Chapter XLII: Letter XLI: Parliament-Close, Nov. 10, 1762

Dear ERSKINE,--All I have now to say, is to inform you, that I shall set out for London on Monday next, and to beg that you may not leave Edinburgh before that time.

My letters have often been carried to you over rising mountains and rolling seas. This pursues a simpler track, and under the tuition of a cadie,[61] is transmitted from the Parliament-Close to the Canongate. Thus it is with human affairs; all is fluctuating, all is changing. Believe me,

Yours, &c.

JAMES BOSWELL.

[Footnote 61: "There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand-boys, called 'cawdies,' who ply in the streets at night with paper lanthorns, and are very serviceable in carrying messages."--"Humphry Clinker," vol. ii., p. 240.--ED.]

* * * * *