| Description | Letter dated 20 December 1882 to Macdonald from George Reid, R.S.A., 40 Heriot Row, Edinburgh, regarding bad light for working, sketch of Professor Blackie for Irvine Smith, 'he is as restless as ever, sings songs, twirls his walking stick, and looks in every direction but the right one', sitting by Sir Fettes Douglas planned, dining out but 'one misses Dr. John [Brown] at every turn', his sister is to sell all Dr. Brown's things, paintings to be sent by Millais and Tadema to Edinburgh, Leighton has sent his 'Phryne' 'but I hear some of the "unco good" R.S.A.s who are presently on the Council …are scandalized, and on moral grounds may decline to exhibit it!', plans to paint Sir John Steel for Macdonald, visit from Rev. Alexander Thomson of Haddington and his wife, with sketch of Thomson in a long coat, 'it looks as if he had appropriated it from the lobby of some house where he had been on visiting terms'. |