profit, and not unworthy his genius, might have
been found for him. Places of profit and honour were at the disposal of
many who might have helped him had they so wished. But Burns was not now
the favourite he had been when he first came to Edinburgh. The
ploughman-poet was no longer a novelty; and, moreover, Burns had the
pride of his class, and clung to his early friends. It is not possible
for a man to be the boon-companion of peasants and the associate of
peers. Had he dissociated himself altogether from his past life, the
doors of the nobility might have been still held open to him; and no
doubt the cushioned ease of a sinecure's office would have been had for
the asking. But in that case he would have lost his manhood, and we
should have lost a poet. Burns would not have turned his back on his
fellows for the most lucrative office in the kingdom; that, he would
have considered as selling his soul to the devil. Yet, on the other
hand, what could any of these men do for a poet who was 'owre blate to
seek, owre proud to snool'? Burns waited on in the expectation that
those who had the power would take it upon themselves to do something
for him. Perhaps he credited them with a sense and a generosity they
could not lay claim to; though had one of them taken the initiative in
this matter, he would have honoured himself in honouring Burns, and
endeared his name to the hearts of his countrymen for all time. But such
offices are created and kept open for political sycophants, who can
importune with years of prostituted service. They are for those who
advocate the opinions of others; certainly not for the man who dares to
speak fearlessly his own mind, and to assert the privileges and
prerogatives of his manhood. The children's bread is not to be thrown to
the dogs. Burns asked for nothing, and got nothing. The Excise
commission which he applied for, and graduated for, was granted. The
work was laborious, the remuneration small, and _gauger_ was a name of
contempt.

But whilst waiting on in the hope of something 'turning up,' he was
still working busily for Johnson's Museum, and still trying to bring
Creech to make a settlement. At last, however, out of all patience with
his publisher, and recognising the futility of his hopes of preferment,
he had resolved early in December to leave Edinburgh, when he was
compelled to stay against his will. A double accident befell him; he was
introduced to a Mrs. Maclehose, and three days