TraHnactions. 67 



an active interest in securing subscriptions towards the erection 

 of the mausoleum. He was probably connected with Lord 

 Monboddo, father of Miss Burnett, to whom Burns in his 

 " Address to Edinburgh " pays one of his most inspired 



compliments — 



Fair Bumet strikes the adoring eye, 



Heav'ns beauties on my fancy shine ; 

 I see the sire cf love on high. 



And own his work indeed divine. 



They were in the following terms : — 



Edinburgh, 12th Feb., 1814. 



Sir, — I had some time ago a letter from you and your brother secretary 

 for the committee of gentlemen who are raising a fund for erecting a monu- 

 ment to my much-admired friend, Mr Burns, and take this opportunity of 

 expressing my most earnest wishes for the success of a measure which will 

 do that country which produced one of its greatest ornaments in poetry 

 very great honour. The subscription paper I have given to Mr Goldie, 

 bookseller. Princes Street, to hang up in his shop, but as Kincardineshire 

 was the county of Mr Burns' father's birth, and still contains a number of 

 his relations, I submit to you the propriety of sending me a few additional 

 copies of the proposals that I may distribute them in that county and 

 Aberdeenshire. ^With my hearty wishes for suocess, I am, sir, your most 

 obedient servant, K. W. Burnett. 



My D. daughter, whom you took charge of to Dumfries, is in good 

 health, and very sensible of your polite attention to her. 



Edinburgh, 26th Dec, 1814. 

 Dear Sir, — As soon as I received your letter I had some communication 

 with Mr Scott, and have ever since been making great progress in collect- 

 ing the subscription money for poor Burns' monument, most of which I 

 have now received ; but until our Court meet again I cannot complete 

 them, as I shall to-morrow set out for St. Andrews for about a fortnight 

 or more. In a few days after my return to town I shall send you the 

 whole, with a statement of their amount. Here I cannot boast of much 

 success, having only procured a guinea from AJr Jeffrey, the celebrated 

 lawyer, and put down myself for two. The play produced only f.39 14s 

 neat, but there was short warning, and on Tuesdays tlie house is generally 

 thin. I believe when all shall be collected I shall have to transmit to you 

 £60 14s or thereby. My endeavours in the north country totally failed. 

 Indeed, I could not discover in the How of the Mearns where Mr Burns' 

 father had been born, and must have had many relations, a single person who 

 counted kin with him, the last that could be recollected having removed 

 about a score of years ago to Aberdeenshire. He was a farmer of the name 

 of Burness, and, I have heard, the poet's cousin. I blush for the in- 

 difference of Scotland to a genius that did her so much honour, and hope 

 that your success in England will make some amends, however painful the 

 reflection that Burns' native coiuitry pays so littlf respect to his memory. 



