short of a supernaturally-gifted Elisha can ever after heal the evils. "Wedlock, the circumstance that buckles me hardest to care, if virtue and religion were to be any thing with me but names, was what in a few seasons I must have resolved on; in my present situation it was absolutely necessary. Humanity, generosity, honest pride of character, justice to my own happiness for after life, so far as it could depend (which it surely will a great deal) on internal peace; all these joined their warmest suffrages, their most powerful solicitations, with a rooted attachment, to urge the step I have taken. Nor have I any reason on her part to repent it.-I can fancy how, but have never seen where, I could have made a better choice. Come then, let me act up to my favourite motto, that glorious passage in Young "On reason build resolve, "That column of true majesty in man!" Under the impulse of these reflections, Burns immediately engaged in rebuilding the dwellinghouse on his farm, which, in the state he found it, was inadequate to the accommodation of his family. On this occasion, he himself resumed at times the occupation of a labourer, and found neither his strength nor his skill impaired.Pleased Pleased with surveying the grounds he was about to cultivate, and with the rearing of a building that should give shelter to his wife and children, and, as he fondly hoped, to his own grey hairs, sentiments of independence buoyed up his mind, pictures of domestic con tent and peace rose on his imagination; and a few days passed away, as he himself informs us, the most tranquil, if not the happiest, which he had ever experienced.* It His sen Animated sentiments of any kind, almost always gave rise in our poet to some production of his muse. timents on this occasion were in part expressed by the following vigorous and characteristic, though not very delicate, verses; they are an imitation of an old ballad. I hae a wife o' my ain, I'll partake wi' nae-body; I hae a penny to spend, I hae naething to lend, I am nae-body's lord, I'll be slave to nae-body; I hae a gude braid sword, I'll tak dunts frae nae-body. I'll It is to be lamented that at this critical period of his life, our poet was without the society of his wife and children. A great change had taken place in his situation; his old habits were broken; and the new circumstances in which he was placed, were calculated to give a new direction to his thoughts and conduct.* But his application to the cares and labours of his farm was interrupted by several visits to his family in Ayrshire; and as the distance was too great for a single day's journey, he generally spent a night at an inn on the road. On such occasions he sometimes fell into company, and forgot the resolutions he had formed. In a little while temptation assailed him nearer home. His fame naturally drew upon him the attention of his neighbours, and he soon formed a general acquaintance in the district in which he lived. The public voice had now pronounced on the subject of his talents; the reception he had met with in Edinburgh had given him the currency I'll be merry and free, I'll be sad for nae-body; I'll care for nae-body. * Mrs. Burns was about to be confined in child-bed, and the house at Ellisland was rebuilding. currency which fashion bestows; he had surmounted the prejudices arising from his humble birth and he was received at the table of the gentlemen of Nithsdale, with welcome, with kindness, and even with respect. Their social parties too often seduced him from his rustic labours, and his rustic fare, overthrew the unsteady fabric of his resolutions, and inflamed those propensities which temperance might have weakened, and prudence ultimately suppressed.* It was not long, therefore, before Burns began to view his farm with dislike and despondence, if not with disgust. Unfortunately he had for several years looked to an office in the excise as a certain means of livelihood, * The poem of The Whistle (vol. iii.) celebrates a Bacchanalian contest among three gentlemen of Nithsdale, where Burns appears as umpire. Mr. Riddell died before our bard, and some elegiac verses to his memory will be found in vol. iv. From him, and from all the members of his family, Burns received not kindness only, but friendship; and the society he met in general at Friar's Carse, was calculated to improve his habits as well as his manners. Mr. Ferguson, of Craigdarroch, so well known for his eloquence and social talents, died soon after our poet. Sir Robert Laurie, the third person in the drama, survives, and has since been engaged in contests of a bloodier nature. Long may he live to fight the battles of his country! (1799.) livelihood, should his other expectations fail. As has already been mentioned, he had been recommended to the board of excise, and had received the instruction necessary for such a situation. He now applied to be employed; and, by the interest of Mr. Graham of Fintry, was appointed exciseman, or as it is vulgarly called, gauger, of the district in which he lived. His farm was after this, in a great measure abandoned to servants, while he betook himself to the duties of his new appointment. He might indeed still be seen in the spring, directing his plough, a labour in which he excelled; or with a white sheet containing his seedcorn slung across his shoulders, striding with measured steps, along his turned-up furrows, and scattering the grain in the earth. But his farm no longer occupied the principal part of his care or his thoughts. It was not at Ellisland that he was now in general to be found. Mounted on horseback, this high minded poet was pursuing the defaulters of the revenue, among the hills and vales of Nithsdale, his roving eye wandering over the charms of nature, and muttering his wayward fancies as he moved along. "I had an adventure with him in the year 1790," says Mr. Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, in a letter |