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doubt Burns thought himself unmarried, and the Rev. Mr. Auld was of the same opinion, since he offered him a certificate that he was single but no opinion of either priest or lawyer, including the disclamation of Jean Armour, and the belief of Burns, could have, in my opinion, barred the claim of the children to full legitimacy, according to the law of Scotland.]

Edinburgh, Jan. 7, 1787.

To tell the truth among friends, I feel a miserable blank in my heart, with the want of her, and I don't think I shall ever meet with so delicious an armful again. She has her faults; and so have you and I; and so has every body;

Their tricks and craft hae put me daft;

They've ta'en me in and a' that;
But clear your decks, and here's the sex,

I like the jads for a' that.

For a' that and a' that,

And twice as muckle's a' that.

I have met with a very pretty girl, a Lothian farmer's daughter, whom I have almost persuaded to accompany me to the west country, should I ever return to settle there. By the bye, a Lothian farmer is about an Ayrshire squire of the lower kind; and I had a most delicious ride from Leith to her house yesternight, in a hackney-coach, with her brother and two sisters, and brother's wife. We had dined all together at a common friend's house in Leith, and danced, drank, and sang till late enough. The night was dark, the claret had been good, and I thirsty. ***

R. B.

IX.

TO MR. SIBBALD,

BOOKSELLER IN EDINBURGH.

[This letter first appeared in that very valuable work, Nicholl's Illustrations of Literature.]

SIR,

Lawn Market.

So little am I acquainted with the words and manners of the more public and polished walks of life, that I often feel myself much embarrassed how to express the feelings of my heart, particularly gratitude : —

"Rude am I in my speech,

And little therefore shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself—"

The warmth with which you have befriended an obscure man and a young author in the last three magazines-I can only say, Sir, I feel the weight of the obligation; I wish I could express my sense of it. In the meantime accept of the conscious acknowledgment from,

Sir,

Your obliged servant,

R. B.

X.

TO THE EARL OF GLENCAIRN.

[The poet addressed the following letter to the Earl of Glencairn when he commenced his journey to the Border. It was first printed

in the third edition of Lockhart's Life of Burns; an eloquent and

manly work.]

MY LORD,

I Go away to-morrow morning early, and allow me to vent the fulness of my heart, in thanking your lordship for all that patronage, that benevolence and that friendship, with which you have honored me. With brimful eyes, I pray that you may find in that great Being, whose image you so nobly bear, that friend which I have found in you. My gratitude is not selfish design—that I disdain it is not dodging after the heels of greatness that is an offering you disdain. It is a feeling of the same kind with my devotion.

R. B.

XI.

TO MR. WILLIAM DUNBAR.

[William Dunbar, Colonel of the Crochallan Fencibles. The name has a martial sound, but the corps which he commanded was a club of wits, whose courage was exercised on "paitricks, teals, moor-powts, and plovers."]

DEAR SIR,

Lawn-market, Monday morning.

In justice to Spenser, I must acknowledge that there is scarcely a poet in the language could have been a more agreeable present to me; and in justice to you, allow me to say, Sir, that I have not met with a man in Edinburgh to whom I would so willingly have been indebted for the gift. The tattered rhymes I herewith present you, and the handsome volumes of Spenser for which I am so much indebted to your goodness, may perhaps be

not in proportion to one another; but be that as it may, my gift, though far less valuable, is as sincere a mark of esteem as yours.

The time is approaching when I shall return to my shades; and I am afraid my numerous Edinburgh friendships are of so tender a construction, that they will not bear carriage with me. Yours is one of the few that I could wish of a more robust constitution. It is indeed very probable that when I leave this city, we part never more to meet in this sublunary sphere; but I have a strong fancy that in some future eccentric planet, the comet of happier systems than any with which astronomy is yet acquainted, you and I, among the harum scarum sons of imagination and whim, with a hearty shake of a hand, a metaphor and a laugh, shall recognise old acquaintance:

"Where wit may sparkle all its rays,

Uncurst with caution's fears;

That pleasure basking in the blaze,
Rejoice for endless years."

I have the honor to be, with the warmest sincerity, dear sir, &c.

XII.

R. B.

TO JAMES JOHNSON.

[James Johnson was an engraver in Edinburgh, and proprietor of the Musical Museum; a truly national work, for which Burns wrote or amended many songs.]

DEAR SIR,

Lawn-market, Friday noon, 3 May, 1787.

I HAVE sent you a song never before known, for your

collection; the air by M'Gibbon, but I know not the author of the words, as I got it from Dr. Blacklock.

Farewell, my dear sir! I wished to have seen you, but I have been dreadfully throng, as I march to-morrow. Had my acquaintance with you been a little older, I would have asked the favor of your correspondence, as I have met with few people whose company and conversation gives me so much pleasure, because I have met with few whose sentiments are so congenial to my own.

When Dunbar and you meet, tell him that I left Edinburgh with the idea of him hanging somewhere about my heart.

Keep the original of the song till we meet again, whenever that

may

be.

[blocks in formation]

R. B.

[This letter has a business air about it: the name of Patison is nowhere else to be found in the poet's correspondence.]

DEAR SIR,

Berry-well, near Dunse, May 17th, 1787.

I AM sorry I was out of Edinburgh, making a slight pilgrimage to the classic scenes of this country, when I was favored with yours of the 11th instant, enclosing an order of the Paisley banking company on the royal bank, for twenty-two pounds seven shillings sterling, payment în full, after carriage deducted, for ninety copies of my book I sent you. According to your motions, I see you

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