reception I met with from the public; and besides, I pocketed, all expenses deducted, nearly twenty pounds. This sum came very seasonably, as I was thinking of indenting myself, for want of money, to procure my passage. As soon as I was master of nine guineas, the price of wafting me to the torrid zone, I took a steerage passage in the first ship that was to sail from the Clyde, for

'Hungry ruin had me in the wind.'

"I had been for some days skulking from covert to covert, under all the terrors of a jail; as some ill-advised people had uncoupled the merciless pack of the law at my heels.* I had taken the last farewell of my few friends, my chest was on the road to Greenock; I had composed the last song I should ever measure in Caledonia. The gloomy night is gathering fast, when a letter from Dr. Blacklock, to a friend of mine, overthrew all my schemes, by opening new prospects to my poetic ambition. The doctor belonged to a set of critics, for whose applause I had not dared to hope. His opinion, that I would meet with encouragement in Edinburgh, for a second edition, fired me so much, that away I posted for that city, without a single acquaintance, or a single letter of introduction. The baneful star that had so long shed its blasting influence in my zenith, for once made a revolution to the nadir; and a kind Providence placed me under the patronage of one of the noblest of men, the earl of Glencairn. Oublie moi, Grand Dieu, si jamais je l'oublie !

"I need relate no farther. At Edinburgh I was in a new world; I mingled among many classes of men, but all of them new to me, and I was all attention to 'catch the characters and the manners living as they rise.' Whether I have profited, time will show.”

This was to oblige him to find security for the maintenance of his twin-children, whom he was not permitted to legitimate by a marriage with their mother

His reception from men of letters, in general, was flattering. Dr. Robertson, Dr. Blair, Dr. Gregory, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Makenzie, and Mr. Frazer Tytler, perceived and acknowledged his talents. He was an acceptable guest in the gayest and most elevated circles, and received from female beauty and elegance, those attentions above all others most grateful to him. Among men of rank and fashion, he was particularly distinguished by James, earl of Glencairn, who introduced him to the notice and the convivial society of the Caledonian Hunt. But while he was invited into the company of men of virtue and taste, he was also seduced, by pressing solicitations, into the fellowship of those whose habits, without being extremely grass, were yet too licentious and dissolute. The festive indulgences which he enjoyed among them, gradually deprived him of his relish for the temperate and austere virtues. But whatever influence this change produced on his conduct and morals, his understanding suffered no correspondent debasement. He estimated his new friends and associates at their proper value; and manifested great discrimination in appreciating the character of those who imagined themselves men of the first order in the walks of literature and fashion.

"There are few of the sore evils under the sun," he observes, "give me more uneasiness and chagrin, than the comparison how a man of genius, nay, of avowed worth, is received every where, with the reception which a mere ordinary character, decorated with the trappings and futile distinct.ons of fortune, meets. I imagine a man of abilities, his breast glowing with honest pride, conscious that men are born equal, still giving 'honor to whom honor is due;' he meets, at a great man's table, a Squire Something, or a Sir Somebody; he knows the noble landlord, at heart, gives the bard, or whatever he is, a share of his good wishes, beyond, perhaps, any one at the table; yet how will it mortify him to see a fellow, whose abilities would scarce.y have made an eight-penny tailor, and whose heart

is not worth three farthir gs, meet with attention and notice, that are withheld from the son of genius and poverty !

"The noble Glencairn has wounded me to the soul here, because I dearly esteem, respect and love him. He showed so much attention — engrossing attention - one day, to the only blockhead at table,`(the whole company consisted of his lordship, dunderpate, and myself,) that I was within half a point of throwing down my gage of contemptuous defiance; but he shook my hand, and looked so benevolently good at parting, - God bless him! though I should never see him more, I shall love him until my dying day! I am pleased to think I am so capable of the throes of gratitude, as I am miserably deficient in some other virtues.

"With Dr. Blair I am more at my ease. I never respect him with humble veneration; but when he kindly interests himself in my welfare, or still more, when he descends from his pinnacle, and meets me on equal ground in conversation, my heart overflows with what is called liking. When he neglects me for the mere carcass of greatness, or when his eye measures the difference of our points of elevation, I say to myself, with scarcely any emotion, what do I care for him or his pomp either?

"It is not easy forming an exact judgment of any one; but, in my opinion, Dr. Blair is merely an astonishing proof of what industry and application can do. Natural parts like his are frequently to be met with; his vanity is proverbially known among his acquaintance; but he is justly at the head of what may be called fine writing; and a critic of the first, the very first, rank in prose: even in poetry, a bard of nature's making can only take the pas of him. He has a heart, not of the very finest water, but far from being an ordinary one. In short, he is truly a worthy and most respectable character."

The respect and sympathy of Burns dwelt with keener emotion and more intense interest on the fate of Ferguson, than on the intercc urse which he held with persons of dis

tinction. On the 6th of February, 1787, he addressed a letter to the bailies of Canongate, Edinburgh, requesting perinission to erect a monument to his memory. "Gentlemen,” said he, "I am sorry to be told that the remains of Robert Ferguson, the so justly celebrated poet, a man whose talents, for ages to come, will do honor to our Caledonian name, lie in your church-yard, among the ignoble dead, unnoticed and unknown. Some memorial, to direct the steps of the lovers of Scottish song, when they wish to shed a tear over the narrow house of the bard who is no more, is surely a tribute due to Ferguson's memory tribute I wish to have the honor of paying. I petition you, then, gentlemen, to permit me to lay a simple stone over his revered ashes, to remain unalienable property to his deathless fame."

a

Burns, in consequence of this application, obtained leave to gratify his desire.* The inscription of the stone is as follows:

* A correspondent of Burns, in alluding to this.transaction, expresses himself in this manner: "So you have obtained liberty from the magistrates to erect a stone over Ferguson's grave? I do not doubt it; such things have been, as Shakspeare says, 'in the olden time;'

'The poet's fate is here in emblem shown,
He asked for bread, and he received a stone.'

It is, I believe, upon poor Butler's tomb that this is written. But how many poor brothers of Parnassus, as well as poor Butler and poor Ferguson, have asked for bread, and been served with the same sauce!

"The magistrates gave you liberty did they? O, generous magis tates! ******, celebrated over the three kingdoms for his public spirit, gives a poor poet liberty to raise a tomb to a poor poet's memory! Most generous! ******, once upon a time, gave that same poet the mighty sum of eighteen pence for a copy of his works. But then it must be considered that the poet was at this time absolutely starving, and be sought his aid with all the earnestness of hunger; and over and above he received a ********, worth at least one-third of the value, in exchange, but which, I believe, the poet afterwards very ungratefully expunged."

HERE LIES ROBERT FERGUSON, poet.

Born September 5th, 1751 — Died 16th October, 1774.

No sculptur 1 marble here, nor pompous lay,

"No storied urn, nor animated bust;
This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way

To pour her sorrows o'er her Poet's dust.

On the other side of the stone is as follows:

"By special grant of the managers to Robert Burns, who erected this stone, this burial place is to remain for ever sacred to the memory o Robert Ferguson."

Shortly after paying this mark of respect to the ashes of a kindred genius, he acquired, by the new edition of his poems, a sum of money more than sufficient for his present exigencies. He therefore determined to gratify a desire he had long entertained, of visiting some of the most interesting districts of his native country. For this purpose, he left Edinburgh on the sixth of May; and in the course of his journey was hospitably received at the houses of several gentlemen of worth and learning. After proceeding up the Tweed, through the counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk; penetrating into England as far as Newcastle; and crossing the island to Carlisle, he returned through Anan and Dumfries to Ayrshire, after an absence of six months.

It will easily be conceived with what pleasure and pride he was received by his mother, his brothers and sisters. He had left them poor, and comparatively friendless; he returned to them high in public estimation and easy in his circumstances. He returned to them, unchanged in his ardent affections, and ready to share with them, to the uttermost farthing, the pittance that fortune had bestowed.

Having remained with them a few days, he proceeded again to Edinburgh, and immediately set out on a tour to the highlands. From this journey he returned to his relations in his native country, renewing his friendships and extending his acquaintance.