18th century cover up of a scandal.- Gilmour (Sir

18th century cover up of a scandal.- Gilmour (Sir Alexander, 3rd Bt., politician, MP, Clerk Comptroller of the Board of Green Cloth, of Craigmillar, Edinburgh, c. 1737-92) 28 Autograph Letters signed & 9 Autograph Notes unsigned to Thomas Adams of Chiswick, together c. 65pp. some with address panels and conjugate blanks, London, Warkworth & elsewhere, 1780-83 & n.d., mostly on his business affairs, being chronically short of money, referring to his friend Patrick Warrender, offering provision for a mistress and illegitimate child and efforts to make her leave London, referring to her as "Queen Mab... . It... gives me the most heart felt concern to find her reluctance at complying with a measure which can alone in the end turn out for her own, very advantage or that of the child... . As to security for her Allowance of £50 per ann. I have no objection to granting her a Bond payable half yearly, and some incidental news, "Admiral Darby and Sir Jn. Ross have offer'd with the addition of 15 Ships of the Line to fight the combined Fleets no bad news for poor old England that her Admirals think 35 British Ships a match for 47 French & Spanish; and a copy letter of Gilmour's and 8 others, including 5 ALs.s from John White referring to "Queen Mab" and "Mrs Moody" going back to her mother's house in Fort William, "if that Woman returns to London, Sir Alexander is irretrievably undone", some tears where opened, folds, slightly browned, v.s., 1780-83 (45 pieces).

⁂ "if that woman returns to London Sir Alexander is irretrievably undone."

Gilmour was for a time a rival of James Boswell for the affections of a young heiress, but this fell through and he never married. However, he seems to have had a mistress, a Mrs Moody who bore him a child, and the implication of his letter to Thomas Adams is that he offered her regular payments for her compliance in leaving London and returning to her mother who lived in Fort William. His reference to her as "Queen Mab", a mischievous person, seems to have been caused by the lady's understandable refusal to comply with his instructions.