turn which, I am persuaded, will not be unacceptable--the
honest, warm wishes of a grateful heart for your happiness, and every
one of that lovely flock, who stand to you in a filial relation. If
ever calumny aim the poisoned shaft at them, may friendship be by to
ward the blow!

R. B.

* * * * *

XCIV.

TO MISS WILLIAMS,

ON READING HER POEM OF THE SLAVE-TRADE.

[The name and merits of Miss Williams are widely known; nor is it a
small honour to her muse that her tender song of "Evan Banks" was
imputed to Burns by Cromek: other editors since have continued to
include it in his works, though Sir Walter Scott named the true
author.]

_Edinburgh, Dec._ 1787.

I know very little of scientific criticism, so all I can pretend to in
that intricate art is merely to note, as I read along, what passages
strike me as being uncommonly beautiful, and where the expression
seems to be perplexed or faulty.

The poem opens finely. There are none of these idle prefatory lines
which one may skip over before one comes to the subject. Verses 9th
and 10th in particular,

"Where ocean's unseen bound
Leaves a drear world of waters round,"

are truly beautiful. The simile of the hurricane is likewise fine;
and, indeed, beautiful as the poem is, almost all the similes rise
decidedly above it. From verse 31st to verse 50th is a pretty eulogy
on Britain. Verse 36th, "That foul drama deep with wrong," is nobly
expressive. Verse 46th, I am afraid, is rather unworthy of the rest;
"to dare to feel" is an idea that I do not altogether like. The
contrast of valour and mercy, from the 36th verse to the 50th, is
admirable.

Either my apprehension is dull, or there is something a little
confused in the apostrophe to Mr. Pitt. Verse 55th is the antecedent
to verses 57th and 58th, but in verse 58th the connexion seems
ungrammatical:--

"Powers. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
With no gradation mark'd their flight,
But rose at once to glory's height."

Ris'n should be the word instead of rose. Try it in prose.
Powers,--their flight marked by no gradations, but [the same powers]
risen at once to the height of glory. Likewise, verse 53d, "For this,"
is evidently meant to lead on the sense of the verses 59th, 60th,
61st, and 62d: but let us try how the thread of connexion runs,--

"For this . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .