No. CCLXVI.

TO MR. AIKEN.

Mossgiel, 3rd April, 1786.

DEAR SIR,

I RECEIVED your kind letter with double pleasure, on account of the second flattering instance of Mrs. C.'s notice and approbation, I assure you I

"Turn out the brunt side o'my shin,"

as the famous Ramsay, of jingling memory, says, at such a patroness. Present her my most grateful acknowledgements in your very best manner of telling truth. I have inscribed the following stanza on the blank leaf of Miss More's Work :—

"Thou flattering mark of friendship kind,
Still may thy pages call to mind
The dear, the beauteous donor;
Though sweetly female every part
Yet such a head, and more the heart,
Does both the sexes honour.
She showed her taste refined and just
When she selected thee,

Yet deviating own I must,

For so approving me.

But kind still, I'll mind still

The giver in the gift;

I'll bless her and wiss her

A Friend above the Lift."

My proposals for publishing I am just going to

send to press. I expect to hear from you by the

first opportunity.

I am ever, dear Sir, yours,

ROBT. BURNESS.

[This is the last time that the Poet spelt his name according to his forefathers: his poems were now in the press; and he had to make his election: there is no doubt however that he wrote his name Burns often before this period. Indeed the family aver, that in the Montrose archives the name is sometimes written Burnes, but this seems not to affect the pronunciation, which was always Burness till the Bard of Ayr deprived it of a syllable. The Miss More alluded to is Hannah More, whose life and works lately published, have recalled her name and merits to the attention of the world: R. Crawford, Esq. of Kilmarnock, obligingly pointed out this letter to the editor: it was first printed in the Kilmarnock Journal; of its genuineness there cannot be a shadow of doubt. ED.]

SIR,

No. CCLXVII.

TO MR. JOHN KENNEDY.

Mossgiel, 20th April, 1786.

By some neglect in Mr. Hamilton, I did not hear of your kind request for a subscription paper 'till this day. I will not attempt any acknowledgement for this, nor the manner in which I see your name in Mr. Hamilton's subscription list. Allow me only to say, Sir, I feel the weight of the debt.

I have here likewise inclosed a small piece, the very latest of my productions. I am a good deal pleased with some sentiments myself, as they are just the native querulous feelings of a heart, which, as the elegantly melting Gray says, " melancholy has marked for her own."

Our race comes on a-pace; that much expected scene of revelry and mirth; but to me it brings no joy equal to that meeting with which your last flattered the expectation of Sir,

Your indebted humble Servant,

R. B.

[The small piece, the very last of his productions, which the poet enclosed, was the inimitable "Mountain Daisy." The name which heads it in this manuscript is "The Gowan," and I almost regret that any change took place. ED.]

No. CCLXVIII.

TO MR. JOHN KENNEDY.

DEAR SIR,

Mossgiel, 17th May, 1786.

I HAVE sent you the above hasty copy as I promised. In about three or four weeks I shall probably set the press a going. I am much hurried at present, otherwise your diligence, so very friendly in my subscription, should have a more lengthened acknowledgment from

Dear Sir,

Your obliged Servant,

R. B.

[The Epistle to Rankine, enclosed in this hasty note, is well known. Burns seems to have been indefatigable in making his works known through the medium of friends the copies of his best poems in his own handwriting are numerous. His correspondents, living often at a distance from each other, were pleased with this mark of confidence, and read his poems to all who were willing to listen. ED.]

CCLXIX.

TO MR. JOHN KENNEDY.

MY DEAR SIR,

Kilmarnock, August 1786.

YOUR truly facetious epistle of the 3rd inst. gave me much entertainment. I was sorry I had not the pleasure of seeing you as I passed your way, but we shall bring up all our lee way on Wednesday, the 16th current, when I hope to have it in my power to call on you and take a kind, very probably a last adieu, before I go for Jamaica; and I expect orders to repair to Greenock every day.—I have at last made my public appearance, and am solemnly inaugurated into the numerous class.-Could I have got a carrier, you should have had a score of vouchers for my Authorship; but now you have them, let them speak for themselves.

Farewell, dear Friend! may guid luck hit you

And 'mang her favorites admit you!
If e'er Detraction shore to smit you,

May nane believe him!
And ony de'il that thinks to get you,

Good Lord deceive him.

R. B.