The powers of a man's mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks.

However his voluminous notes on the Glorious Revolution came into the possession of Thomas Macaulay who used them for his own History of the Revolution. About the same time he wrote for the Cabinet Cyclopaedia a History of England from the Earliest Times to the Final Establishment of the Reformation. The Trial of Jean Peltier for Libel against Napoleon Buonaparte (1803).

His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. Sir James Mackintosh (24 October 1765 – 30 May 1832) was a Scottish jurist politician and historian. He was trained as a doctor and barrister and worked also as a journalist judge administrator professor philosopher and politician.