of moor had to be passed by Burns on his way home.* 'His mind was strongly affected by parting for ever with a scene where he had tasted so much elegant and social pleasure, and depressed by the contrasted gloom of his prospects. The aspect of nature harmonised with his feelings. It was a lowering and heavy evening in the end [beginning?] of autumn. The wind was up, and whistled through the rushes and long spear-grass which bent before it. The clouds were driving across the sky; and cold pelting showers at intervals added discomfort of body to cheerlessness of mind.' Under these circumstances, and in this frame, Burns composed what he considered as 'the last song he should ever measure in Caledonia :' FAREWELL, THE BONIE BANKS OF AYR. TUNE-Roslin Castle. I composed this song as I conveyed my chest so far on my road to Greenock, where I was to embark in a few days for Jamaica. I meant it as my farewell dirge to my native land.-R. B. The gloomy night is gath'ring fast, Loud roars the wild, inconstant blast, I see it driving o'er the plain; The Autumn mourns her rip'ning corn * Professor Walker gave this narrative from the conversation of Burns when in Edinburgh. ↑ Variation 'The whistling wind afrightens me, I think upon the raging sea.' "Tis not the surging billow's roar, Farewell, old Coila's hills and dales, Farewell, my friends! farewell, my foes! Dr Thomas Blacklock, Mr Lawrie's correspondent, was a very remarkable man-blind, through smallpox, from early infancy, yet a poet, a musician, and a man of considerable classical and scientific culture. Thirteen years before, Samuel Johnson had visited him, and had said 'with a humane complacency,' as Boswell curiously puts it: 'Dear Dr Blacklock, I am glad to see you.' Compelled to retire from a clerical charge* in consequence of his blindness, Blacklock had established himself in a flat in West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, which he had fitted up as a boarding establishment for young men attending school and college. Professor Walker says: 'If the young men were enumerated whom he drew from obscurity, and enabled, by education, to advance themselves in life, the catalogue would naturally excite surprise.' Reading the Kilmarnock volume sent him by his friend Lawrie, he was greatly delighted, and expressed his pleasure in a letter * Dr Blacklock, who was born at Annan, in Dumfriesshire, in 1721, was ordained in 1762 to the pastorate of the parish of Kirkcudbright, to which he had been presented by the Earl of Selkirk. But the parishioners opposed his settlement, on the ground that his blindness rendered him incapable of discharging his duties, and had resort to legal proceedings with a view to his ejection. After three years he accepted an annuity, and left an uncomfortable position to settle in Edinburgh. Dr Blacklock retired from active work the year after he wrote this memorable letter. He died in 1791. то THE REV. M R GEORGE LAWRIE, ST MARGARET'S HILL, KILMARNOCK. EDIN., Sep. 4th, 1786. REVEREND AND DEAR SIR-I ought to have acknowledged your favor long ago, not only as a testimony of your kind remembrance, but as it gave me an opportunity of sharing one of the finest, and, perhaps, one of the most genuine entertainments, of which the human mind is susceptible. A number of avocations retarded my progress in reading the poems; at last, however, I have finished that pleasing perusal. Many instances have I seen of nature's force and beneficence, exerted under numerous and formidable disadvantages; but none equal to that, with which you have been kind enough to present me. There is a pathos and delicacy in his serious poems; a vein of wit and humour in those of a more festive turn, which cannot be too much admired, nor too warmly approved; and I think I shall never open the book without feeling my astonishment renewed and increased. It was my wish to have expressed my approbation in verse; but whether from declining life or a temporary depression of spirits, it is at present out of my power to accomplish that agreeable intention. Mr [Dugald] Stewart, professor of morals in this university, had formerly read me three of the poems, and I had desired him to get my name inserted among the subscribers: but whether this was done or not I never could learn. I have little intercourse with Dr Blair, but will take care to have the poems communicated to him by the intervention of some mutual friend. It has been told me by a gentleman, to whom I shewed the performances, and who sought a copy with diligence and ardour, that the whole impression is already exhausted. It were therefore much to be wished, for the sake of the young man, that a second edition, more numerous than the former, could immediately be printed; as it appears certain that its intrinsic merit, and the exertion of the author's friends, might give it a more universal circulation than any thing of the kind which has been published within my memory. T. BLACKLOCK. Mr Lawrie communicated this letter to Gavin Hamiltonalthough after an unaccountable delay of about a fortnight-that it might be placed in the hands of the poet. The receipt of it at wintry day. Burns Mossgiel was as a burst of sunshine on a said truly, 'The doctor belonged to a set of critics for whose applause I had not dared to hope.' New prospects were opened to his poetic ambition. With persons of reflection, however, hopes that come after long experience of depression and suffering are |