"of view, of which we see thousands daily guilty, "are owing to their ignorance of themselves."To know myself had been all along my con"stant study. I weighed myself alone; I ba"lanced myself with others; I watched every means of information, to see how much ground "I occupied as a man and as a poet: I studied "assiduously nature's design in my formation; "where the lights and shades in my character "were intended. I was pretty confident my po 66 ems would meet with some applause; but at "the worst, the roar of the Atlantic would deafen "the voice of censure, and the novelty of West"Indian scenes make me forget neglect. I threw "off six hundred copies, of which I had got sub"scriptions for about three hundred and fifty."My vanity was highly gratified by the reception "I met with from the public; and besides, I pocketed, all expenses deducted, nearly twenty pounds. This sum came very seasonably, as "I was thinking of indenting myself, for want of money to procure my passage. As soon as I 66 66 was master of nine guineas, the price of wafting me to the torrid zone, I took a steerage passage "in the first ship that was to sail from the Clyde, ❝ for, "Hungry ruin had me in the wind. "I had been for some days skulking from co 66 vert "vert to covert, under all the terrors of a jail; as "some ill-advised people had uncoupled the mer"ciless pack of the law at my heels. I had taken "the last farewell of my few friends; my chest "was on the road to Greenock, I had composed "the last song I should ever measure in Caledo"nia, The gloomy night is gathering fast,* when 66 a letter from Dr. Blacklock to a friend of mine, "overthrew all my schemes, by opening new 66 prospects to my poetic ambition. The doc"tor belonged to a set of critics, for whose ap"plause I had not dared to hope. His opinion, " that I would meet with encouragement in Edinburgh for a second edition, fired me so much, "that away I posted for that city, without a single acquaintance, or a single letter of introduc"tion. The baneful star that had so long shed "its blasting influence in my zenith, for once "made a revolution to the nadir; and a kind providence placed me under the patronage of one of the noblest of men, the Earl of Glencairn. "Oublie moi, grand Dieu, si jamais je l'oublie ! "I need relate no farther. At Edinburgh I "was in a new world; I mingled among many "classes *See vol. iii. p. 289. + See vol. ii. p. 37. "classes of men, but all of them new to me, and "I was all attention to catch the characters and "the manners living as they rise. as they rise. Whether I have profited, time will shew. My most respectful compliments to Miss "W. Her very elegant and friendly letter I can"not answer at present, as my presence is requi"site in Edinburgh, and I set out to-morrow."* At the period of our poet's death, his brother, Gilbert Burns, was ignorant that he had himself written the foregoing narrative of his life while in Ayrshire; and having been applied to by Mrs. Dunlop for some memoirs of his brother, he complied with her request in a letter, from which the following narrative is chiefly extracted. When Gilbert Burns afterwards saw the letter of our poet to Dr. Moore, he made some annotations upon it, which shall be noticed as we proceed. Robert * There are various copies of this letter, in the author's hand-writing; and one of these, evidently corrected, is in the book in which he had copied several of his letters. This has been used for the press, with some omissions, and one slight alteration suggested by Gilbert Burns. Robert Burns was born on the 29th day of January 1759, in a small house about two miles from the town of Ayr, and within a few hundred yards of Alloway Church, which his poem of Tam o'Shanter has rendered immortal.* The name which the poet and his brother modernized into Burns, was originally Burnes or Burness. Their father, William Burnes, was the son of a farmer in Kincardineshire, and had received the education common in Scotland to persons in his condition of life; he could read and write, and had some knowledge of arithmetic. His family having fallen into reduced circumstances, he was compelled to leave his home in his nineteenth year, and turned his steps towards the south, in quest of a livelihood. The same necessity attended his elder brother Robert. "I have often heard my father," says Gilbert Burns, in his letter to Mrs. Dunlop, "describe "the anguish of mind he felt when they parted "on the top of a hill, on the confines of their na"tive place, each going off his several way in "search * This house is on the right hand side of the road from Ayr to May-bole, which forms a part of the road from Glasgow to Port-Patrick. When the poet's father afterwards removed to Tarbolton parish, he sold his lease-hold right in this house and a few acres of land adjoining, to the corporation of shoe-makers in Ayr. It is now a country ale-house. "search of new adventures, and scarcely knowing "whither he went. My father undertook to act 66 66 as a gardener, and shaped his course to Edinburgh, where he wrought hard when he could get work, passing through a variety of difficul❝ties. Still however he endeavoured to spare "something for the support of his aged parent, " and I recollect hearing him mention his having "sent a bank-note for this purpose, when money "of that kind was so scarce in Kincardineshire, "that they scarcely knew how to employ it when "it arrived." From Edinburgh, William Burnes passed west-ward into the county of Ayr, where he engaged himself as a gardener to the laird of Fairly, with whom he lived two years, then changing his service for that of Crawford of Doonside. At length being desirous of settling in life, he took a perpetual lease of seven acres of land from Dr. Campbell, physician in Ayr, with the view of commencing nursery-man and public gardener; and having built a house upon it with his own hands, married in December 1757, Agnes Brown, the mother of our poet, who still survives. The first fruit of this marriage was Robert, the subject of these memoirs, born on the 29th of January 1759, as has already been mentioned. Before William Burnes had made much progress in preparing his nursery, he was withdrawn from that undertaking by Mr. Ferguson, who purchased the estate of Doonholm, |