that I am truly sorry that a man who stood so high in my estimation as Mr. estimation as Mr., should use me in the manner in which I conceive he has done.* No. 312. TO MR. ALEXANDER FINDLATER. SUPERVISOR OF EXCISE, DUMFRIES. SIR, I INCLOSED are the two schemes. would not have troubled you with the collector's one, but for suspicion lest it be not right. Mr. Erskine promised me to make it right, if you will have the goodness to shew him how. As I have no copy of the scheme for myself, and the alter The following foolish verses were sent as an attack on Burns and his friends, for their political opinions. They were written by some member of a club, styling themselves the Loyal Natives of Dumfries. Being handed over the table to Burns at a convivial meeting, he instantly indorsed the subjoined reply. The Loyal Natives' Verses. Ye sons of sedition, give ear to my song, Let Syme, Burns, and Maxwell, pervade every throng, Send Willie the monger to hell with a smack. Burns-extempore. Ye true 'Loyal Natives,' attend to my song, In uproar and riot rejoice the night long; But where is your shield from the darts of contempt? ations being very considerable from what it was formerly, I hope that I shall have access to this scheme I send you, when I come to face up my new books. So much for schemes.—And that no scheme to betray a FRIEND, or mislead a STRANGER; to seduce a YOUNG GIRL, or rob a HEXROOST: to subvert LIBERTY, or bribe an EXCISEMAN; to disturb the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, or annoy a GOSSIPPING; to overthrow the credit of ORTHODOXY, or the authority of OLD SONGS; to oppose your wishes, or frustrate my hopes-MAY PROSPER-is the sincere wish and prayer of ROBERT BURNS. No. 313. TO THE EDITORS OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE. GENTLEMEN, Dumfries. YOU will see by your subscribers' list, that I have now been about nine months one of that number. I am sorry to inform you, that in that time, seven or eight of your papers either have never been sent me, or else have never reached me. To be deprived of any one number of the first newspaper in Great Britain for information, ability and independence, is what I can ill brook and bear; but to be deprived of that most admirable oration of the marquis of Lansdowne, when he made the great, though ineffectual attempt, (in the language of the poet, I fear too true,) to save a SINKING STATE,'-this was a loss which I neither can, nor will forgive you.-That paper, Gentlemen, never reached me, but I demand it of you. I am a BRITON; and must be interested in the cause of LIBERTY:-I am a MAN; and the RIGHTS of HuMAN NATURE cannot be indifferent to me. However, do not let me mislead you: I am not a man in that situation of life, which, as your subscriber, can be of any consequence to you, in the eyes of those to whom SITUATION OF LIFE ALONE is the criterion of MAN.-I am but a plain tradesman, in this distant, obscure country town: but that humble domicile in which I shelter my wife and children, is the CASTELLUM of a BRITON; and that scanty hard-earned income which supports them, is as truly my property, as the most magnificent fortune, of the most PUISSANT MEMBER of your HOUSE of NOBLES. These, Gentlemen, are my sentiments; and to them I subscribe my name: and were I a man of ability and consequence enough to address the PUBLIC, with that name should they appear. I am, &c. No. 314. TO COL. W. DUNBAR. I AM not gone to Elysium, most noble Colonel, but am still here in this sublunary world, ations being very considerable from what it was formerly, I hope that I shall have access to this scheme I send you, when I come to face up my new books. So much for schemes.—And that no scheme to betray a FRIEND, or mislead a STRANGER; to seduce a YOUNG GIRL, or rob a HENROOST: to subvert LIBERTY, or bribe an EXCISEMAN; to disturb the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, or annoy a GOSSIPPING; to overthrow the credit of ORTHODOXY, or the authority of OLD SONGS; to oppose your wishes, or frustrate my hopes-MAY PROSPER-is the sincere wish and prayer of ROBERT BURNS. No. 313. TO THE EDITORS OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE. Dumfries. GENTLEMEN, YOU will see by your subscribers' list, that I have now been about nine months one of that number. I am sorry to inform you, that in that time, seven or eight of your papers either have never been sent me, or else have never reached me. To be deprived of any one number of the first newspaper in Great Britain for information, ability and independence, is what I can ill brook and bear; but to be deprived of that most admirable oration of the marquis of Lansdowne, when he made the great, though ineffectual attempt, (in the language of the poet, I fear too true,) to save a SINKING STATE,'-this was a loss which I neither can, nor will forgive you.-That paper, Gentlemen, never reached me, but I demand it of you. I am a BRITON; and must be interested in the cause of LIBERTY:—I am a MAN; and the RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE cannot be indifferent to me. However, do not let me mislead you: I am not a man in that situation of life, which, as your subscriber, can be of any consequence to you, in the eyes of those to whom SITUATION OF LIFE ALONE is the criterion of MAN.-I am but a plain tradesman, in this distant, obscure country town: but that humble domicile in which I shelter my wife and children, is the CASTELLUM of a BRITON; and that scanty hard-earned income which supports them, is as truly my property, as the most magnificent fortune, of the most PUISSANT MEMBER of your HOUSE of NOBLES. These, Gentlemen, are my sentiments; and to them I subscribe my name: and were I a man of ability and consequence enough to address the PUBLIC, with that name should they appear. I am, &c. No. 314. TO COL. W. DUNBAR. I AM not gone to Elysium, most noble Colonel, but am still here in this sublunary world, |