of comfort-That he who has lived the life of an honest man has by no means lived in vain! your With every wish for welfare and future success, Sincerely yours, ROBT. BURns. There has lately come to light another letter from Burns to Hamilton, which belonged to the late Mr. John Andrew Hamilton (of Messrs. J. & J. Hamilton, writers in Glasgow). Thanks to careful ownership, the letter is in almost perfect condition to-day, 139 years after it was written. TO MR. JAMES HAMILTON, GROCER, GLASGOW. 27th April, 1789. My dear Sir, I have written twice to my brother Poet, Mr. Turnbull, but as I have not had a word in return from him, I suspect that he has left Glasgow. I owe him some money for copies of his poems. He sent me 6; one of them I had paid before, and one of them is still on hand; so the price of four is ready for him, if he will authorise any body in Dumfries to receive it; or, as I shall be in Mauchline at Whitsunday or thereabouts, I shall then send it to you by John Ronald, for I am not acquainted with any of the Carriers in this country. This country has nothing new. Mankind are the same every where. In this place, as in Glasgow I suppose, too, of the men called honest and the women called chaste a number, supposed to be near the full half of them, are not what they pretend to be; and of the remaining half, many of them are thought to have still worse faults. My Rib begs her compliments to you. I am, Dear Sir, Yours sincerely, ROBT. BURNS. The new letter enables us to understand the opening sentence of the old one. The Turnbull referred to was Gavin Turnbull, "an old acquaintance" of Burns who had lately removed from Kilmarnock to Glasgow, and had there published (1788) a volume of Poetical essays. His life is sketched by James Paterson in Contemporaries of Burns (1840). From the concluding sentence of the new letter we may conjecture that Hamilton was a Mauchline man and well known to Jean Armour. In the classic monument on the Banks of Doon there is now preserved Burns's copy of Turnbull's Poetical essays. Inserted in it is a slip of paper which reads— Glasgow, 26th June, 1789. Received from Mr. Robt. Burns, per James Hamilton, Twelve Shillings and Sixpence Sterling, As payment of Five Copies of Turnbull's Poems. DAVID NIVEN. The signature is that of the printer of the Poetical essays, for many years a well-known bookseller with premises in the Saltmarket of Glasgow. SIR A. J. LAW'S COLLECTION OF BURNS MANUSCRIPTS. PART III. (INCLUDING THE FIRST COMMONPLACE BOOK.) The remaining Burns manuscripts in the Honresfeld Collection provide numerous corrections of Burns's text. [MS. xii] A beautiful holograph of "The Fornicator ": six stanzas, of which the first four have been printed in the Merry Muses of Caledonia, the Songs and Ballads of Robert Burns (1823, p. 265) and the Aldine Edition of the Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1893, vol. i., p. 59). [MS. xiii] Draft of a letter [to Alison Begbie?], beginning "What you may think of this letter." It is printed, with a facsimile of the manuscript (then-1878—in the possession of Mr. John Adam of Greenock), in the Scott Douglas Edition of Burns's Works (vol. iv., p. 27). The reverse of the sheet contains (b) Draft of a masonic letter to Sir John Whitefoord, first published on pages 38-39 of the volume just noted. [MS. xiv] Letter addressed to Robert Cleghorn, Saughton Mills, care of Mr. James Simpson, Bookseller, Edinr. Included in the letter is a song of which Scott Douglas (vol. vi., p. 101) printed two lines. It consists of two eight-line verses, of which the first begins— "There was twa wives, and twa witty wives, As e'er play'd houghmagandie, Up Maggy rose, and forth she goes, [MS. xv] Letter dated " Edinburgh, Dec. 13, 1786," addressed to John Ballantyne, Esq., Banker, Ayr. It was first published by Cromek (Reliques of Burns, 1808), but in no edition is it quite correctly given. In the sentence alluding to "ten guineas" those who appreciate textual accuracy should delete "with Mr. Sibbald," and substitute in Mr. Sibbald's hand." 66 [MS. xvi] Letter dated "Edinr. Dec: 27, 1786," addressed to Mr. William Chalmers, Writer, Ayr. It is printed in the Chambers-Wallace Edition (vol. ii., p. 29), as in all others, with the initials "R.B." and minus the correct ending. In the penultimate paragraph the word "before" should read" against," and the letter ends— "I have sent you a parcel of subscription bills, while I have wrote to Mr Ballantine & Mr Aiken to call on you for some of them if they want them. 'My direction is Care of Andrew Bruce, Mercht. Bridge-street. 66 "Adieu! Dr. Chalmers [MS. xvii] ROBT. BURNS." This is the manuscript of a seven-page letter from "Sylvander" to "Clarinda." It is dated "7th March, 1788," and is defective towards the end, some of the writing having been obliterated. As published it re quires little correction, but near the close "old Scotch phrase "should be old Scots phrase." 66 [MS. xviii] Here, dated "Ellisland, 12th Sept. 1788," we have an interesting, but unfortunately badly damaged, letter written by the poet to Mrs. Burns. A footnote to the letter in the Scott Douglas Edition of Burns's Works (vol. v., p. 156) states that the manuscript was then in the possession of Mr. Andrew Nicolson, shoemaker, Dumfries, and the editor remarks that "unfortunately it is considerably damaged throughout, and the latter portion is wanting." A note in the Honresfeld catalogue reads: "The bottom portion was cut off by Mrs. Nicholson, née Mary MacLaughlan, servant to Mrs. Burns, and given to Col. Grierson. This portion was sold at Dumfries by Mr. George Dunbar, Auctioneer, Feb. 3rd 1888." [MS. xix] Letter dated "Ellisland, 19th June, 1789" and addressed to Mr. James Johnson, Engraver, Bells wynd, Edin. This letter is not to be found in any of the authoritative editions of the poet's correspondence; but it was printed, with slight inaccuracies, in Orphoot's rare edition, 1820 (vol. ii., p. 209), and will be found in the Burns Chronicle, 1927 (p. 8). 66 [MS. xx] Letter to John Edgar, Excise Office, Edinburgh, dated April 25, 1795.” [MS. xxi] "Keen blaws the wind o'er Donocht-head." This manuscript, though in Burns's holograph, was not his composition; but in the famous interleaved copy of The Scots Musical Museum, the poet wrote " I would give £10 if it were." The manuscript now at Honres |