friend the laird, you will greatly oblige

"Your friend,

"E. DUCIE."

The MS. consisted of three or four sheets of deed-paper fastened
together at one corner with silk. The prefatory note was on the first
sheet. This first sheet Ducie cut away with his penknife and locked up
in his desk. The remaining sheets he sent to his friend Bexell, together
with the note which he had written.

Three days later Mr. Bexell returned the sheets with his reply. In order
properly to understand this reply it will be necessary to offer to the
reader's notice a specimen of the MS. The conclusion arrived at by Mr.
Bexell, and the mode by which he reached them, will then be more clearly
comprehensible.

The following is a counterpart of the first few lines of the MS.:

253.12 59.25 14.5 96.14 158.49 1.29 465.1 28.53

4 1 6 10 4 12 9 1
-----------------------------------
16.36 151.18 58.7 14.29 368.1 209.18 43.11 1.31 1.1
-----------------------------------
11 3 9 8
29.6 186.9 204.11 86.19 43.16 348.14 196.29 203.5

4 5 10 6 1 5 6 2