L30/12/13/11

Letter from John Campbell, 3rd Earl Breadalbane, Lord Glenorchy to Alexander Hume-Campbell, 1st Baron Hume of Berwick. Sent from Edinburgh. [Typed transcript available]. Writer has been suffering from a cough whic has deprived him of sleep and appetite.

28 Dec 1779

From: 1779 To: 1779

'You say a person (whose name I think unworthy of dropping out of an honest pen) is trying to get the estate settled upon himself, but did not Lord Hardwicke take care in your marriage articles that the estate should be settled and entailed upon you and your posterity? If proper care was then taken, and your father declared only tenant for life and you tenant in tail in the regular Scotch forms of law, nothing could be done to prejudice the estate nor any settlements made of it. When I married Lady Grey's mother the estate was settled upon me, and my father could not hurt it if he had attempted it. When Lord Glenorchy married I settled the estate on him, and though it was mine during my life, I could do nothing to prejudice it. The assertion that you cannot live nor have children renders the man more despicable, which I find here is his general character. He should know that Lady Bell's mother was ten years married before she had a child, and five years more before she had another, and that there are several such instances. I have had a very great, I may say an irreparable loss by the death of Captain Campbell who had the care and management of my Argyllshire estate. He was a relation of the family, to which he was firmly attached with the strictest honour and fidelity. It is easy to find a person to collect rents, but that is the least part of the business of the factor upon a highland estate. I believe you may have seen him a few years ago in London, a very big man remarkable for a wound thro' his lungs received in America where he served allthe last war. A candle held to the wound was immediately blown out. The city was illuminated on the news from America and many windows broke where there were no candles. The tower guns fired because we were not beat. Oh. The Castle here was silent.'

item

Campbell, John (3rd Earl of Breadalbane & Holland),
Hume-Campbell, Alexander (1st Baron Hume of Berwick),
Campbell

family correspondence, CORRESPONDENCE, Scotland, Edinburgh, illness, general family, family/personal financial affairs, DEATH, North America, Argyllshire