Letter from Robert Burns to David Blair, 27 August 1789
Ellisland 27th August 1789
I have been sadly to blame, my Dear Sir, but do forgive me!
as is said, Offences proceed only from the heart mine is
witless. - Know you any thing of a worse than Galley-bond
age, a slavery where the soul with all the powers is laden w.t
weary letters of ever-increasing weight; a slavery which involved
the mind in dreary darkness and almost a total eclipse of every
ray of God's image; and all this the work the baneful doings
of that arch-fiend known among mortals by the name
of Indolence? But this is not all my apology. - I
have for some time had in view to commence acting
Excise Officer. - I say, acting, for I have had an Excise
Commission by me nearly these two years; and now
that the salary is augmented to £50 per annum. I thought
it an object worth my notice. - I believe I am now
appointed to a Division in the middle of which I live
and may perhaps enter on business in a week or ten
days; and as several months ago I foresaw the event
I have been sadly to blame, my Dear Sir, but do forgive me!
as is said, Offences proceed only from the heart mine is
witless. - Know you any thing of a worse than Galley-bond
age, a slavery where the soul with all the powers is laden w.t
weary letters of ever-increasing weight; a slavery which involved
the mind in dreary darkness and almost a total eclipse of every
ray of God's image; and all this the work the baneful doings
of that arch-fiend known among mortals by the name
of Indolence? But this is not all my apology. - I
have for some time had in view to commence acting
Excise Officer. - I say, acting, for I have had an Excise
Commission by me nearly these two years; and now
that the salary is augmented to £50 per annum. I thought
it an object worth my notice. - I believe I am now
appointed to a Division in the middle of which I live
and may perhaps enter on business in a week or ten
days; and as several months ago I foresaw the event
peering above the horizon of Probability, I was accordingly
very busy with the theory of my future occupation, which
is a theory to those who wish to be masters of their business
is a theory not a little intricate and perplexed. - Add to all
that in a day or two after I received your last obliging packet
M.rs urns presented me with a fine chopping boy.
which, with improving a farm, building a steading of
farm-houses &c. has kept me I assure you, very busy.
I am the more earnest to excuse myself, as I scarce even
met with a man whose good opinion on so little acquaintance,
I would so fondly covet as Mr Blair's.
I am much obliged to you for the Magazine you sent
me ^of which, though the most elegant of that species of Publications
that I have ever seen, I had never so much as
heard the name. - Never mind the bagatelle of Poem
I know nothing how the Publishers could get it, but as
I had given several copies to my friends, it has found
its way I suppose thro' the well-meant though blame-
able officiousness of some of them. - I have a little
altered, and I think improved that Poem, and would just
very busy with the theory of my future occupation, which
is a theory to those who wish to be masters of their business
is a theory not a little intricate and perplexed. - Add to all
that in a day or two after I received your last obliging packet
M.rs urns presented me with a fine chopping boy.
which, with improving a farm, building a steading of
farm-houses &c. has kept me I assure you, very busy.
I am the more earnest to excuse myself, as I scarce even
met with a man whose good opinion on so little acquaintance,
I would so fondly covet as Mr Blair's.
I am much obliged to you for the Magazine you sent
me ^of which, though the most elegant of that species of Publications
that I have ever seen, I had never so much as
heard the name. - Never mind the bagatelle of Poem
I know nothing how the Publishers could get it, but as
I had given several copies to my friends, it has found
its way I suppose thro' the well-meant though blame-
able officiousness of some of them. - I have a little
altered, and I think improved that Poem, and would just
now transcribe to you, but for that cursed tax of Postage
That, and another Poem I have written since, I shall
make the contents of another epistle which expect to
be troubled with soon. -
I am, ever,
My dear Sir,
yours most sincerely
Rob.t Burns
That, and another Poem I have written since, I shall
make the contents of another epistle which expect to
be troubled with soon. -
I am, ever,
My dear Sir,
yours most sincerely
Rob.t Burns
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/36
- Alt. number
- 3.6063
- Date
- 27 August 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Blair, David
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/36
- Alt. number
- 3.6063
- Date
- 27 August 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Blair, David
Description
Letter from Robert Burns to David Blair, dated Ellisland, 27 August 1789. 2 leaves.
In this three page letter from Robert Burns to David Blair, Burns thanks him for sending a magazine and apologises for his delay in response due to the burden of his farm, excise duties and the birth of a son.
Burns has been exchanging correspondence and verses with David Blair for a while and this letter opens with Burns apologising in elaborate terms for a slow response to Blair's 'last obliging packet' which is not, he assures Blair, due to 'Indolence' but rather the consequence of him adopting an Excise Commission which he has been contemplating for a while and now considers affordable.
Burns explains on page two that preparing for his excise job is time-consuming and 'not a little intricate and perplexed'. He also mentions the recent birth of 'a fine chopping boy', Frances Wallace, and the work required on the Farm as reasons for the delay in his reply. Blair has sent a magazine in which a copy of one of Burns's poems has been printed without Burns's authorisation. He plans to send Blair an improved version of the poem with his next letter.
In this final page Burns explains that he would have included a copy of the revised poem in this letter but for 'that cursed tax of Postage'. He intends to include it with another in his next 'epistle' to Blair.
David Blair was a well reputed gun maker in Birmingham but his association with Burns does not appear to relate to firearms, rather they seem to share a love of poetry for this seems to be the subject of all their known correspondence.
Burns explains on page two that preparing for his excise job is time-consuming and 'not a little intricate and perplexed'. He also mentions the recent birth of 'a fine chopping boy', Frances Wallace, and the work required on the Farm as reasons for the delay in his reply. Blair has sent a magazine in which a copy of one of Burns's poems has been printed without Burns's authorisation. He plans to send Blair an improved version of the poem with his next letter.
In this final page Burns explains that he would have included a copy of the revised poem in this letter but for 'that cursed tax of Postage'. He intends to include it with another in his next 'epistle' to Blair.
David Blair was a well reputed gun maker in Birmingham but his association with Burns does not appear to relate to firearms, rather they seem to share a love of poetry for this seems to be the subject of all their known correspondence.
Archive information
Place of creation
Themes
Hierarchy
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Letters from and to Robert Burns
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Letter from Robert Burns to David Blair, 27 August 1789