New College, Edinburgh[2]
14th December, 1869
My Dear Mother,
Since I last wrote one or two important things have happened.
The result of [John] Rainnie’s interviews with Davidson & McGregor is that he has written to these professors for testimonials previous to bringing me forward in the Presbytery[3] at the earliest meeting. He proposes prob.[ably] to print & circulate said testimonials. The question is How far can I back him up in getting German ones &c. without putting myself forward improperly.
Rainnie is very enthusiastic & is in communication with a good many students &c. The students are proposing also to move. How they can do so is not yet clear. Davidson evidently feels that Rainnie’s action has opened his mouth; for on Saturday he told me that the Professors were not in a position to speak first, but that now he cd.speak out. Lindsay met him at dinner on Friday Evg [evening] where he was speaking strongly. He must have been working too quietly. It seems that I am to be proposed in four Synods. Meyer[4] seems to be thought more formidable than Salmond but his bad temper is against him. I dined last night with Candlish. It was not a made dinner at all — only Lindsay & Gray were there. C. was pleasant. I have got rid of his son whom I found to need regular drill such as I have no time for.
On Thursday I was at the Brakenridges & met Thomson of St Stephens & Dr Gr[ainger] Stewart. I enjoyed my evening very much. Dr St[ewart] asked me to walk home with him part of the way & expressed a hope of seeing me at his house on Friday. I dined at the Bells[5] with Black. Bell & Black are both strong about the Hebrew thing, I believe Black’s father is to propose me in the Kirkcaldy Presbytery.
Black leaves this week — a few of his friends are giving him a supper tonight.[6]
… Yet[7] I would like to be published, for one must make a beginning. I think the Jour[nal of] Sacr[ed] Lit[erature] would take it but never mind for the present. We may think it over & get some one’s advice. Would Br[itish] & For[eign Evangelical Review] be more interested?
A miserable wet day, fit only for grinding!
Your aff. Son
Wm R. Smith
P.S.[8] At Xmas I would like you to send the first vol. of Grant’s Ethics of Aristotle
& Lempertz’s big book catalogue a thick octavo in paper boards which
I promised to show to Laing. I think it is in the press case.[9]
[1] CUL ADD 7449 C161 MS
[2] On notepaper headed thus.
[3] Presumably Alford Presbytery, which comprised the congregations of Keig with Tough, Kennethmont, Towie, Alford and Auchindoir.
[4] Meyer, Theodore Jonas (1819–1894): a German convert from Judaism who was licensed by Edinburgh F.C. presbytery in 1855 and acted as Hebrew tutor at New College until moving to Amsterdam in 1866.
[5] See 1868-01-25.
[6] Black was leaving for Seville where he was to be in charge of a theological college newly established there by the Spanish Evangelization Society, whose management committee, headed by Sir Henry Moncreiff and based in Edinburgh, was endeavouring to support the fledgling Reformed Church of Spain (see PFCA 1870, Report VII, pp. 1f.). This quixotic project, initiated following the popular revolution of 1868 and the consequent flight of Queen Isabella II to France, proved to be short-lived.
[7] Since there is an absence of logical connection here with what precedes it, a missing page at this point seems probable.
[8] The postscript is written crosswise at the head of the letter.
[9] In Scots usage, a “press” denotes a cupboard or set of shelves within an alcove, as distinct from a (glazed) bookcase.