DEAR SIR-Yours came safe, and I am, as usual, much indebted to your goodness. Poor Captain Montgomery is cast. Yesterday it was tried whether the husband could proceed against the unfortunate lover without first divorcing his wife, and their gravities on the bench were unanimously of opinion that Mmay prosecute for

SKETCHES IN THE COURT OF SESSION.

53

damages directly, and need not divorce his wife at all if he pleases. O all ye powers of love unfortunate, and friendless wo, pour the balm of sympathising pity on the grief-torn, tender heart of the hapless fair one!

My two songs on Miss W. Alexander and Miss P[eggy] K[the Bonnie Lass of Ballochmyle, and Bonnie Doon] were likewise tried yesterday by a jury of literati, and found defamatory libels against the fastidious powers of Poesy and Taste; and the author forbidden to print them under pain of forfeiture of character. I cannot help almost shedding a tear to the memory of two songs that had cost me some pains, and that I valued a good deal; but I must submit.

My most respectful compliments to Mrs Hamilton and Miss Kennedy.

D

My poor unfortunate songs come again across my memory. the pedant, frigid soul of criticism for ever and ever! R. B. The Faculty Decisions, under the date March 7th, 1787, report the judgment of the Court of Session in a case in which a legal point arises between Mr C. Min Ayrshire, and Captain James Montgomery, late of the 93d foot, as to whether the former could prosecute the latter for the dishonour of his wife, without previously divorcing her. It appears that the lady was heiress of S

C

of S

that she had had two children

to her husband, and that she left his house in June 1783 in company with Captain Montgomery, to whom she bore a child in November of the subsequent year. From Burns's expressions, we are led to understand that there were extenuating circumstances in the conduct of the lady, and that the policy of the husband in abstaining from a process of divorce, which would separate him from a goodly estate, was not popular. Miss Peggy Kanother Ayrshire lady of fortune, already oftener than once alluded to in these pages as having loved not wisely but too well.

was

Burns could scarcely but take an interest in the proceedings of the supreme civil court, always an object of respect with the rustic population of Scotland. As a result of his visits to the Parliament House, we have two well-drawn sketches of the leading barristers of that day-namely, the Dean of Faculty, Harry Erskine, and the Lord Advocate, Mr Ilay Campbell (subsequently Lord President).

DEAR SIR-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

LETTER TO MR J. CANDLISH.

55

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 honour to be, with the warmest sincerity, dear sir, &c.

R. B.

TO MR JAMES CANDLISH,1

STUDENT IN PHYSIC, GLASGOW COLLEGE.

EDINBURGH, March 21st, 1787.

MY EVER DEAR OLD ACQUAINTANCE-I was equally surprised and pleased at your letter, though I daresay you will think, by my delaying so long to write to you, that I am so drowned in the intoxication of good fortune as to be indifferent to old, and once dear connections. The truth is, I was determined to write a good letter, full of argument, amplification, erudition, and, as Bayes says, all that. I thought of it, and thought of it, and by my soul I could not; and, lest you should mistake the cause of my silence, I just sit down to tell you so. Don't give yourself credit, though, that the strength of your logic scares me: the truth is, I never mean to meet you on that ground at all. You have shewn me one thing which was to be demonstrated; that strong pride of reasoning, with a little affectation of singularity, may mislead the best of hearts. I likewise, since you and I were first acquainted, in the pride of despising old women's stories, ventured in the daring path Spinosa trod; but experience of the weakness, not the strength, of human powers, made me glad to grasp at revealed religion.

I am still, in the Apostle Paul's phrase, 'The old man with his deeds,' as when we were sporting about the 'Lady Thorn.' I shall be four weeks here yet at least, and so I shall expect to hear from you; welcome sense, welcome nonsense. I am, with the warmest sincerity, R. B.

TO MRS DUNLOP.

EDINBURGH, March 22d, 1787. MADAM-I read your letter with watery eyes. A little, very little while ago, I had scarce a friend but the stubborn pride of my own

1 Mr Candlish, like Burns the offspring of obscure parents in Ayrshire, rose through great difficulties to the laborious calling of a private teacher, first in connection with the Glasgow, and then the Edinburgh university. He married Miss Smith, one of the six belles of Mauchline, and died in 1806. A son of this pair has attained a historical position in his native country. He is the Rev. Dr Robert S. Candlish, of the St George's Free Church, Edinburgh.

bosom; now I am distinguished, patronised, befriended by you. Your friendly advices, I will not give them the cold name of criticisms, I receive with reverence. I have made some small alterations in what I before had printed. I have the advice of some very judicious friends among the literati here, but with them I sometimes find it necessary to claim the privilege of thinking for myself. The noble Earl of Glencairn, to whom I owe more than to any man, does me the honour of giving me his strictures: his hints, with respect to impropriety or indelicacy, I follow implicitly.

You kindly interest yourself in my future views and prospects: there I can give you no light. It is all

'Dark as was chaos ere the infant sun

Was rolled together, or had tried his beams
Athwart the gloom profound.'

The appellation of a Scottish bard is by far my highest pride: to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition. Scottish scenes and Scottish story are the themes I could wish to sing. I have no dearer aim than to have it in my power, unplagued with the routine of business-for which, Heaven knows, I am unfit enough— to make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledonia; to sit on the fields of her battles, to wander on the romantic banks of her rivers, and to muse by the stately towers or venerable ruins, once the honoured abodes of her heroes.

But these are all Utopian thoughts. I have dallied long enough with life; 'tis time to be in earnest. I have a fond, an aged mother to care for, and some other bosom-ties perhaps equally tender. Where the individual only suffers by the consequences of his own thoughtlessness, indolence, or folly, he may be excusablenay, shining abilities, and some of the nobler virtues, may half sanctify a heedless character; but where God and nature have intrusted the welfare of others to his care- -where the trust is sacred and the ties are dear—that man must be far gone in selfishness, or strangely lost to reflection, whom these connections will not rouse to exertion.

I guess that I shall clear between two and three hundred pounds by my authorship: with that sum I intend, so far as I may be said to have any intention, to return to my old acquaintance, the plough, and, if I can meet with a lease by which I can live, to commence farmer. I do not intend to give up poetry; being bred to labour secures me independence, and the muses are my chief, sometimes have been my only enjoyment. If my practice second my resolution, I shall have principally at heart the serious business of life; but while following my plough, or building up my shocks, I shall cast a leisure glance to that dear, that only feature of my character which gave me the notice of my country and the patronage of a Wallace. Thus, honoured madam, I have given you the bard, his situation and his views, native as they are in his own bosom. R. B.