This is just notes.
Todo
Proofread.
Quote
You will see, gentlemen, from the issue, that the object of the action is to reduce two deeds by which the estate called Dundonnell has been taken away from its natural proprietor and conferred on other individuals not the heirs nor belonging to the blood of the family This estate is situated in a remote part of the county of Ross the most remote and inaccessible I think of any estate in the north of Scotland about fifty or sixty miles from the town of Dingwall and for about thirty or forty of these miles there was no road whatever for carriages of any description to Dundonnell and the road for horses was of the very worst description It stood destined by a contract of marriage between George Mackenzie and his lady to the heirs male of the marriage This George Mackenzie had three sons the eldest son Alexander who became apprentice to a writer to the signet in Edinburgh died before the death of his father Kenneth his second son was born in the year 1798 the third son Thomas who is the pursuer in the present action George Mac kenzie had one daughter who married the Reverend Dr Ross of Lochbroom Kenneth from his earliest years was a person of very defective natural capa city and showed propensities and eccentricities of a very singular and remark able description which adhered to him to the last His chief associates were the servants and even persons somewhat lower than himself in the scale of being and if a wandering fool could be found he was his choice companion He also showed an attachment to poultry Cocks and hens were always his choicest companions and although this might be considered as a pardonable eccentricity in childhood yet you will find that it accompanied him as extra vagantly in manhood and continued with him till his death
Being thus a person of extremely weak mind he was the source of extreme regret to his parents They knew and felt that this unfortunate youth was not like the rest of the family gifted with ordinary capacity and such was his state in early life that if his lot had not been blessed by being born better in rank than many such he must have wandered about the country as a common idiot Every exertion was made to give him an education suited to his rank in life In 1798 Mr Neil Kennedy now a respectable clergyman was employed as his tutor and remained with him till 1801 He was succeeded by his brother John Kennedy Besides these reverend gentlemen I will bring many who will describe in their own language what they knew and saw of the incapacity of this unfortunate youth I do not say that he was an absolute idiot he was able to learn to read and penmanship appears to have been his chief accomplishment The evidence that I have to produce will show however that he was not only weak but incapable of attending to and acquiring the education which was necessary to fit him for society At the same time he was of a kindly disposition he had natural attachment which mankind share in common with the inferior animals He was easily led and easily imposed on I am speaking you will observe of his early life He continued thus to be the source of regret and distress to his parents but still they were determined to do justice to him and to use every effort to bring him up a little higher than they could hope to do in the neighbouring schools
In 1804 his parents sent him to Aberdeen where he resided till 1808 with Mr Neil Kennedy his early tutor Exertions were made by him to in stil proper education into his mind but in vain and so much was he the laughing stock of society and so far was he below the ordinary young men that attended the University that he went under the name of The Highland minister’s fool He would give away his clothes when a lad of 18 or 20 for confectioneries or trinkets He had a fancy to sit and associate with low peo ple He would be followed and hooted after by the boys so that Mr Kennedy was afraid to let him go out of doors alone At one time he was about to be involved in an extraordinary marriage with a person of whom he knew no thing Mr Kennedy got notice of it and sent him away without resistance from Aberdeen in the custody of a servant to the house of a relative in Nairne and he soon forgot that he had any intention of binding himself for life in matrimony I have stated that Kenneth was a source of regret to his parents and I am now to state the manner in which his father writes of him when a lad of 18 to his son Alexander who was then alive:—
[…]
His conduct himself with ordinary propriety notwithstanding the exertions made for him in the rudiments of his education In 1810 a commission was obtain ed for him in the Ross shire militia I speak with all due respect of that militia but it was not unusual for a respectable proprietor in Ross shire to obtain a place in that body for his son although he could be no ornament to it As he grew up his propensities continued most grossly sensual favourite drink was cream and he increased so enormously in size that he became incapable of duty I am the last man that ought to object to this indication and I am quite willing that my learned friends on the opposite side should have their jokes against me on that subject But Kenneth’s grossness arising from his habits was that of disease And although some of those who are unfortunate in that indication get over the effect Kenneth had not that blessing the power of counteracting it He could not learn the necessary duties of his situation In field days he was put out of the way and the officers winked at the absence of the brother of the young Laird of Dundonnell He spent his time in drinking his favourite beverage cream and in eating beef steaks His propensity for low company continued and in every way he was the butt of the officers He had absolutely no sense of shame He was accompanied when on duty by a sergeant who pricked him on the right and left and thus he was enabled to discharge what the other side say were the important duties of his situation in the Ross shire militia After this he obtained a company in the Inverness shire militia and the same habits accompanied him there
He continued to increase in bulk and I will be enabled to bring before you the highest testimony from the commanding officer and from medical gentle men of this city who were acquainted with him in the regiment and who will describe what they knew of him and give their opinion of the defect of his understanding and of the increase of his enormous bulk and the tor pidity of his nature He sat at the mess table and although the conversation was not pitched in the highest degree of intellect he was unable to enter into the ordinary conversation of the mess room beyond speaking of the state of the weather if he spoke at all and even this extremely seldom
[…]
Search for “Hilsea” or “Portsmouth”. More generally, the text is a goldmine of social attitudes, because he’s breaking the unwritten rules of society, and the witnesses are commenting on it. You don’t see where the lines are until someone steps over them.
The focus on his obesity is interesting, too, but you’d need more examples to put together an “attitudes towards obesity” essay.
Third, different text:
He was with the Inverness militia at Hilsea, he was court martial’d, and there’s a good chance there were records, because the clerk of the court has them. Bodes well for finding the Jan 1813 Soldiers of the Inverness Militia Court-Martialled
See also: John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth and [auction of a letter, Feb 08 2020].