372 TELFORD'S LITERARY PURSUITS. PART VIII. 



his most intimate friends was Dr. Darwin, son of the 

 author of the ' Botanic Garden.' At Liverpool, he 

 made the acquaintance of Dr. Currie, and was favoured 

 with a sight of his manuscript of the ' Life of Burns,' 

 then in course of publication. Curiously enough, Dr. 

 Currie had found amongst Burns' s papers a copy of 

 some verses, addressed to the poet, which Telford recog- 

 nised as his own, written many years before whilst 

 working as a mason at Langholm. Their purport was 

 to urge Burns to devote himself to the composition of 

 poems of a serious character, such as the ' Cotter's 

 Saturday Night.' With Telford' s permission, several 

 extracts from his Address to Burns were published in 

 1800 in Currie's Life of the poet. Another of his lite- 

 rary friendships, formed about the same time, was thai, 

 with Thomas Campbell, then a very young man, whose 

 ' Pleasures of Hope ' had just made its appearance. 

 Telford, in one of his letters, says, " I will not leave a 

 stone unturned to try to serve the author of that charm- 

 ing poem." In a subsequent communication l he says, 

 " The author of the ' Pleasures of Hope ' has been here 

 for some time. I am quite delighted with him. He is 

 the very spirit of poetry. On Monday I introduced him 

 to the King's librarian, and I imagine some good may 

 result to him from the introduction." 



In the midst of his plans of docks, canals, and bridges, 

 he writes letters about the peculiarities of Goethe's 

 poems and Kotzebue's plays, Buonaparte's campaign in 

 Egypt, and the merits of sundry new books recently 

 published. He confesses, however, that he has now 

 very little leisure for reading, but has purchased the 

 ' Encyclopedia Britannica,' which he finds " a perfect 

 treasure, containing everything, and being always at 

 hand." He gives his correspondent an idea of the 

 manner in which his time is engrossed. " A few days 



J)aUl London, 14th April, 1802. 



