Letter from Robert Burns to John Leven, with 'The De'il's awa wi' th' Exciseman'

This document is a three page letter, which includes a poem as the center leaf. Burns writes to a Senior Excise Officer in Edinburgh which, in addition to dealing with some current business regarding the seizure of boxes of tea, Encloses for him a copy of his poem "The diel's awa wi' the Exciseman" which Burns has previously sung at an Excise-court dinner.

Page one of the letter is devoted to Excise business relating to a shipment of Lawsons Tea with some convoluted discussion to do with permits and a prediction which Burns makes that when additional boxes arrive they will not match up with the quantities on the permit. He then puts a final question to determine if these may also be seized.

On page two Burns introduces his poem on the Excise as having been sung by him for John Mitchell, the Excise collector at Dumfries, during his recent Excise-court dinner. He says to Leven "here it is".

The poem has a four line chorus followed by three four line verses and is one of Burns's most animated works. It is thought to have been inspired by an incident involving the seizure of a smuggling schooner off the Solway coast in which Burns took part as the commander of one of three divisions of dragoons.

The final page of the letter carries the last verse of the poem after which Burns writes "If you honor my ballad by making it one of your charming, bon vivant effusions, it will secure it undoubted celebrity."