animal life was fostered by his avocations; and his interest in his fellow-men, even of the outcast class, had been acquired by mingling with them on terms of comradeship. But while socially a peasant, his training as a poetic artist-limited though in certain aspects it was— -had been in a manner unique; for while thoroughly versed by minute and careful study in the vernacular poetic tradition, so far as it then survived, and specially qualified by virtue of the simplicity of his peasant life, to appreciate that tradition, his gift of expression, preserving though it did its original vernacular raciness, had been disciplined and enriched by his familiarity with many of the best specimens of English verse. Thus though the effort to rival English models as a rule "gravelled him to death," he yet acquired a poetic diction of a directness, exactness, vividness, and force. unequalled by any poetic contemporary. CHAPTER V EDINBURGH, AND SCOTTISH TOURS Reluctance to Emigrate-Feelings of a Father-A Secret Wretchedness—“The Gloomy Night "—Death of Mary Campbell-Proposed Second Edition of Poems-Sets out for Edinburgh-Reception on the Way-Arrival— Impressions-Patrons-The Crochallan Club-"The Brothers of the Mystic Tie "-Personal InfluenceSubscriptions for the New Volume-Arrangement with Creech-Publication-Southern Tour-At Mauchline -Tour in the West Highlands-Northern Tour-Love Adventures-Mrs. Maclehose. EANWHILE Burns, having obtained the M unenviable post of book-keeper on a Jamaica estate, had completed arrangements for emigrating, and proposed to sail on the brigantine Nancy, advertised to leave Greenock on the 10th August. But for some reason its departure was delayed, and this induced his employers to propose that he should sail by a ship which on 1st September was to sail direct to the port of destination. Whether, or how, the proposal fell through there is no information; but he was still in Ayrshire when-to his unfeigned delight— news reached him on the 3rd that Armour had been delivered of twins, a boy and a girl. An arrangement was come to by which the boy should be brought up at Mossgiel, and the girl by the mother's friends at Mauchline. The occurrence increased his reluctance to emigrate, and some of his friends had thoughts of getting him a situation on the excise, though on the 8th he wrote to Robert Muir, that he believed that "all hopes of staying at home will be abortive." On the 26th he informed his cousin at Montrose that his time of leaving was uncertain, but he did not think it would be "till after harvest." But plainly he was now more than ever anxious to remain in Scotland, if at all possible. A few months ago merely an obscure and indigent peasant farmer, and the almost ridiculous butt of an unsavoury village scandal, he was now acclaimed by almost universal assent as the poetlaureate of his native county. At last he had succeeded in something of importance; and doubtless his preference now was to enjoy in his old surroundings the pleasures of his success, and to win more triumphs of a similar kind. Apparently in the hope that Robert Aiken might devise a means of assisting him to tide over his present difficulty, he informed him, early in October, that he had been endeavouring to persuade Wilson to print a second edition, which Wilson had declined to do unless the printing expenses were guaranteed. In the same letter he stated that he was induced to stay at home mainly by "the feelings of a father," which in his " "present mood" " 'overbalanced everything that could be laid in the scale against it." This is easily credible. The memory of his own father's efforts on his children's behalf was an inspiring example to him; but he hardly needed such an incentive, for his interest in his children was one of his most marked characteristics. Yet reluctant as he was to emigrate, for this and other cardinal reasons, he hints at a secret wretchedness, and at something he had lately seen of "a storm of mischief thickening over" his "folly-devoted head," which might render it impossible for him "to remain in this country, or accept the kind offers of his friends." This mysterious allusion can hardly have been to aught else than his entanglement with Mary Campbell. Whatever may have been its precise nature, its dominating influence over his fortunes was such that, while it lasted, it turned the scale of his resolution, so as to compel him at last, entirely against his own inclinations, to despatch his chest "on the way to Greenock," with the intention of shortly following it. Having to convey it so far on the road, he composed, going or returning, "The Gloomy Night is Gathering Fast," much of the imagery being suggested by the approach, on the moors through which he was travelling, of a tempestuous evening. The feelings to which the song gives utterance are typically those of every peasant on bidding farewell to the land of his birth, but with the addition of regrets peculiar to his own hard case; and moreover, the poetic sensibility which enabled him to achieve this vivid record of his emotions necessarily added to their pungency. Some time afterwards-it is uncertain whenBurns, influenced by a letter of Dr. Blacklock to Mr. Lawrie, minister of Newmilns, recommending the publication of a new edition, not only determined to remain in Scotland, but resolved, if possible, to have the edition published in Edinburgh. But as late as 30th October-if we are to believe his poetical "Epistle to Major Logan"— he was still contemplating his voyage to the Indies; and it may be that, Dr. Blacklock's letter notwithstanding, he would have persisted in his resolution, but that "the storm of mischief," which had threatened him from the direction of the Clyde, was dispersed by the news-necessarily deeply distressing, but bringing the inexpressible relief of deliverance from his dilemma-of the death of Mary Campbell. With her death the |