This poser is taken from a heritors' minute book among the Inveresk Kirk Session records (National Records of Scotland, CH2/531/70, page 157). It concerns an interesting, and for the time unusual, idea of how to raise money for the poor by Scottish Enlightenment figure and minister of Inveresk, Dr. Alexander Carlyle.
The handwriting is fairly clear. There are a couple of figures which may be unfamiliar and the clerk seems to have had an inclination to finish certain letters with a flourish. Some of the abbreviations included may also be slightly tricky.
Question: What two forms of entertainment did Dr. Carlyle propose to raise money for the poor, and which of them was the most lucrative?
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