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foresee nor obviate. His operations however of this kind are, I allow, very rare; and as to the generality of dreams, they are made of such stuff, and are in themselves so insignificant, that though I believe them all to be the manufacture of others, not our own, I account it not a farthing matter who manufactures them. So much for dreams.

My fever is not yet gone, but sometimes seems to leave me. It is altogether of the nervous kind, and attended, now and then, with much dejection.

A young gentleman called here yesterday, who came six miles out of his way to see me. He was on a journey to London from Glasgow, having just left the University there. He came, I suppose, partly to satisfy his own curiosity, but chiefly, as it seemed, to bring me the thanks of some of the Scotch Professors for my two Volumes. His name is Rose, an Englishman. Your spirits being good, you will derive more pleasure from this incident than I can at present, therefore I send it. Adieu,

W. C.

DEAR SIR,

LETTER LXVIII.

To SAMUEL ROSE, Esqr.

Weston, July 24th, 1787.

This is the first time I have written these

six months, and nothing but the constraint of obligation could

induce me to write now. I cannot be so wanting to myself as not to endeavour at least, to thank you both for the visits with which you have favoured me, and the Poems that you sent me; in my present state of mind I taste nothing; nevertheless I read ; partly from habit, and partly because it is the only thing that I am capable of.

I have therefore read Burn's Poems, and have read them twice. And though they be written in a language that is new to me, and many of them on subjects much inferior to the author's ability, I think them on the whole a very extraordinary production. He is, I believe, the only Poet these kingdoms have produced in the lower rank of life, since Shakespeare, I should rather say since Prior, who need not be indebted for any part of his praise, to a charitable consideration of his origin, and the disadvantages under which he has laboured. It will be pity if he should not hereafter divest himself of barbarism, and content himself with writing pure English, in which he appears perfectly qualified to excel. He who can command admiration, dishonours himself if he aims no higher than to raise a laugh.

I am, dear Sir, with my best wishes for your prosperity, and with Mrs. Unwin's respects,

Your obliged and affectionate humble servant,

VOL. I.

I I

W.. C.

LETTER

1

DEAR SIR

can spare me.

LETTER LXIX.

To SAMUEL ROSE, Esqr.

Weston, Aug. 27, 1787.

I have not yet taken up the pen a-
The little taste that I have had of

gain, except to write to you.
your company, and your kindness in finding me out, make me
wish, that we were nearer neighbours, and that there were not so
great a disparity in our years; that is to say, not that you were
older, but that I were younger. Could we have met in early life,
I flatter myself that we might have been more intimate, than now
we are likely to be. But you shall not find me slow to cultivate
such a measure of your regard, as your friends of your own age
When your route shall lie through this country,
I shall hope that the same kindness which has prompted you twice
to call on me, will prompt you again; and I shall be happy if on a fu-
ture occasion, I may be able to give you a more cheerful reception,
than can be expected from an invalid. My health and spirits are
considerably improved, and I once more associate with my neigh-
bours. My head however has been the worst part of me, and
still continues so; is subject to giddiness and pain, maladies very
unfavourable to poetical employment; but a preparation of the Bark,
which I take regularly, has so far been of service to me in those
respects, as to encourage in me a hope, that by perseverance in the

use

use of it, I may possibly find myself qualified to resume the Transla

tion of Homer

When I cannot walk, I read; and read perhaps more than is good for me. But I cannot be idle. The only mercy that I shew myself in this respect is, that I read nothing that requires much closeness of application. I lately finished the perusal of a book, which in former years I have more than once attacked, but never till now conquered; some other book always interfered, before I could finish it. The work I mean is Barclay's Argenis, and if ever you allow yourself to read for mere amusement, I can recommend it to you (provided you have not already perused it) as the most amusing romance that ever was written. It is the only one indeed of an old date that I ever had the patience to go through with. It is interesting in a high degree; richer in incident than can be imagined, full of surprizes, which the reader never forestalls, and yet free from all entanglement and confusion. The stile too appears to me to be such as would not dishonour Tacitus himself.

Poor Burns loses much of his deserved praise in this country, through our ignorance of his language. I despair of meeting with any Englishman who will take the pains that I have taken to understand him. His candle is bright but shut up in a dark lantern. I lent him to a very sensible neighbour of mine, but his

uncouth dialect spoiled all, and before he had half read him through,

Though it costs me something to write,

it would cost me more to be silent. My intercourse with my neighbours being renewed, I can no longer seem to forget how many reasons there are why you especially should not be neglected; no neighbour indeed, but the kindest of my friends, and ere long, I hope, an inmate.

My health and spirits seem to be mending daily. To what end I know not, neither will conjecture, but endeavour, as far as I can, to be content that that they do so. I use exercise, and take the air in the Park and Wilderness. I read much, but, as yet, write not. Our friends at the Hall make themselves more and more amiable in our account, by treating us rather as old friends, than as friends newly acquired. There are few days in which we do not meet, and I am now almost as much at home in their house as in our own. Mr. Throckmorton having long since put me in pos

session