*

CLVI.

TO MRS. DUNLOP

[Some lines which extend, but fail to finish the sketch contained in
this letter, will be found elsewhere in this publication.]

_Ellisland, 4th April, 1789._

I no sooner hit on any poetic plan or fancy, but I wish to send it to
you: and if knowing and reading these give half the pleasure to you,
that communicating them to you gives to me, I am satisfied.

I have a poetic whim in my head, which I at present dedicate, or
rather inscribe to the Right Hon. Charles James Fox; but how long that
fancy may hold, I cannot say. A few of the first lines, I have just
rough-sketched as follows:

SKETCH.

How wisdom and folly meet, mix, and unite;
How virtue and vice blend their black and their white;
How genius, the illustrious father of fiction,
Confounds rule and law, reconciles contradiction--
I sing: If these mortals, the critics, should bustle,
I care not, not I, let the critics go whistle.

But now for a patron, whose name and whose glory,
At once may illustrate and honour my story.

Thou first of our orators, first of our wits;
Yet whose parts and acquirements seem mere lucky hits;
With knowledge so vast, and with judgment so strong,
No man with the half of 'em e'er went far wrong;
With passion so potent, and fancies so bright,
No man with the half of 'em ere went quite right;
A sorry, poor misbegot son of the muses,
For using thy name offers many excuses.

On the 20th current I hope to have the honour of assuring you in
person, how sincerely I am--

R. B.

* * * * *

CLVII.

TO MR. WILLIAM BURNS,

SADLER,

CARE OF MR. WRIGHT, CARRIER, LONGTOWN.

["Never to despair" was a favourite saying with Burns: and "firm
resolve," he held, with Young, to be "the column of true majesty in
man."]

_Isle, 15th April, 1789._

MY DEAR WILLIAM,

I am extremely sorry at the misfortune of your legs; I beg you will
never let any worldly concern interfere with the more serious matter,
the safety of your life and limbs. I have not time in these hurried
days to write you anything other than a mere how d'ye letter. I will
only repeat my favourite quotation:--

"What proves the hero truly great
Is never, never to despair."

My house shall be your welcome home; and as I know your prudence
(would to God you had _resolution_ equal to your _prudence_!) if
anywhere a