194 SCOTTISH POETRY. 



Led on the Loves and Graces ; 

 She won each gaping 1 burgess' heart, 

 While he, all conquering, played his part 



Araang the wives and lasses. 

 Craigdarroch led a light-arm'd core, 

 Tropes, metaphors, and figures pour 



Like Hecla streaming thunder ; 

 Glenriddel, skilled in mouldy coins, 

 Blew up each Tory's dark designs, 



And bared the treason under.' " 



Mr. Cunningham thus speaks of the corps in which Burns en- 

 rolled himself himself : 



" I remember well the appearance of that respectable corps ; their odd, 

 but not ungraceful dress ; white kerseymere breeches and waistcoat ; short 

 blue coat, faced with red ; and round hat, surmounted by a bearskin, like 

 the helmets of our Horse-guards ; and I remember the Poet also his very 

 swarthy face, his ploughman-stoop, his large dark eyes, and indifferent 

 dexterity of handling his arms." Pag. 319. 



In midsummer 1794, Burns removed from the house in the Bank 

 Vennel to Mill-hole-brae, now called Burns-street ; and where Jean 

 Armour the Poet's widow still resides : 



" Here he arranged his small library, fixed his table, and placed the 

 chair on whose hind-legs, as he relates, he poised or swung himself, when 

 conceiving his matchless lyrics. Here, too, I have heard his townsmen say, 

 while passing by during a pleasant afternoon, they could see, within the 

 open door, the Poet reading amongst his children ; while his wife moved 

 about, set matters in order, and looked to the economy of her household." 

 P. 321. 



But death was hanging over Burns, marking him for his prey : 

 and of this he himself was conscious, by several letters to Thomson, 

 his cousin, and Mrs. Dunlop; indeed the letter to Mrs. Dunlop has 

 been said to be the last words he wrote ; but Mr. Cunningham says, 



" There are yet later, and of higher import and meaning. As the day of 

 life darkened down, Burns began to prepare for the change : he remembered 

 that he had written many matters, both in verse and prose, of a nature 

 licentious, as well as witty. He sought to reclaim them, and in some in- 

 stances, succeeded ; he had, when his increasing difficulties were rumoured 

 about, received an offer for them from a bookseller; but he spurned at fifty 

 pounds in comparison of his fair fame, and refused to sell or sanction them. 

 That such things were scattered abroad troubled him greatly ; he reflected 

 that the mean and the malignant might rake them together ; and, quoting 

 them against him, triumph over his fame, and trample on his dust. Per- 

 haps he felt some consolation in believing that his other works transcended 

 these so far in talent and in number, that the grosser would be weighed 

 down, cast aside, and forgotten. What troubled him most was the impu- 

 tations of disloyalty to his country, which had been thrown upon his cha- 

 racter : he trembled, lest he should be represented as one who desired to 

 purchase republican licence at the price of foreign invasion. He had de- 

 fended his character and motives in a letter, uncommonly manly and elo- 

 quent, to Erskine of Mar ; but he had requested it to be burnt, and was 

 not aware that it was fortunately preserved. He still retained the letter 

 on his memory, and it was the last act of his pen to write it out fair, and 

 with comments, into his memorandum-book." P. 340. 



