1. Unpublished Letter of the late Professor Dugald Stewart

Extract

The letter which Mr Small has sent to the Royal Society, and which, at the request of the Council, I have the honour of bringing under the notice of the meeting, was acquired by the University in 1861, at the sale of the MSS. of the late Very Rev. Principal Lee. It is by no means destitute of historical importance, though its main value for us may rest on the consideration that it was written directly from the scene of the convulsion which it describes, by Professor Dugald Stewart to the Reverend Archibald Alison. As a zealous student of political philosophy, Mr Stewart took a lively interest in the early stages of the French Revolution. He accordingly visited Paris both in 1788 and in 1789; and while there he maintained an active correspondence on the subject which engrossed him, with his friend Mr Alison.