burn.

as a small tribute of gratitude for that acquaintance with which you have been pleased to honor me. Independent of my enthusiasm as a Scotsman, I have rarely met with any thing in history which interests my feelings as a man, equal with the story of BannockOn the one hand, a cruel but able usurper leading on the finest army in Europe, to extinguish the last spark of freedom among a greatly daring, and greatly injured, people: on the other hand, the desperate relics of a gallant nation devoting themselves to rescue their bleeding country or perish with her.

Liberty thou art a prize truly, and indeed invaluable; for never canst thou be too dearly bought!

If my little ode has the honor of your Lordship's approbation, it will gratify my highest ambition.—I have honor to be, &c., R. B.

The original MS. of the foregoing letter, with its precious enclosure, is said to have been borrowed from the Earl by Mr. Cromek, while he was in Edinburgh gathering materials for his "Reliques of Burns." That editor has been traditionally charged with a propensity to delay the return of manuscripts entrusted to him for publication; and the following letter addressed to him by the Earl (which has recently fallen into our hands) gives some countenance to that tradition.

THE EARL OF BUCHAN TO MR. R. H. CROMEK.

(DOUGLAS, 1877.)

EDINBURGH, 23d Feb. 1809. SIR, Mr. Brooks, whom I have just seen, is surprised at your negligence in neither returning the drawing of "Nanse Tinnock,' "* which he gave you on loan, nor sending him a

* It is probable that the Earl had purchased a drawing of considerable merit, by an anonymous artist, representing Nanse entering her little parlor with " a tappet hen" in one hand, and " girdle cakes weel-toasted brown" in the other. With characteristic Scotch expression in her face, she seems on the point of dropping a curtsey to her guests, of whom the only two visible are Burns and a douce-like elderly rustic, with whom he conducts an animated discourse over a half-mutchkin stoup, while a newspaper is spread before him, and his collie

copy of your fifth volume of Burns. I am equally surprised at your not availing yourself of the original letter from Burns to me, enclosing the Address of Bruce to his Troops at the Battle of Bannockburn, to have a Fac-simile thereof, as you promised while you were in Edinburgh.

By such conduct you must necessarily sink in the estimation of the public, and I am heartily sorry for it. You will therefore without delay return to me, through your Bookseller, the drawing of Nanse Tinnock, and the above-mentioned letter. BUCHAN.

(') TO MR. SAMUEL CLARK, JUN"., DUM

FRIES.

(CROMEK, 1808.)

SUNDAY MORNING, [January 1794].

DEAR SIR, -I was, I know, drunk last night, but I am sober this morning. From the expressions Captain Dods made use of to me, had I had nobody's welfare to care for but my own, we should certainly have come, according to the manners of the world, to the necessity of murdering one another about the business. The words were such as generally, I believe, end in a brace of pistols; but I am still pleased to think that I did not ruin the peace and welfare of a wife and family in a drunken squabble. Further, you know that the report of certain political opinions being mine, has already once brought me to the brink of destruction. I dread last night's business may be misrepresented in the same way. the same way. You, I beg, will

crouches at his feet. That drawing was well engraved, and published in 1805, as the frontispiece to a thin 8vo volume, entitled "Views in North Britain, illustrative of the Works of Robert Burns," by James Storer and John Greig, engravers, London. A reduced copy of this engraving was given in Hogg and Motherwell's edition of Burns's works in 1835. The portrait of Nanse in the print has every appearance of having been taken from the life, while that of Burns is unmistakeably derived from Nasmyth's head. It may be that Lord Buchan had acquired the artist's original life-study of Nanse, from which the finished picture was formed.

take care to prevent it. I tax your wish for Mrs. Burns's welfare with the task of waiting, as soon as possible, on every gentleman who was present, and state this to him, and, as you please, shew him this letter. What, after all, was the obnoxious toast? "May our success in the present war be equal to the justice of our cause," a toast that the most outrageous frenzy of loyalty cannot object to. I request and beg that this morning you will wait on the parties present at the foolish dispute. I shall only add that I am truly sorry that a man, who stood so high in my estimation as Mr. Dods, should use me in the manner in which I conceive he has done. R. B.

The gentleman to whom the above letter is addressed was conjunct Commissary Clerk, and Clerk of the Peace for the County of Dumfries, at that time a young man aged twentyfive. For the knowledge of this fact we are indebted to Mr. William M'Dowall's "Memorials of St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries." Cromek named him correctly enough; but Chambers altered the Christian name to Stephen, in the belief that Cromek was in error. The letter refers to one of those painful political discussions, into which Burns was frequently led at this period by the vehemence of his own zeal in the cause of Liberty, and by his jealousy of the "lobster-coated puppies," as he termed those of the military profession who offensively paraded their loyalty in his presence.

The next letter in our series is addressed to the same gentleman, who, by the way, died in the prime of life in 1814; it was printed in Dr. Waddell's edition of the correspondence, from the original in possession of Mr. Clark's daughter, Mrs. Stewart Gladstone, of Capenoch, Dumfriesshire.

(2) TO MR. SAMUEL CLARK, JUNIOR, DUMFRIES.

(DR. WADDELL'S ED. 1869.)

MY DEAR SIR,-I recollect something of a drunken promise yesternight to breakfast with you this morning.