I wish I had the powers of Guido to do them
justice!
Robert Burns
TO MR. WALKER,
BLAIR OF ATHOLE.
[Professor Walker was a native of Ayrshire, and an accomplished
scholar; he saw Burns often in Edinburgh; he saw him at the Earl of
Athol's on the Bruar; he visited him too at Dumfries; and after the
copyright of Currie's edition of the poet's works expired, he wrote,
with much taste and feeling his life anew, and edited his works--what
passed under his own observation he related with truth and ease. ]
_Inverness, 5th September_, 1787.
MY DEAR SIR,
I have just time to write the foregoing,[178] and to tell you that it
was (at least most part of it) the effusion of an half-hour I spent at
Bruar. I do not mean it was extempore, for I have endeavoured to brush
it up as well as Mr. Nicol's chat and the jogging of the chaise would
allow. It eases my heart a good deal, as rhyme is the coin with which
a poet pays his debts of honour or gratitude. What I owe to the noble
family of Athol, of the first kind, I shall ever proudly boast; what I
owe of the last, so help me God in my hour of need! I shall never
forget.
The "little angel-band! " I declare I prayed for them very sincerely
to-day at the Fall of Fyers. I shall never forget the fine
family-piece I saw at Blair; the amiable, the truly noble duchess,
with her smiling little seraph in her lap, at the head of the table;
the lovely "olive plants," as the Hebrew bard finely says, round the
happy mother: the beautiful Mrs. G----; the lovely sweet Miss C. , &c.
I wish I had the powers of Guido to do them justice! My Lord Duke's
kind hospitality--markedly kind indeed. Mr. Graham of Fintray's charms
of conversation--Sir W. Murray's friendship. In short, the
recollection of all that polite, agreeable company raises an honest
glow in my bosom.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 178: The Humble Petition of Bruar-water]
* * * * *
LXXIX.
TO MR. GILBERT BURNS.
[The letters of Robert to Gilbert are neither many nor important: the
latter was a calm, considerate, sensible man, with nothing poetic in
his composition: he died lately, much and widely respected. ]
_Edinburgh, 17th September, 1787. _
MY DEAR BROTHER,
I arrived here safe yesterday evening, after a tour of twenty-two
days, and travelling near six hundred miles, windings included. My
farthest stretch was about ten miles beyond Inverness. I went through
the heart of the Highlands by Crieff, Taymouth, the famous seat of
Lord Breadalbane, down the Tay, among cascades and druidical circles
of stones, to Dunkeld, a seat of the Duke of Athol; thence across the
Tay, and up one of his tributary streams to Blair of Athole, another
of the duke's seats, where I had the honour of spending nearly two
days with his grace and family; thence many miles through a wild
country, among cliffs gray with eternal snows and gloomy savage glens,
till I crossed Spey and went down the stream through Strathspey, so
famous in Scottish music; Badenoch, &c. , till I reached Grant Castle,
where I spent half a day with Sir James Grant and family; and then
crossed the country for Fort George, but called by the way at Cawdor,
the ancient seat of Macbeth; there I saw the identical bed, in which
tradition says king Duncan was murdered: lastly, from Fort George to
Inverness.
I returned by the coast, through Nairn, Forres, and so on, to Aberdeen,
thence to Stonehive, where James Burness, from Montrose, met me by
appointment.
