Annotation:Charles Gray Esqr. of Carse's Strathspey
CHARLES GRAY ESQR. OF CARSE'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Charles Gray of Carse was an advocate. He married in 1792 to Ann, daughter of David and Elizabeth Hunter of Burnside Forfarshire. They had two children who predeceased their father, who died in 1850, and the estate of Carse (which is two miles from Forfar) devolved to his grand-daughter. This excerpt, from an entry in the 1826 diary of writer Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) perhaps references Duff's Charles Gray of Carse:
February 11_.--Court sat till half-past one. I had but a trifle to do, so wrote letters to Mrs. Maclean Clephane and nephew Walter. Sent the last, £40 in addition to £240 sent on the 6th, making his full equipment £280. A man, calling himself Charles Gray of Carse, wrote to me, expressing sympathy for my misfortunes, and offering me half the profits of what, if I understand him right, is a patent medicine, to which I suppose he expects me to stand trumpeter. He endeavours to get over my objections to accepting his liberality (supposing me to entertain them) by assuring me his conduct is founded on a _sage selfishness_. This is diverting enough. I suppose the Commissioners of, Police will next send me a letter of condolence, begging my acceptance of a broom, a shovel, and a scavenger's greatcoat, and assuring me that they had appointed me to all the emoluments of a well-frequented crossing. It would be doing more than they have done of late for the cleanliness of the streets, which, witness my shoes, are in a piteous pickle. I thanked the selfish sage with due decorum--for what purpose can anger serve?