[Graham stood by the bard in the hour of peril recorded in this
letter: and the Board of Excise had the generosity to permit him to
eat its "bitter bread" for the remainder of his life.
letter: and the Board of Excise had the generosity to permit him to
eat its "bitter bread" for the remainder of his life.
Robert Burns
I must still give
you another quotation, which I am almost sure I have given you before,
but I cannot resist the temptation. The subject is religion--speaking
of its importance to mankind, the author says,
"'Tis this, my friend, that streaks our morning bright. "
I see you are in for double postage, so I shall e'en scribble out
t'other sheet. We, in this country here, have many alarms of the
reforming, or rather the republican spirit, of your part of the
kingdom. Indeed we are a good deal in commotion ourselves. For me, I
am a placeman, you know; a very humble one indeed, Heaven knows, but
still so much as to gag me. What my private sentiments are, you will
find out without an interpreter.
* * * * *
I have taken up the subject, and the other day, for a pretty actress's
benefit night, I wrote an address, which I will give on the other
page, called "The rights of woman:"
"While Europe's eye is fixed on mighty things. "
I shall have the honour of receiving your criticisms in person at
Dunlop.
R. B.
* * * * *
CCXLIII.
TO R. GRAHAM, ESQ. ,
FINTRAY.
[Graham stood by the bard in the hour of peril recorded in this
letter: and the Board of Excise had the generosity to permit him to
eat its "bitter bread" for the remainder of his life. ]
_December, 1792. _
SIR,
I have been surprised, confounded, and distracted by Mr. Mitchell, the
collector, telling me that he has received an order from your Board to
inquire into my political conduct, and blaming me as a person
disaffected to government.
Sir, you are a husband--and a father. --You know what you would feel,
to see the much-loved wife of your bosom, and your helpless, prattling
little ones, turned adrift into the world, degraded and disgraced from
a situation in which they had been respectable and respected, and left
almost without the necessary support of a miserable existence. Alas,
Sir! must I think that such, soon, will be my lot! and from the
d--mned, dark insinuations of hellish, groundless envy too! I believe,
Sir, I may aver it, and in the sight of Omniscience, that I would not
tell a deliberate falsehood, no, not though even worse horrors, if
worse can be, than those I have mentioned, hung over my head; and I
say, that the allegation, whatever villain has made it, is a lie! To
the British constitution on Revolution principles, next after my God,
I am most devoutly attached; you, Sir, have been much and generously
my friend. --Heaven knows how warmly I have felt the obligation, and
how gratefully I have thanked you. --Fortune, Sir, has made you
powerful, and me impotent; has given you patronage, and me
dependence. --I would not for my single self, call on your humanity;
were such my insular, unconnected situation, I would despise the tear
that now swells in my eye--I could brave misfortune, I could face
ruin; for at the worst, "Death's thousand doors stand open;" but, good
God! the tender concerns that I have mentioned, the claims and ties
that I see at this moment, and feel around me, how they unnerve
courage, and wither resolution! To your patronage, as a man of some
genius, you have allowed me a claim; and your esteem, as an honest
man, I know is my due: to these, Sir, permit me to appeal; by these
may I adjure you to save me from that misery which threatens to
overwhelm me, and which, with my latest breath I will say it, I have
not deserved.
you another quotation, which I am almost sure I have given you before,
but I cannot resist the temptation. The subject is religion--speaking
of its importance to mankind, the author says,
"'Tis this, my friend, that streaks our morning bright. "
I see you are in for double postage, so I shall e'en scribble out
t'other sheet. We, in this country here, have many alarms of the
reforming, or rather the republican spirit, of your part of the
kingdom. Indeed we are a good deal in commotion ourselves. For me, I
am a placeman, you know; a very humble one indeed, Heaven knows, but
still so much as to gag me. What my private sentiments are, you will
find out without an interpreter.
* * * * *
I have taken up the subject, and the other day, for a pretty actress's
benefit night, I wrote an address, which I will give on the other
page, called "The rights of woman:"
"While Europe's eye is fixed on mighty things. "
I shall have the honour of receiving your criticisms in person at
Dunlop.
R. B.
* * * * *
CCXLIII.
TO R. GRAHAM, ESQ. ,
FINTRAY.
[Graham stood by the bard in the hour of peril recorded in this
letter: and the Board of Excise had the generosity to permit him to
eat its "bitter bread" for the remainder of his life. ]
_December, 1792. _
SIR,
I have been surprised, confounded, and distracted by Mr. Mitchell, the
collector, telling me that he has received an order from your Board to
inquire into my political conduct, and blaming me as a person
disaffected to government.
Sir, you are a husband--and a father. --You know what you would feel,
to see the much-loved wife of your bosom, and your helpless, prattling
little ones, turned adrift into the world, degraded and disgraced from
a situation in which they had been respectable and respected, and left
almost without the necessary support of a miserable existence. Alas,
Sir! must I think that such, soon, will be my lot! and from the
d--mned, dark insinuations of hellish, groundless envy too! I believe,
Sir, I may aver it, and in the sight of Omniscience, that I would not
tell a deliberate falsehood, no, not though even worse horrors, if
worse can be, than those I have mentioned, hung over my head; and I
say, that the allegation, whatever villain has made it, is a lie! To
the British constitution on Revolution principles, next after my God,
I am most devoutly attached; you, Sir, have been much and generously
my friend. --Heaven knows how warmly I have felt the obligation, and
how gratefully I have thanked you. --Fortune, Sir, has made you
powerful, and me impotent; has given you patronage, and me
dependence. --I would not for my single self, call on your humanity;
were such my insular, unconnected situation, I would despise the tear
that now swells in my eye--I could brave misfortune, I could face
ruin; for at the worst, "Death's thousand doors stand open;" but, good
God! the tender concerns that I have mentioned, the claims and ties
that I see at this moment, and feel around me, how they unnerve
courage, and wither resolution! To your patronage, as a man of some
genius, you have allowed me a claim; and your esteem, as an honest
man, I know is my due: to these, Sir, permit me to appeal; by these
may I adjure you to save me from that misery which threatens to
overwhelm me, and which, with my latest breath I will say it, I have
not deserved.
