Scotland/Scots > Life of Robert Burns

ROBERT BURNS.
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fortable as circumstances permitted. Having sent
her carriage for his conveyance, the poet visited
her on the 5th July; and she has, in a letter pub¬
lished by Dr Currie, thus described his appearance
and conversation on that occasion :—
“ I was struck with his appearance on entering
the room. The stamp of death was impressed on
his features. He seemed already touching the
brink of eternity. His first salutation was, 4 Well,
madam, have you any commands for the other
world ? ’ I replied that it seemed a doubtful case
which of us should be there soonest, and that I
hoped he would yet live to write my epitaph. (I
was then in a poor state of health.) He looked in
my face with an air of great kindness, and expres¬
sed his concern at seeing me look so ill, with his
accustomed sensibility. At table he ate little or
nothing, and he complained of having-entirely lost
the tone of his stomach. We had a long and se¬
rious conversation about his present situation, and
the approaching termination of all his earthly pro¬
spects. He spoke of his death without any of the
ostentation of philosophy, but with firmness as well
as feeling—as an event likely to happen very soon,
and which gave him concern chiefly from leaving
his four children so young and unprotected, and
his wife in so interesting a situation—in hourly ex¬
pectation of lying-in of a fifth. He mentioned,
with seeming pride and satisfaction, the promising
genius of his eldest son, and the flattering marks
of approbation he had received from his teachers,
and dwelt particularly on his hopes of that boy’s
future conduct and merit. His anxiety for his fa¬
mily seemed to hang heavy upon him, and the more
perhaps from the reflection that he had not done
them all the justice he was so well qualified to do.