THOMAS PRINGLE. 265 



Thomas Pringle, editor at this time of an annual 

 publication called Friendship's Offering, had seen some 

 of Miller's productions, and wrote to Mr Smith, a friend 

 of Mr Forsyth's, pronouncing him * a person of no ordi- 

 nary talent and character/ Mr Forsyth enclosed Pringle's 

 letter in that to which Miller is now replying, and Hugh 

 proceeds, in the paragraph which follows, to comment 

 upon it. ' I am acquainted with Mr Pringle as a poet, 

 and an admirable poet he is, combining in his beautiful 

 pieces the simplicity of the ancient ballad with that ele- 

 gance of style and delicacy of sentiment, which are the 

 characteristics of classical poetry. I shall not venture, 

 however, on addressing him by letter. The friendship 

 of such a man, however valuable, and however much an 

 honour, would scarcely afford me the pleasure which 

 ought to be derived from it unless I were conscious I 

 had done something to deserve it; and at present I can 

 have no such consciousness. I am as yet only a little 

 fellow, and with all the jealousy of a little fellow I shall 

 conceal my insignificance, not by stalking on stilts 

 into the company of the gigantic, but by immuring my- 

 self in my solitude, from the loop-holes of which T shall 

 peep at them as I best may ; solicitous both to see and 

 to avoid being seen.' He next touches on his corre- 

 spondence with Principal Baird. ' I have not of late 

 heard from the Principal ; and I think I have a shrewd 

 guess of the cause of his silence. In accordance to his 

 advice I sent him two hundred copies of my Poems, 

 which he was to use his influence in getting sold ; but 

 that influence, great as it necessarily is, has, I suspect, 

 proved insufficient to bring into notice a work destined 

 not to be known, perhaps not very deserving of a 

 higher destiny, and with his characteristic benevo- 

 lence, he is unwilling to give me pain by telling me so. 



