amorous madness; but in good sense, and every sober qualification, he was far my superior. "I entered on the farm with a full resolution, 'Come, go to, I will be wise!' I read farming books; I calculated crops; I attended markets; and, in short, in spite of the devil, and the world, and the flesh,' I believe I should have been a wise man; but, the first year, from unfortunately buying bad seed, the second, from a late harvest, we lost half our crops. This overset all my wisdom, and I returned, like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.' "I now began to be known in the neighborhood as a maker of rhymes. The first of my poetic offspring that saw the light was a burlesque lamentation on a quarrel between two reverend Calvinists, both of them dramatis persone in my Holy Fair. I had a notion myself that the piece had some merit; but to prevent the worst, I gave a copy to a friend who was very fond of such things, and told him that I could not guess who was the author of it, but that I thought it pretty clever. With a certain description of the clergy, as well as laity, it met with a roar of applause. Holy Willie's Prayer next made its appearance, and alarmed the kirk-session so much, that they held several meetings to look over their spiritual artillery, if haply any of it might be pointed against profane rhymers. Unluckily for me, my wanderings led me, on another side, within point-blank shot of their heaviest metal. This is the unfortunate story that gave rise to my printed poem, The Lament. This was a most melancholy affair, which I cannot yet bear to reflect on, and had nearly given me one or two of the principal qualifications for a place among those who have lost the chart, and mistaken the reckoning of rationality.* I gave up my part of the farm to my * This distraction of mind arose from the misery and sorrow in which he involved Jean Armour, afterwards Mrs. Burns. She was a great favorite or her father. The intimation of a marriage was the first sug brother; in truth it was only nominally mine; and made what little preparation was in my power for Jamaica. But, before leaving my native country for ever, I resolved to publish my poems. I weighed my productions as impartially as was in my power: I thought they had merit; and it was a delicious idea, that I should be called a clever fellow, even though it should never reach my ears — a poor negro-driver, or perhaps a victim to that inhospitable clime, and gone to the world of spirits! I can truly say, that pauvre inconnu as I then was, I had pretty nearly as high an idea of myself and of my works, as I have at this moment, when the public has decided in their favor. It was my opinion, that the mistakes and blunders, both in a rational and religious point of view, of which we see thousands daily guilty, are owing to their ignorance of themselves. To know myself, has been all along my constant study. I weighed myself alone; I balanced myself with others; I watched every means of information, to see how much ground I occupied as a man and as a poet; I studied assiduously nature's design in my formation where the lights and shades in my character were intended. I was pretty confident my poems would meet with some applause; but, at the worst, the roar of the Atlantic would deafen the voice of censure, and the novelty of West Indian scenes make me forget neglect. I threw off six hundred copies, of which I had got subscriptions for about three hundred and fifty. My vanity was highly gratified by the --- gestion he received of her real situation. He was in the greatest distress, and fainted away. The marriage did not appear to him to make the matter better. He expressed a wish that the agreement between them should be cancelled This was communicated to Burns. He felt the deepest anguish of mind. He offered to stay at home, and provide for his wife and family by every exertion in his power. Even this was not approved of; and humble as Jean Armour's station was, and great though her imprudence had been, she was still thought, by her partial parents, to look forward to a more advantageous connexion than that which now presented itself. 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 8 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 gross, 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 distinctions 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 scarcely have made an eight-penny tailor, and whose heart is not worth three farthings, 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 intercourse which he held with persons of dis |