the votaries of honest laughter, and fair, candid ridicule. like. I am extremely obliged to you for your kind mention of my interests in a letter which Mr. Syme shewed me. At present, my situation in life must be in a great measure stationary, at least for two or three years. The statement is this-I am on the supervisors' list, and as we come on there by precedency, in two or three years I shall be at the head of that list, and be appointed, of course. Then, a friend might be of service to me in getting me into a place of the kingdom which I would A supervisor's income varies from about one hundred and twenty, to two hundred a year; but the business is an incessant drudgery, and would be nearly a complete bar to every species of literary pursuit. The moment I am appointed supervisor, in the common routine, I may be nominated on the collector's list; and this is always a business purely of political patronage. A collectorship varies much, from better than two hundred a a year to near a thousand. They also come for ward by precedency on the list; and have, besides a handsome income, a life of complete leisure. A life of literary leisure, with a decent competence, is the summit of my wishes. It would be the prudish affectation of silly pride in me to say that I do not need, or would not be indebted to a politi cal friend; at the same time, sir, I by no means lay my affairs before you thus, to hook my dependant situation on your benevolence. If, in my progress of life, an opening should occur where the good offices of a gentleman of your public character and political consequence might bring me forward, I shall petition your goodness with the same frankness as I now do myself the honour to subscribe myself, &c.* * Part of this letter appears in General Corres pondence, No. CXLII. While pursy burgesses crowd your gate, sweating under the weight of heavy addresses, pernait us, the quondam distillers in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, to approach you, not with venal approbation, but with fraternal condolence ; not as what you are just now, or for some time have been, but as what, in all probability, you will shortly be. We shall have the merit of not deserting our friends in the day of their calamity, and you will have the satisfaction of perusing at least one honest address. You are well acquainted with the dissection of human nature; nor do you need the assistance of a fellow-creature's bosom to inform you, that man is always a selfish, often a perfidious being. This assertion, however the hasty conclusions of superficial observation may doubt of it, or the raw inexperience of youth may deny it, those who make the fatal experiment we have done, will feel.-You are a statesman, and consequently are not ignorant of the traffic of these corporation compliments.-The little great man who drives the borough to market, and the very great man who buys the borough in that market, they two do the whole business; and you wellknow, they, likewise, have their price.-With that sullen disdain which you can so well assume, rise illustrious sir, and spurn these hireling efforts of venal stupidity. At best they are the compliments of a man's friends on the morning of his exech tion they take a decent farewel; resign you to your fate; and hurry away from your approaching hour. If fame say true, and omens be not very much mistaken, you are about to make your exit from that world where the sun of gladness gilds the path of prosperous men; permit us, great sir, with the sympathy of fellow-feeling, to hail your passage to the realms of ruin. Whether the sentiment proceed from the selfishness or cowardice of mankind is immaterial; but to point out to a child of misfortune those who are still more unhappy, is to give them some degree of positive enjoyment. In this light, sir, our downfal may be again of use to you:-though not exactly in the same way, it is not perhaps the first time it has gratified your feelings. It is true, the triumph of your evil star is exceedingly despiteful.-At an age when others are the votaries of pleasure, or underlings in business, you had attained the highest wish of a British statesman ; and with the ordinary date of human life, what a prospect was before you! Deeply rooted in royal favour, you overshadowed the land. The birds of passage, which follow ministerial sunshine through every clime of political faith and manners, flocked to your branches; and the beasts of the field (the lordly possessors of hills and valleys) crowded under your shade. "But behold a watcher, a holy one came down from the heaven, and eried aloud, and said thus: hew down the tree, and cut off his branches: shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches!" A blow from an unthought-of quarter, one of those terrible aceidents which peculiarly mark the hand of Omnipotence, overset your career, and laid all your fancied honours in the dust. But turn your eyes, sir, to the tragic scenes of our fate.-An ancient nation, that, for many ages, had gallantly maintained the unequal struggle for independence with her much more powerful neighbour, at last agrees to a union which should ever after make them one people. In consideration of certain circumstances, it was covenanted that the former should enjoy a stipulated alleviation in her share of the public burdens, particularly in that branch of the revenue called the excise. This just privilege has of late given great umbrage to some interested, powerful individuals of the more potent part of the empire, and they have spared no wicked pains, under insidious pretexts, to subvert what they dared not openly attack, from the dread which they yet entertained of the spirit of their ancient enemies. In this conspiracy we fell; nor did we alone suffer; our country was deeply wounded. A number of (we will say) respectable individuals, largely engaged in trade, where we were not only useful but absolutely necessary to our country in her dearest interests; we, with all that was near and dear to us, were sacrificed without remorse, to the infernal deity of political expediency! We fell to gratify the wishes of dark envy, and the views of upprincipled ambition! Your foes, sir, were avowed; were too brave to take an ungenerous advantage; you fell in the face of day. On the contrary, our enemies, to complete our overthrow, contrived to make their guilt appear the villainy of a nation. Your downfall only drags with you your private friends and partisans: in our misery are more or less involved the most numerous, and most valuable part of the community-all those who immediately depend on the cultivation of the soil, from the landlord of a province, down to his lowest hind. Allow us, sir, yet farther, just to hint at another rich vein of comfort in the dreary regions of adversity; the gratification of an approving conseience. In a certain great assembly, of which you are a distinguished member, panegyries on your private virtues have so often wounded your delicacy, that we shall not distress you with any thing on the subject. There is, however, one part of your public conduct which our feelings will not In permit us to pass in silence; our gratitude must trespass on your modesty: we mean, worthy sir, your whole behaviour to the Scots distillers. evil hours, when obtrusive recollection presses bitterly on the sense, let that, sir, come like a healing angel, and speak the peace to your sonl which the world can neither give nor take away. We have the honour to be, Sir, Your sympathising fellow-sufferers, JOHN BARLEYCORN-Præses. No. LXXI. To the Hon. the PROVOST, BAILIES, and TOWN COUNCIL of Dumfries. Gentlemen, The literary taste and liberal spirit of your good town has so ably filled the various departments of your schools, as to make it a very great object for a parent to have his children educated in them. Still, to me, a stranger, with my large family, and very stinted income, to give my young ones that education I wish, at the high school-fees which a stranger pays, will bear hard upon me. Some years ago your good town did me the honour of making me an honorary burgess.-Will you allow me to request that this mark of distinction may extend so far, as to put me on the footing of a real freeman of the town, in the schools? If you are so very kind as to grant my request*, it will certainly be a constant incentive to me to * This request was immediately complied with. I am happy to have an opportunity of mentioning, with great respect, Mr. James Gray. At the time of the poet's death, this gentleman was rec |
