HIS REPLY. 75 



His word presents to us and those exhibited in His 

 works. 



* I should have written you long ere now, but for the 

 last three months my mind has been in a sort of transi- 

 tion state, and passing from old, firmly fixed habits, to 

 the acquisition of new ones, and my powers of applica- 

 tion were so dissipated in the process that I could 

 literally do nothing. I am coming round again, how- 

 ever, and, with a pile of unanswered letters in my desk, 

 dedicate to you the first-fruits of my diligence. I find 

 my new profession will leave me well-nigh as much 

 leisure as my old one ; but exercise will claim its part ; 

 and as my occupations must be less mechanical than 

 formerly, I shall have less time for thought. If, how- 

 ever, my mind be naturally a buoyant one, and I trust 

 it is, those circumstances which will weigh me down 

 must be more untoward than any I have yet experienced. 



' My stay in Edinburgh last spring after my return 

 from Linlithgow was extremely brief, and I had to quit 

 it (a circumstance I shall ever regret) without seeing 

 Mrs Grant of Laggan. With all my haste, however, I 

 might have found time enough for the purpose could I 

 have but found courage, but the fear of being deemed 

 obtrusive held me back. 1 am the silliest fellow, in this 

 respect, I ever knew. No degree of faith in the assur- 

 ance of others can give me confidence in myself, and I 

 am certain I must often seem a cold and ungrateful fel- 

 low when I am in reality shrinking from the possibility 

 of being deemed an impertinent one. But I cannot 

 overcome the feeling. I have to regret, too, that though 

 I had a direct invitation to spend an evening with Mr 

 Thomson, the friend and correspondent of Burns, I could 

 not avail myself of it. In this case, however, it was a 

 prior invitation, not the deprecated feeling, that interfered ; 



