ny answer, that I would
not trouble you again but for the circumstances in which I am. (p. 184)
An illness which has long hung about me, in all probability will
speedily send me beyond that 'bourn whence no traveller returns.' Your
friendship, with which for many years you honoured me, was a
friendship dearest to my soul. Your conversation, and especially your
correspondence, were at once highly entertaining and instructive. With
what pleasure did I use to break up the seal! The remembrance yet adds
one pulse more to my poor palpitating heart. Farewell!"

On the 14th he wrote to his wife, saying that though the sea-bathing
had eased his pains, it had not done anything to restore his health.
The following anecdote of him at this time has been preserved:--"A
night or two before Burns left Brow, he drank tea with Mrs. Craig,
widow of the minister of Ruthwell. His altered appearance excited much
silent sympathy; and the evening being beautiful, and the sun shining
brightly through the casement, Miss Craig (afterwards Mrs. Henry
Duncan) was afraid the light might be too much for him, and rose to
let down the window-blinds. Burns immediately guessed what she meant,
and regarding the young lady with a look of great benignity, said,
'Thank you, my dear, for your kind attention; but oh! let him shine;
he will not shine long for me.'"

On the 18th July he left Brow, and returned to Dumfries in a small
spring cart. When he alighted, the onlookers saw that he was hardly
able to stand, and observed that he walked with tottering steps to his
door. Those who saw him enter his house, knew by his appearance that
he would never again cross that threshold alive. When the news spread
in Dumfries that Burns had returned from Brow and was dying, the whole
town was deeply moved. Allan Cunningham, who was present, thus
describes what he saw:--"The anxiety of the people, high and low, (p. 185)
was very great. Wherever two or three were together, their talk
was of Burns, and of him alone. They spoke of his history, of his
person, and of his works; of his witty sayings, and sarcastic replies,
and of his too early fate, with much enthusiasm, and sometimes with
deep feeling. All that he had done, and all that they had hoped he
would accomplish, were talked of. Half-a-dozen of them stopped Dr.
Maxwell in the street, and said, 'How is Burns, sir?' He shook his
head, saying, 'He cannot be worse,' and passed on to be subjected to
similar inquiri