S54 
college of - juttice, who had adorned the 
Mirror with a finely-written effay, in 
recommendation of the poetry of Mr- 
cuaAu Bruce, 
pers were rapidly filled; the ladies, ef- 
pecially, aay with ee another who 
fhonid be the frft to fubicribe, who 
ghould procure the greateft number of 
. other jub{eribers, for the poems of a 
bard. who was now, for fome moments, 
the idol of fathion. The Caledonian 
Hunt, a ga a clus, compofed cf the moft 
epulent and fafhionable young men in 
Scotland, profeffed themfelves the pa- 
trohs of the Scottith poet, and eagerly 
encouraged the proper re-publication 
of hits’ poems. $1x fhillings was all the 
fobfcription-money demanded for each 
copy, bu many voluntarily paid haif- 
a-yuinea, a guinea, or two guineas; and 
it was fuppofed that the poet might de-- 
rive from the fubf{cription, and the fale 
ef his copy- -right, a clear profit of, at 
leaft, feven hundred pounds ; a fum 
that, to a man who had Bones lived in 
his indigent circumftances, would be ab- 
foluately more than the vainly expected 
wealth of Sir Epicure Mammon. 
Burws, in the meantime, led a life 
dc: ifering from that of his original condi- 
fion in ” Ayrhhire, almoft as widely as 
differed the fcenes and amufements of 
London, to which OMIAH was intro- 
duced, under the patronage of the Harl 
ef SANDWICH, from thofe to which he 
had been familiar in the Friendly Iflee. 
The converfation of even the moit emi- 
Pent authors is often found to be fo un- 
équal to the fame of their writings, that 
he who read with admiration can /fez 
with none. but fentiments of the moft 
profound contempt. But the converfa- 
tion of BURNS was, in So se with 
the formal and exterior ciscumfances of 
his education, perhaps even more won- 
derful than his poetry. He afiected no 
fefc airs or graceful motions of polite- 
nels, which might have ill accorded with 
the ruftic plainnefs of his native man- 
mers. Con{cious fuperiority of mind 
taught him to afiociate with the great, 
the learned, and the gay, withour being 
over-awced into any fuch bathfalncfs as 
might have made him confufed in 
thought, or hefitating in elocution. He 
poifeffed, withall, an extraordinary 
fhare of plain common fenfe, or mober- 
cunt, which prevented him from obtrud-_— 
ing upon perfons, of whatever rank, 
“with whom he was admitted to cony ert 
uny of thofe effufions of vanity, envy, or 
felf-conceit, in which authors are exceed - 
+> 
Oricinal Memuotrs of the late Robert Burns. 
The fubfeription- -pa-_ 
‘again and avain. 
= he found ; 
{ Sup. 
ingly apt to indulge, who have lived re- 
mote from the general praétice of life, 
and whofe minds have been almoft: ex-. 
clufively confined to contemplate their 
own fiudies and their own works. In. 
converfation he difplayed a fort of intui- 
tive quicknefs and reétitude of judg.’ 
ment upon every fubjeét that arofe. The - 
fenfibility of his heart, and the vivacity : 
of his fancy, gave a rich colouring te 
whatever reatoning he was difpofed toad- 
vance; and his longuage, in converfa- 
tion, was not at all lefs ha appy thanin his 
writings. For thefe reafons he did nor, 
ceafe to pleafe immediately after he had 
been once feen. Thofe who had met - 
and converfed with him once, were. 
pleafed to meet and to converfe with him: 
I remember that the- 
late Dr. RoBeERTSON once obferved te; 
me, that he had fcarcely ever mét with. 
any man whole converfation difcovered - 
greater vigour and aétivity of mind thaw’. 
that of Burns. Every one wondered. 
that the ruftic bard was not /porled by fa- 
much carefling, favour, and flattery. 
and every one went on te 
jpoil him, by continually repeating all- 
‘thefe, as if with an obftinate refolution 
that they fhould, in the end, produce. 
their. efieét.. Nothing, however, of 
change in his manners appeared, at leaft 
fora while, to fhow that this was at -ali 
likely to happen. He, indeed, main-. 
tained himfelf, with confiderable {pirit, 
upon a footin» of a: with all with. 
whom he. had occafion to affociate Or - 
converfe ; yet he never pec 4! any fu= 
periority, fave what the fair and manly 
exertion of his powers, at the time, 
could undeniably command. Had- he 
but been able to give a fleady preference 
to the oe of the virtuous, the learn- 
ed, and the wife, rather than to thar 
of the gay and the diffolute, itis probable» 
that he could not have failed to rife te 
an exaltation of charaéter and of talents 
fitted to do honour to human nature. 
Unfortunately, however, that hap- 
pened which was natural in thofe un- 
accuftomed circumftances in which 
Burns found himfelf placed. He 
could not affume enough of fuperciliouf- 
nefs to reyeét the familiarity of all thofe 
who,-~vithout any fincere kindnefs for 
him, importunately prefled to obtain his 
acquaintance and intimacy. He jas in- 
fenfibly Jed to affociate lefs with the 
learned, the auftere, and the rigour- 
oufly temperate, than with the young, 
with the votaries of intemperate joys, 
with Perfons to whom he was coms 
mended 
