Letter from Robert Burns to Mrs Dunlop of Dunlop, 29 February 1788
I send you with this, Spencer, as I promised;
and I already "rejoice with them that do rejoice" in inticipa-
tinge the pleasure you will have in the fairy mazes of en-
chanted ground. - I return Belisarius to Miss Fanny,
with my grateful thanks for one of the most glorious
mental entertainments I ever enjoyed. - By the way,
I suppose that harebrain'd lady, Coila, is now about to
move "in all the majesty of light". -
I think Miss Kieth said she had never seen Gray's
Poems: I send her a copy of them, which I beg she will
do me the honour to accept of. -
The few days I have to spend at home are so hurried that
I can only write a letter like a merchant's Order, and for
some months to come yet, it must be so; but I look
tine of life, and then a correspondence with one or two
friends will be, I hope, a great source of my happiness. -
Allow me, Madam, to remind you of something like a
promise of your continued favors in this way: this, I assure
you, in the Presbyterean style, I ask of grace, not of debt. -
My my most respectuful compliments to your two young
ladies. -
I have the honor to be,
Madam,
your highly oblidged humble serv.t Rob.t Burns
Mossgiel
Feb. 29th
1788
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/140
- Alt. number
- 3.6389
- Date
- 29 February 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/140
- Alt. number
- 3.6389
- Date
- 29 February 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
Description
Letter from Robert Burns to Mrs Dunlop of Dunlop, dated Mossgiel 29 February 1788.
This letter accompanied a parcel of books which Burns returned to Mrs Dunlop and about which he comments. He apologises for the brevity of the letter as he is in an unsettled period but hopes to find more time to write later. (letter no 212)
In the second page Burns apologises for the routine nature of the letter explaining that he has such little time at home for his correspondence. He expresses the hope that in a few months things will settle down to normal and he can enjoy the happiness which a fuller correspondence will bring.
This is the 10th of the 77 surviving letters Burns wrote to Mrs Dunlop. It has been written on (docketed) by the Burns biographer Dr Currie after Burns's death which accounts for the heading Robert Burns and the code C72 on the first page.
Archive information
Place of creation
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Letters from and to Robert Burns
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Letter from Robert Burns to Mrs Dunlop of Dunlop, 29 February 1788