Letter from Robert Burns to his brother William Burns, 2 March 1789

Isle March 2.d 1789

My dear William,
I arrived from Edinburgh only the night
before last, so I could not answer your epistle sooner. - I congratulate
you on the prospect of employ, and I am indebted
to you for one of the best letters that has been written by any
Mechanic lad in Nithsdale or Annandale or any Dale on
either side of the Border this twelvemonth. - Not that I
would have you always affect the stately stilts of studied com-
position, but surely writing a handsome letter is an accomplishment
worth courting; and with attention & practice, I
can promise you that it will soon be an accomplishment
of yours. -

If my advices can serve you, that is to say, if you can
resolve not only to a customming yourself, not only in re-
viewing your own deportment, manners, & c. but also in
carrying your consequent resolutions of amending the
faulty parts into practice, my small knowledge & experience
of the world is heartily at your service. -