No. XVIII.

TO [it is believed] JOHN BALLANTINE,

OF AYR.

HONOURED SIR:

My proposals came to hand last night, and knowing that you would wish to have it in your power to do me a service as early as any body, I enclose you half a sheet of them. I must consult you, first opportunity, on the propriety of sending my quondam friend, Mr. Aiken, a copy. If he is now reconciled to my character as an honest man, I would do it with all my soul; but I would not be beholden to the noblest being ever God created, if he imagined me to be a rascal. Apropos, old Mr. Armour prevailed with him to mutilate that unlucky paper yesterday. Would you believe it? though I had not a hope, nor even a wish, to make her mine after her conduct; yet, when he told me the names were all out of the paper, my heart died within me, and he cut my veins with the news. Perdition seize her falsehood! R. B.

[Here we have a plain account of the destruction of the marriage-lines between the Poet and his Jean: her father consulted Mr. Aiken, and, in consequence of his advice, tore their names away from the certificate.—ED.]

No. XIX.

TO MR. DAVID BRICE,

SHOEMAKER, GLASGOW.

Mossgiel, 17th July, 1786.

I HAVE been so throng printing my Poems, that I could scarcely find as much time as to write to you. Poor Armour is come back again to Mauchline, and I went to call for her, and her mother forbade me the house, nor did she herself express much sorrow for what she has done. I have already appeared publicly in church, and was indulged in the liberty of standing in my own seat. I do this to get a certificate as a bachelor, which Mr. Auld has promised me. I am now fixed to go for the West Indies in October. Jean and her friends insisted much that she should stand along with me in the kirk, but the minister would not allow it, which bred a great trouble I assure you, and I am blamed as the cause of it, though I am sure I am innocent; but I am very much pleased, for all that, not to have had her company. I have no news to tell you that I remember. I am really happy to hear of your welfare, and that you are so well in Glasgow. I must certainly see you before I leave the country. I shall expect to hear from you soon, and am, Dear Brice,

Yours,-R. B.

[Had Jean Armour been left to the guidance of her own heart, the story of her early years would have been less sorrowful.-ED.]

No. XX.

TO MR. JOHN RICHMOND.

Old Rome Forest, 30th July, 1786.

MY DEAR RICHMOND:

My hour is now come-you and I will never meet in Britain more. I have orders, within three weeks at farthest, to repair aboard the Nancy, Captain Smith, from Clyde, to Jamaica, and to call at Antigua. This, except to our friend Smith, whom God long preserve, is a secret about Mauchline. Would you believe it? Armour has got a warrant to throw me in jail till I find security for an enormous sum. This they keep an entire secret, but I got it by a channel they little dream of; and I am wandering from one friend's house to another, and, like a true son of the gospel, "have no where to lay my head.” I know you will pour an execration on her head, but spare the poor, ill-advised girl, for my sake; though may all the furies that rend the injured, enraged lover's bosom, await her mother until her latest hour! I write in a moment of rage, reflecting on my miserable situation exiled, abandoned, forlorn. I can write no more-let me hear from you by the return of coach. I will write you ere I go.

I am, dear Sir,

Yours, here and hereafter,

R. B.

[The Poet, when he wrote this letter, was skulking from Carrick to Kyle, and from Kyle to Carrick: “ some ill-advised persons," he said, had "uncoupled the merciless pack of the law at his heels." But Mr. Armour had no wish to detain him till he found bail: he was desirous that he should leave the country; and, to accomplish this, had recourse to the law. These are painful but necessary explanations.-ED.]

No. XXI.

TO MR. ROBERT MUIR,

KILMARNOCK.

Mossgiel, Friday noon.

MY FRIEND, My Brother:

WARM recollection of an absent friend presses so hard upon my heart, that I send him the prefixed bagatelle (the Calf), pleased with the thought that it will greet the man of my bosom, and be a kind of distant language of friendship.

You will have heard that poor Armour has repaid me double. A very fine boy and a girl have awakened a thought and feelings that thrill, some with tender pressure, and some with foreboding anguish, through my soul.

The poem was nearly an extemporaneous production, on a wager with Mr. Hamilton, that I would not produce a poem on the subject in a given time.

If you think it worth while, read it to Charles and Mr. W. Parker, and if they choose a copy of it, it is at their service, as they are men whose friendship I shall be proud to claim, both in this world and that which is to come.

I believe all hopes of staying at home will be abortive, but more of this when, in the latter part of next week, you shall be troubled with a visit from, My dear Sir,

Your most devoted,

R. B.

[Robert Muir of Kilmarnock was a constant and kind friend to the Poet: he promoted his interest in his own wide circle of acquaintance, and set the world an example by subscribing for forty copies of the Edinburgh edition of his poems.-ED.]