66 66 welfare with the task of waiting, as soon as possible, on every gentleman who was present, and state this to him, and, as you please, shew him this letter. What, after all, was the obnoxious toast? May our success in the present war be equal to the justice of our cause!"-A toast that the most outrageous frenzy of loyalty cannot object to. I request and beg that this morning you will wait on the parties present at the foolish dispute. I shall only add, that I am truly sorry that a man who stood so high in my estimation as Mr. should use me in the manner in which I conceive he has done.* *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? No. 306. To MR. ALEXANDER FINDLATER. SIR, SUPERVISOR OF EXCISE, DUMFRIES. INCLOSED SED are the two schemes. I 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 alterations 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 EX CISEMAN; 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 hopesMAY PROSPER-is the sincere wish and prayer ROBT. BURNS. of No. 307. 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 independance, 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. 308. To COL. W. DUNBAR. I AM not gone to Elysium, most noble Colonel, but am still here in this sublunary world, serving my God by propagating his image, and honouring my king by begetting him loyal subjects. Many happy returns of the season await my friend! May the thorns of care never beset his path! May peace be an inmate of his bosom, and rapture a frequent visitor of his soul! May the blood-hounds of misfortune never trace his steps, nor the screech-owl of sorrow alarm his dwelling! May enjoyment tell thy hours, and pleasure number thy days, thou friend of the Bard! Blessed be he that blesseth thee, and cursed be he that curseth thee! SIR, No. 309. TO MR. HERON, OF HERON. 1794, or 1795. I INCLOSE you some copies of a couple of political ballads; one of which, I believe, you have never seen. Would to Heaven I could make you master of as many votes in the Stewartry. But "Who does the utmost that he can, "Does well, acts nobly, angels could no more." In order to bring my humble efforts to bear with more effect on the foe, I have privately printed a good many copies of both ballads, and have sent them among friends, all about the country. To pillory on Parnassus the rank reprobation of character, the utter dereliction of all princi ple, in a profligate junto, which has not only outraged virtue, but violated common decency; which, spurning even hypocrisy as paltry iniquity below their daring; to unmask their flagitiousness to the broadest day-to deliver such |