Uniquely of the three letters from James McDonald, the notepaper on which this one is written has a printed letterhead.

THE FARM,                               HUNTLY. N.B. 4th. Augt. 1894 My dear Sir                    I have been looking about in all directions for the Act of 1784 restoring the forfeited Jacobite estates to the heirs, but I have not come upon it in any history. There was of course the General Act of Indemnity, but this is not the thing. You will no doubt find it in the Statutes applying to Scotland which may be got at any of your Public Libraries. I was in the University Library, Aberdeen, on Friday & might have looked it up there, but it did not occur to me at the moment. I suspect there were a good many families which did not get back their own. Many estates were broken up & given away to favourites of the King or Government.       The Duke’s factor at once stopped the carrying away the stones from Lesmoir. It was a great pity the farmer who was doing this did not ask permission. He would have got it at once under condition that he only took the stones which were lying among the rubbish & left the walls untouched. The factor intends to go up soon & see what can be done to clear out the foundations, or rather the rubbish at present covering up the foundations so as to show the plan of the house. There is no doubt most of the houses in the neighbourhood have been built from material carried away from the castle.       I was asking about a set of the Spalding Club publications among the Aberdeen booksellers, but there is not one at present. A little waiting will bring a set into the market soon. P. J. Anderson New Spalding Club, is the address of the Secretary. He generally gives very prompt attention to any communication addressed to him. You should write him again. There are not many of the works hitherto published of first rate importance, & some of them are of very little general interest.       I have been working now on Aberdeenshire names for the past 3 years. The labour is great & the progress is slow. I wish I could get on more rapidly, but it won’t push, & business still claims a large share of my time.       Miserable weather we have, & on Friday last Dee & Don were in higher flood than I have seen for many years. Much damage has been done to farmers. With Kind Regard       Yours truly Wm. Leiper Esq. Glasgow.           Jas Macdonald

James Macdonald to William Leiper