parochial education, especially in 1838; non-intrusion and the Disruption, from 1842. There is also much correspondence, 1809-12, dealing with the share taken by Lee in the production of Sir David Brewster's 'Edinburgh Encyclopaedia', Edin., 1810-30. Lee's correspondents include many of the more distinguished Church leaders and University dignitaries of the day. In addition there are letters of John Home, Alexander Carlyle, John Leyden, Henry Mackenzie, David Hume, and Dugald Stewart, and many written to Principal Baird on the subject of metrical Psalms by Joanna Baillie, Thomas Campbell, Wordsworth, Southey, Mrs. Hemans, and others, 1824-7. MS.3450-1. Correspondence. Addenda, 1584-1852, n.d. The subject-matter is similar to that of MSS. 3430-49, and includes parochial education in the Highlands, [1704]; the Edinburgh Encyclopedia Club, 1808; Lee's evidence before the Commission on Municipal Corporations in Scotland, 1834 on the Annuity Tax for the support of the Edinburgh Clergy; and reports of Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions on their records and pulpit Bibles. MS.3450-1 Correspondence, addenda, 1584-1832. MS.3452. Inaugural addresses delivered by Lee to the students of Edinburgh University, in Lee's hand and in printed newspaper reports, 1840-58. Those delivered in 1840, 1842, and 1854 are printed in Inaugural Addresses in the University of Edinburgh, ed. Lord Neaves, Edin., 1861. MS.3453. 'Epictetus' Enchiridion': a translation of the Enchiridion in Lee's handwriting, n.d. From the handwriting this appears to be an early work of Lee. MS.3454 'Essay on the Improvement of the Imagination' by Lee, probably written while a student, but containing corrections and additions which appear to be of a later date. MS.3455 Notebook containing an alphabetical list, in Lee's hand, of subjects to be included in the projected 'Edinburgh Encyclopedia', with notes on some of the subjects. The notebook is undated but probably belongs to the earliest years of the nineteenth century. MS.3456 'A Key to the private marks of the writers in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia in the handwriting of Principal Lee, undated but evidently belonging to the early years of the nineteenth century. On ff. 4-6 are notes on articles others for Blackwood's Magazine, the Spectator, and newspapers. On folio 7 is an account of Lee's Memorial/or the Bible Societies, 1824 MS.3457 Journal by Principal Lee describing the daily behaviour of two condemned criminals, David Dobie and John Thomson, carters in Gilmerton, whom he visited in prison, undated. MS.3458 Notebook, containing minutes and lists of members of the Poker Club, 1776-84. On folio 1 is a list, in the hand of Alexander Carlyle, of the members in 1776. The volume also contains 'Notes from Boswell's Life of Johnson' (f 39). 'Notes from the Minutes of St. Leonard's College-beginning 1710' (f. 42), and other miscellaneous fragments. MS.3459-60 Two notebooks, in Lee's handwriting, undated. One contains biographical notes of William Tullideph, Principal of St. Leonard's College, St Andrews: the other, notes on Principal Tullideph's manuscripts. MS.3461 Notebook, written by Principal Lee, containing extracts from books relating to St Andrews, undated. MS.3462 Manuscript of the greater part of the autobiography of Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk. i) transcript lacking a few leaves at the beginning, of the text found also in MS.3732 below; there the relationship of this text to that of the printed editions of 1860 and 1910 is briefly described. Capital letters which appear at intervals in the margin refer to the paragraphs in (ii) below. ii) 'Paragraphs in the Original omitted in the Copy' (f. 372), that is, in (i) above. All these paragraphs are incorporated in both editions of the printed Autobiography. MS.3463. Copy of the 'Recollections' of Alexander Carlyle, in an unknown hand; with notes and additions in the hand of Principal Lee. On the first page of the manuscript is a note by Lee to the effect that 'The following is a literal copy of a Manuscript of Dr. Carlyle written a few months before his death in the year 1805'. From the notes in the 1910 edition of the Autobiography, it appears that Hill Burton used this or an identical copy. The manuscript records in rambling fashion various events in Carlyle's 1ife between the years 1723 and 1737. On p. 71 there is a supplement to the original 'Recollections', transcribed by Lee and bearing a note by him, 'This part was written in Summer 1805'. It records, with digressions, events in Carlyle's life which took place in 1738. Hill Burton quotes sparingly from it in his 'Supplementary Chapter' to the Autobiography. MS.3464. Miscellaneous transcripts, chiefly copies of letters to Alexander Carlyle, Minister of Inveresk, from Viscount Townshend, Professor Hugh Blair, John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, Professor Adam Ferguson, and Tobias Smollett, 1747-1806, n.d. They were probably intended to be included by Alexander Carlyle in his Autobiography. Extracts from the letters of Smollett are printed in Edward Noyes, The Letters of Tobias Smollett, M.D., Cambridge, Mass., 1926, but apparently not from these transcripts. The whole text of the letters was published by H. W. Meikle in The Times Literary Supplement, 24 and 31 July, 1943. A comparison of the characters of Professor Blair and Principal Robertson and some unpublished letters of Alexander Carlyle on the militia are also included. MS.3465. 'A Collection of proper Expressions & Phrases for Prayer', compiled by Alexander Carlyle and partly written in his hand, 1744. There is an index to the contents on f. 41v, and various other indexes to material not contained in the volume are found on ff. 36v.-39v. Leaves found loose in the volume (ff. 42-8) have been attached at the end. The date 1775 occurs on f. 47. MS.3466-7. Sermons, prayers, and other devotional writings of the late eighteenth century. All the sermons are anonymous, but some can be identified as the work of Alexander Carlyle (MS. 3466, ff. 1-27), and most of the remainder are probably by Thomas Masson, Minister of Dunnichen (MS. 3466, ff.85-125; MS. 3467). MS. 3466 also contains 'A short account of the Lord's way of providence . . .' (f. 28), extracts from a diary, with texts and a prayer signed by James Fairnie, St. Andrews, 1731 (f. 60), and a group of prayers for use before and after sermons (f. 73). MS.3468 Chronicle of the Civil War in Scotland, 1638-49, being largely a copy of the work later printed as The Memoirs of Henry Guthrie, Lond., 1702.. The manuscript which is in different hands of the seventeenth century, wants pp 1-2, 15-16 and 21-6; it is presumably no. 99 in Catalogue of the ?Collection of Manuscripts ? of the late Rev. John Lee, Edin., 1861. MS.3469 'Thirteen Sermons preached by ... Mr. John Livingston, Minister at Ancrume in the year 1651 ... ten years before his banishment to Holland.' The sermons which are contemporary copies, do not appear to have been printed. MS.3470 Defence of the doctrine and polity of Presbyterianism, in the form of a reply to the anonymous pamphlet by Dr. George Hickes, Dean of Worcester, entitled, 'The Spirit t of Popery speaking out of the mouths of Phanatical Protestants', London, 1680. The manuscript, which is written in different seventeenth century hands is divided into 17 'sections', preceded by a table of contents. MS.3471 Copies of letters, on paper watermarked 1840, of William Carstares to the Earl of Melville, written partly in cipher, 1694-1700, dated from London and various places on the Continent whither Carstares accompanied King William III. They give political and military news, and refer some scheme for Melville's advancement. At the beginning of the volume is a synopsis of the contents of the letters, and on f. ii is a receipt signed by George Hill MS.3472 Notes, probably taken by a medical student, of lectures on Chemistry delivered in 1762. The volume begins with notes of Lecture 116. On f. 25 occur the words, 'Lecture the-by Dr. Cullen'; it is therefore to be supposed that all were delivered by him. None of them appears in his printed Works, MS.3473 Autobiography of the Rev. Gabriel Semple, Minister of Jedburgh, being a copy in an eighteenth-century hand, undated. Inside the front cover is the following note in Principal Lee's hand, 'The original by the author is written in a pocket-book, in some haste, and a little incorrectly in some places, but it is here as in the original'. No. 468 in the Catalogue of Lee's manuscripts. MS.3474 List of Communicants at the Episcopal Meeting House at Crail, 1733-40. No. 263 in the Catalogue of Lee's manuscripts. MS.3475. 'Minutes of the St. Andrews Society', with its accounts, 1765-70. This seems to have been an Edinburgh literary society, unconnected with the University. The only meetings recorded were held during the winter and spring months of 1765-7. MS.3476. Journal of a tour through part of France made between 5 and 18 May, 1818. The author, who is anonymous, travels from Bayonne to Paris in a north-easterly direction as far as Tours, passing through Dax, Bordeaux, Angouleme, Rochefort, and then due east through Blois and Orleans to Paris. He describes the condition of the roads, the scenery, the towns he passes through (especially Bordeaux), and the customs and appearance of the townspeople in each city. MS.3477-518. Notebooks containing extracts, written by Principal Lee, from ecclesiastical records, chiefly of Kirk Sessions, ranging from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. 3477. Dunfermline, 1640-88. 60 ff. 3478. Rhynie, i7th cent. 12 ff. 3479. Ettrick, 1693-1715. 20 ff. 3480. Crail, 1648-9. 6 ff. 3481. Largs, 1636-53. 2i + several blank ff. 3482. St. Andrews, 1559-1820. 53 ff. 3483. St. Andrews, 1638-63. 57 + blank ff. 3484. Dunino, 1643-80. 13 + blank ff. 3485. Anstruther Wester, 1576-1603. i + 16 + several blank ff. 3486. Kilrenny, 1583-1601. 12 + several blank ff. 3487. Synod of Fife, 1639-87. 30 ff. 3488. St. Leonard's, St. Andrews, 1663-95. 6 ff. 3489. Elie, 1639-49. 12 + several blank ff. 3490. Melrose, 1639-55. 4 + blank ff. 3491. Canongate, 1561-88. 10 + several blank ff. 3492. Canongate, 1564-1704. 35 + blank ff. 3493. Newbattle, 1617-53. 16 + blank ff. 3494. Midcalder, 1632-1718. 19 ff. 3495. Register of Old Kirk, Edinburgh, 1626-30 (f. i); accounts of town of Edinburgh, 1552-1656 (f. 5). 33 ff. 3496. Lasswade, 1615-64. 18 ff. 3497. Lasswade, 1627-49. 7 ff. 3498. Maderty, 1619-70. 6 blank ff. 3499. Ashkirk, 1689-95. 6 ff. 3500 Presbytery of Lanark, 1623-58 (f. i); Linlithgow, 1646-60, 1704-10 (f 47)- 59 ff 3501 Synod of Lothian and Peebles, 1641-59. 57 ff. 3502 Synod of Inverness, 1687-1711. 12 ff. 3503 Galashiels, 1692-1709. 5 + several blank ff. 3504 Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, 1648-55. ii + 46 ff. 3505 Prestonpans, 1596-1603. 6 ff. 3506 Diocesan Synod of St. Andrews, 1610-36. Several blank 3507 Carrington, 1653-62. 8 + several blank ff. 3508 Scone, 1622-38. 2ff. 3509 Inveresk, 1651-68. 24 ff. 3510 Coldingham, 1699-1702. 6 ff. 3511 West Kirk, Edinburgh, 1586-1707. 40 ff. 3512 Edinburgh, 1573-1647. 17 + many blank ff. 3513 General Sessions in Presbytery of Edinburgh, 1652-8. 14 ff. 3514 Kilbarchan, 1649 (f. i); Renfrew, 1649-53 (f. iv.). 2 ff. 3515 Erskine, 1651-63. 2 ff. 3516 Houston, 1643-63. 10 ff. 3517 Patronage in Church of Scotland, 17th-18th cent. 49 + blank ff 3518 Kennoway, 1638-44. 2 ff.
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Level
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Fonds
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Finding Aids
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NLS Catalogue of Manuscripts Acquired Since 1925 Volume 2
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Related Material
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See also Ch.2514.
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Associated Persons
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