So little am I acquainted with the words and manners of the more
public and polished walks of life, that I often feel myself much
embarrassed how to express the feelings of my heart, particularly
gratitude:--
"Rude am I in my speech,
And little therefore shall I grace my cause
In
speaking
for myself--"
The warmth with which you have befriended an obscure man and a young
author in the last three magazines--I can only say, Sir, I feel the
weight of the obligation, I wish I could express my sense of it.
Robert Forst
I shall just lay my hand on my heart and say, I hope I shall ever have
the truest, the warmest sense of your goodness.
I come abroad in print, for certain on Wednesday. Your orders I shall
punctually attend to; only, by the way, I must tell you that I was
paid before for Dr. Moore's and Miss Williams's copies, through the
medium of Commissioner Cochrane in this place, but that we can settle
when I have the honour of waiting on you.
Dr. Smith[170] was just gone to London the morning before I received
your letter to him.
R. B.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 169: From Othello.]
[Footnote 170: Adam Smith.]
* * * * *
LIV.
TO MR. SIBBALD,
BOOKSELLER IN EDINBURGH.
[This letter first appeared in that very valuable work, Nicholl's
Illustrations of Literature.]
_Lawn Market.
_
SIR,
So little am I acquainted with the words and manners of the more
public and polished walks of life, that I often feel myself much
embarrassed how to express the feelings of my heart, particularly
gratitude:--
"Rude am I in my speech,
And little therefore shall I grace my cause
In
speaking
for myself--"
The warmth with which you have befriended an obscure man and a young
author in the last three magazines--I can only say, Sir, I feel the
weight of the obligation, I wish I could express my sense of it.
In
the mean time accept of the conscious acknowledgment from,
Sir,
Your obliged servant,
R. B.
* * * * *
LV.
TO DR. MOORE.
[The book to which the poet alludes, was the well-known View of
Society by Dr. Moore, a work of spirit and observation.]
_Edinburgh, 23d April, 1787._
I received the books, and sent the one you mentioned to Mrs. Dunlop. I
am ill skilled in beating the coverts of imagination for metaphors of
gratitude. I thank you, Sir, for the honour you have done me; and to
my latest hour will warmly remember it. To be highly pleased with your
book is what I have in common with the world; but to regard these
volumes as a mark of the author's friendly esteem, is a still more
supreme gratification.
I leave Edinburgh in the course of ten days or a fortnight, and after
a few pilgrimages over some of the classic ground of Caledonia, Cowden
Knowes, Banks of Yarrow, Tweed, &c., I shall return to my rural
shades, in all likelihood never more to quit them.
