| Description | In the first letter, Francis Gordon, now of Troup, was written to as the representative of the late Honourable Francis Garden of Troup. It details that Mr Forbes, the usual agent for Lord Gardenston, had become ill, and Mr Alexander Fraser of London had been assigned the task to inventory Mr Forbes's books to tally their related accounts. Mr Fraser 'found it impossible to make up any satisfactory state' of them. Lord Gardenston had insisted and entreated upon him to make sense of them, with inducements of further payments to that end, which occupied much of Mr Fraser's time (over three weeks) and effort to the detriment of his other business dealings.
Mr Fraser describes the poor state of the accounts - relating to His Lordship's extensive properties - being stewn around 'account books, papers, letters & jottings' and that he needed to prepare summaries and accounts of these in addition to organising meetings with other parties to get to the bottom of everything. Lord Gardenston subsequently believed there to be numerous errors in Mr Forbes's records. These problems are described in detail in order to justify the bill sent for these services.
The second document has the same date. It is addressed to John Taylor Esquire, Writer of the Signet, George Street, Edinburgh and written by James Robb on behalf of Mr Ross. It gives intelligence from Lord Arbuthnott relating to 'Mr Lockhart's bond'. Payment of this was partly the responsibility of Mr Garden, and it suggests pressure was being put on both him and Mr Lockhart to relinquish their board positions if the sum was not soon paid. The matter appears to have been related to the late Lord Gardenston and Mr Ross advised it to be settled by arbitration. The letter also notes that Mr Ross had been involved with solving the accounts of Mr Forbes, above. |