Maria Riodki.i,. thk I-rikm) oi- Bi kns. 37 



Erskine's forensic abilities, O'Xeil was found j^uilty and sen- 

 tenced to be hanged, but Maria Riddell was instrumental in 

 affecting", by means of the combined influence of her friends 

 Henry Erskine and C. J. Fox,^ a commutation of this sen- 

 tence. ^^ 



Early in 1795 Maria Riddell's anger towards Burns had 

 begun to cool, and the old broken friendship was gradually 

 renewed. She sent him a book, Atutcharsis,^'^ previous to her 

 presenting it to the Dumfries Pul^lic I.ibrary,^^ \\ith ^ song 

 of her own composition : — 



" For ther(' lie roved that hroko my heart. 

 Yet to that heart, ah, still how dear!''64 



60 Fox. Charles James: h. 1749, .statesman, d. 1806. 



61 Tlie HoHourdUc Henry TJrskine, by Lieutenant-Colonel 

 Alexander Fergusson (1882), pp. 3o()-351. 



6^ Voyage du jeune Audcharsis en Urece dans le viilieit dii 

 qaatriime sirclt avnvf Vrre vu/gaire, by Jean Jacques Barthelemy, 

 Paris, 1788, 1789, 1790, etc. 



63 The Ewart Public Library, Dumfries, contains many volumes 

 which originally belonged to the Dumfries Public Library; among 

 them is a set of Ancicharsis (2nd English edition), 8 vols., 1794, 

 which we may be almost certain was the actual set lent by Maria 

 Piddell to Burns. 



64 The poem, from wliich the above is an extract, runs: — 



" To thee, loved Nith, thy gladsome plains. 



Whence with careless thought 1 ranged, 

 Though prcst with care and sunk in woe. 



To thee I bring a heart unchanged. 

 1 love thee, Nith, thy banks and braes. 



Though Memory there my bosom tear. 

 For there he roved that broke my heart. 



Yet to that heart, ah, still how dear ! 



And now your banks and bonny braes 



But waken sad remembrance' smart ; 

 The verj' shades T held most dear 



Now strike fresh anguish to my heart: 

 Deserted bowers ! where are they now — 



Ah ! where the garlands that I wove 

 With faithful care each morn to deck 



The altars of ungrateful love? 



The flowers of spring, how gay they bloomed 

 When last with him T wandered bore! 



