TRANSACTIONS. 231 
of the six thousand printed of the life only a few copies are unsold. 
Though I understand that my labours have not been quite acceptable to 
sundry persons in the vale of the Nith, it is otherwise with the rest of 
the country, and some of the first men in the island have written con- 
cerning the life and notes in terms of praise too flattering for me to 
mention. I am not much mortified at this reception in my native valley ; 
so long as it is remembered that I wore an apron and wrought with a 
scabling hammer in the Friars’ Vennel, so long will my works not have 
“fair play ;” but time renders justice to all, and the day is not distant 
when I shall either be forgotten altogether or be more honoured than at 
present on the banks of the Nith. 
T am told that our friend Mr M‘Diarmid has a life of Burns in 
progress. I am glad of this. We will set the world right in many 
important matters regarding the genius and fortunes of the poet. So 
solicitous was he, I have heard, about the truth, that he actually sat 
beside Mrs Burns with an interleaved copy of my life for two days ques- 
tioning her till, to use her own words, she was both weary and ill-pleased 
about it. His love of truth on the part of our friend did not shorten, I 
trust, the life of the lady, though it seems to have embittered it. I 
observe that he says the true history of the poet’s marriage has never 
yet been told. That is true, but can it be told with propriety? Should 
he desire to tell the whole truth, I can help him to three of the poet’s 
letters on that very suhject which have not been published, and which 
contain his sentiments on the matter. 
I hear with some sorrow that the poet’s sword and pistols, which he 
presented to Dr Maxwell, were sold at a sale of the latter for a mere 
trifle. This is not at all creditable to the admirers of Burns about Dum- 
fries. I am trying to regain them, and I hope to succeed. 
I beg you to accept my best thanks for the kind expressions con- 
tained in your letter regarding my edition of the poet. When I am next 
in Dumfries—and that will be soon—I shall find my way to Thornhill, 
without an invitation, and spend a day with one whom I remember with 
pleasure. 
When J was a humble labourer in Dumfries, I looked up to you as 
one of those who loved literature, and I assure you time has rather 
strengthened than diminished this feeling. 
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. 
Belgrave Place, 30th July, 1834. 
The minute book, concluded Mr Wilson, contains no further 
information in regard to the cost of the Mausoleum and sculpture, 
although it appears that all charges against the Committee were 
duly advertised for and called in. Mr Grierson, the secretary, 
appears from a correspondence with Mr M‘Diarmid in regard to a 
disputed subscription to have got his strong iron box robbed of the 
cash book, visitors’ book, and other documents connected with the 
