incidents of the remaining part of his life will be found. This authentic, though melancholy record will supersede in future the necessity of any extended narrative. BURNS point of setting out for Edinburgh before Mrs. Dunlop had heard of him. About the time of my brother's publishing in Kilmarnock, she had been afflicted with a long and severe illness, which had reduced her mind to the most distressing state of depression. In this situation, a copy of the printed poems was laid on her table by a friend, and happening to open on The Cotter's Saturday Night, she read it over with the greatest pleasure and surprise; the poet's description of the simple cottagers, operating on her mind like the charm of a powerful exorcist, expelling the demon ennui, and restoring her to her wonted inward harmony and satisfaction.—Mrs. Dunlop sent off a person express to Mossgiel, distant fifteen or sixteen miles, with a very obliging letter to my brother, desiring him to send her half a dozen copies of his poems, if he had them to spare, and begging he would do her the pleasure of calling at Dunlop House as soon as convenient. This was the beginning of a correspondence which ended only with the poet's life. The last use he made of his pen was writing a short letter to this lady a few days before his death. "Col. Fullarton, who afterwards paid a very parti cular attention to the poet, was not in the country at the time of his first commencing author. At this distance of time, and in the hurry of a wet day, snatched from laborious occupations, I may have forgot some persons who BURNS set out for Edinburgh in the month of November, 1786. He was furnished with a letter of introduction to Dr. Blacklock, from the gentleman to whom the Doctor had addressed the letter which is represented by our bard as the immediate cause of his visiting the Scottish metropolis. He was acquainted with Mr. Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the university, and had been entertained by that gentleman at Catrine, his estate in Ayrshire. He had been introduced by Mr. Alexander Dalzel to the Earl of Glencairn, who had expressed his high approbation of his poetical talents. He had friends therefore who could introduce him into the circles of literature as well as of fashion, and his own man who ought to have been mentioned on this occasion, for which if it come to my knowledge I shall be heartily sorry." The friendship of Mrs. Dunlop was of particular value to Burns. This lady, daughter and sole heiress to Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie, and lineal descendant of the illustrious Wallace, the first of Scottish warriors, possesses the qualities of mind suited to her high lineage. Preserving, in the decline of life, the generous affections of youth, her admiration of the poet was soon accompanied by a sincere friendship for the man, which pursued him in after life through good and evil report, in poverty, in sickness, and in sorrow; and which is continued to his infant family, now deprived of their parent. ners and appearance exceeding every expectation that could have been formed of them, he soon became an object of general curiosity and admiration. The following circumstance contributed to this in a considerable degree.—At the time when Burns arrived in Edinburgh, the periodical paper, entitled The Lounger, was publishing, every Saturday producing a successive number. His poems had attracted the notice of the gentlemen engaged in that undertaking, and the ninety-seventh number of those unequal, though frequently beautiful essays, is devoted to An Account of Robert Burns, the Ayrshire ploughman, with extracts from his poems, written by the elegant pen of Mr. Mackenzie.* The Lounger had an extensive circulation among persons of taste and literature, not in Scotland only, but in various parts of England, to whose acquaintance therefore our bard was immediately introduced. The paper of Mr. Mackenzie was calculated to introduce him advantageously. The extracts are well selected; the criticisms and reflections are judicious, as well as generous; and in the style and sentiments there is that happy delicacy, by which the writings of the author are so eminently distinguished. *This paper has been attributed, but improperly, to Lord Craig, one of the Scottish judges, author of the very interesting account of Michael Bruce, in the 36th number of the Mirror. distinguished. The extracts from Burns's poems in the ninety-seventh number of The Lounger, were copied into the London as well as into many of the provincial papers, and the fame of our bard spread throughout the island. Of the manners, character, and conduct of Burns at this period, the following account has been given by Mr. Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, in a letter to the editor, which he is particularly happy to have obtained permission to insert in these memoirs. "THE first time I saw Robert Burns was on the 23d of October, 1786, when he dined at my house in Ayrshire, together with our common friend Mr. John Mackenzie, surgeon in Mauchline, to whom I am indebted for the pleasure of his acquaintance, I am enabled to mention the date particularly, by some verses which Burns wrote after he returned home, and in which the day of our meeting is recorded.My excellent and much lamented friend, the late Basil, Lord Daer, happened to arrive at Catrine the same day, and by the kindness and frankness of his manners, left an impression on the mind of the poet, which never was effaced. The verses I allude to are among the most imperfect of his pieces; but a few stanzas may perhaps be an object of curiosity to you, both on on account of the character to which they relate, and of the light which they throw on the situation and feelings of the writer, before his name was known to the public.* *This poem is as follows: This wot ye all whom it concerns, A ne'er-to-be-forgotten day, "I cannot I've been at drucken writers' feasts, But wi' a Lord-stand out my shin, An sic a Lord-lang Scotch ells twa, But oh for Hogarth's magic pow'r ! When + Clambered. Attorneys. § Frightened stare---Wild, strange, timid, stare. E. |