lity I shall soon be the tenth worthy and
the eighth wise man of the world. Through my lord's influence it is
inserted in the records of the Caledonian Hunt that they universally one
and all subscribe for the second edition.'

This letter shows that Burns had already been taken up, as the phrase
goes, by the elite of Edinburgh; and it shows also and quite as clearly
in the tone of quiet banter, that he was little likely to lose his head
by the notice taken of him. To the Earl of Glencairn, mentioned in it,
he had been introduced probably by Mr. Dalrymple of Orangefield, whom he
knew both as a brother-mason and a brother-poet. The Earl had already
seen the Kilmarnock Edition of the poems, and now he not only introduced
Burns to William Creech, the leading publisher in Edinburgh, but he got
the members of the Caledonian Hunt to become subscribers for a second
edition of the poems. To Erskine he had been introduced at a meeting of
the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge of Freemasons; and assuredly there was no
man living more likely to exert himself in the interests of a genius
like Burns.

Two days after this letter to Gavin Hamilton there appeared in _The
Lounger_ Mackenzie's appreciative notice of the Kilmarnock Edition. This
notice has become historical, and at the time of its appearance it must
have been peculiarly gratifying to Burns. He had remarked before, in
reference to the letter from Dr. Blacklock, that the doctor belonged to
a class of critics for whose applause he had not even dared to hope. Now
his work was criticised most favourably by the one who was regarded as
the highest authority on literature in Scotland. If a writer was praised
in _The Lounger_, his fame was assured. He went into the world with the
hall-mark of Henry Mackenzie; and what more was needed? The oracle had
spoken, and his decision was final. His pronouncement would be echoed
and re-echoed from end to end of the country. And this great critic
claimed no special indulgence for Burns on the plea of his mean birth or
poor education. He saw in this heaven-taught ploughman a genius of no
ordinary rank, a man who possessed the spirit as well as the fancy of a
great poet. He was a poet, and it mattered not whether he had been born
a peasant or a peer. 'His poetry, considered abstractedly and without
the apologies arising from his situation, seems to me fully entitled to
command our feelings and obtain our applause.... The power of genius is
not less adm