Scotland/Scots > Life of Robert Burns

ROBERT BURNS. 105
among the subscribers; but whether this was done,
or not, I never could learn. I have little inter¬
course with Dr Blair, but will take care to have
the poems communicated to him by the interven¬
tion of some mutual friend. It has been told me
by a gentleman, to whom I showed the perform¬
ances, and who sought a copy with diligence and
ardour, that the whole impression is already ex¬
hausted. It were, therefore, much to be wished,
for the sake of the young man, that a second edi¬
tion, more numerous than the former, could im¬
mediately be printed; as it appears certain that
its intrinsic merit, and the exertion of the author’s
friends, might give it a more universal circulation
than anything of the kind which has been pub¬
lished in my memory. ” *
We have already seen with what surprise and
delight Burns read this generous letter. Although
he had ere this conversed with more than one per¬
son of established literary reputation, and received
from them attentions, for which he was ever after
grateful,—the despondency of his spirit appears to
have remained as dark as ever, up to the very
hour when his landlord produced Dr Blacklock’s
letter; and one may be pardoned for fancying,
that in his Vision, he has himself furnished no
unfaithful representation of the manner in which
he was spending what he looked on as one of the
last nights, if not the very last, he was to pass at
Mossgiel, when the friendly Hamilton unexpect¬
edly entered the melancholy dwelling.
“ There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek
I sat, and eyed the spewing reek,
That fill’d, wi’ hoast-provoking smeek,
The auld clay-biggin’,
* Reliques, p. 279.
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