WILKIE, William

Autograph Letter Signed ‘William Wilkie’, to the Earl of Lauderdale in London, asking for the principalship of one of the two universities in Aberdeen, or the Professorship of Natural Philosophy at St. Andrews, with news of academic intrigue in Scotland

      [26 May, c.1759]. An attractive one page letter 7 x 6 inches, with the integral address leaf bearing red Edinburgh Bishop Mark (26 May) and black London Bishop Mark (1 June). William Wilkie (1721-1772), ‘the Scottish Homer’. In 1757 Wilkie published The Epigoniad in nine volumes. In 1759 he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at St. Andrews. “If the Duke therefore does not seem determined to give me the principalship at Aberdeen which is in the gift of the Crown I would beg your interest with Scotstarvet. ...The whole family of the Anstruthers particularly Sir Philip have likewise much to say in the College. Sir Philip is the proper person to secure one of the them viz Mr Gregory Professor of Mathematicks.”