sense and motion, and, in a few hours, of life. The scene I witnessed was dreadful. A disconsolate widow and six infant daughters, moderately provided, survive to lament his loss. The care of his MSS., and, in conjunction with some other friends, the management of their little affairs, have devolved upon me. His 'History of Scottish Poetry' is very imperfect; but his series of 'Pictures of Poetry' is complete, and his Essay on the Genius and Writings of Gray' prepared for publication. Nothing can supply to me the loss of a friend of so much worth, genius, and learning. "About a month after Mr. Thomson's death my young friend Miss Bannerman was deprived of her mother by a similar calamity. Her death was instant, and without a groan. The loss of a mother, an only parent, is one of the heaviest misfortunes incident to life, but to lose with a mother the means of subsistence, depending on annuities, is dreadful indeed. Such is the lot of my young friend. Your lordship may easily conceive the nature and extent of my anxiety about poor Miss Bannerman.* Her health is at all times so uncertain and so ill-prepared to stand such a shock as it has been exposed to, that my fears are great; but when to her uncertain health I add the feverish inability of her mind, heightened by constitutional causes,―her total inability, from health and inclination, to pursue the ordinary means by which those of her sex are usually enabled to secure a livelihood, her entire want of relations, for I do not know that she ever saw one who is entitled to that name,-I will acknowledge that my fears rise to a very painful height. Her literary powers, eminent as they are, do not seem, from any of her efforts hitherto, to be of ready or popular application. They are, perhaps, better qualified to acquire fame than profit. The Almighty regards with an equal eye all the works of his hand, but I cannot conceive what is to become of my young friend. I think that, from her own inability to earn a livelihood, her total want of relations, and her great merits, the public money might be worse applied than in affording her a small annuity. But I will spare your Lordship the trouble of dwelling longer on this affecting subject. It is very near my heart, and your goodness will excuse the mention of what it is bleeding to think of. Miss Anne Bannerman was author of a volume of "Poems," 1800; and of "Tales of Superstition and Chivalry," 1802. See hereafter, p. 133. "Although I had no right to expect it, it would have been esteemed a high favour, amidst the cares that press upon me, to have had a line from your Lordship, with the agreeable accounts of your recovery, that I heard lately from Mr. Boyd. "I am almost sick of aiding and abetting authorship, yet I am in the press again with the Ode to your Lordship, announced in the list of books in the press which accompanies this letter. It is splendidly printed on an imperial quarto, as the booksellers will have it, though I preferred a common quarto. Does your Lordship wish any particular number of copies (the impression is only 200) to be sent to Dromore House? They can be forwarded with the books you wanted, and a copy of my Account of Smollett, reprinted in 8vo., 78., for your acceptance, to Mr. Robinson, at Belfast. By this conveyance you may have any book, review, or other thing you want, by writing a line to me, with as little delay as possible, for the communication with Ireland is infrequent, and attended with peculiar difficulties. "You will see 'Grainger' is announced as in the press. The publishers are impatient, and I am ready to do my part, if your Lordship would enable me, by your promised assistance, to do it worthily. "In my next letter I will state the conversation I had with Rees respecting Goldsmith, &c. My friend Park is highly flattered and obliged by your kindness. He is worthy of your esteem and confidence. 66 My cordial remembrances wait on Mrs. Percy. "MY DEAR LORD, Heriot's Green, May 6, 1804. "I duly received your Lordship's repeated favours ; and though I kept silence from my inability to make you my acknowledgments properly, I felt deeply my obligations to your continued kindness. "By the death of some valuable friends and the dispersion of others, I got entangled in a multiplicity of occupations, of sacred obligation, which employed, almost incessantly, my time and thoughts during the winter, and occasioned a temporary suspension of my private studies and literary correspondence. "The sight of your Letter of the 7th April, with its valuable inclosures, so long expected, gave me sincere pleasure, though I was then, and have been during the whole month, the most inclement ever known in this country, laid up with a severe cold; from which I am now recovering, though still languid and feverish, and incapable of much exertion of any kind. "The weather, since the beginning of May, has been soft and warm, and I have ventured to take the range of the Green beside my house, and expect to be able to go into town on Monday. "I most sincerely regret the anxiety my seeming inattention has occasioned your Lordship; and I earnestly request you will, at no time, or upon any occasion, in future, attribute my accidental omissions to any thing like forgetfulness, ingratitude, or want of respect and affection, which no length of time or distance can diminish. "It has given me much satisfaction, from time to time, to hear, from every quarter, of your Lordship's progressive recovery, of which your handwriting itself is to me a delightful proof; in your two last letters the improvement is most remarkable, though you still speak of the effort of writing as painful, and diminish, in some degree, my pleasure, as well as discourage me from exciting you to make the exertion. "After consulting Mr. Ware, the most eminent oculist, after Baron Wenzel, in Britain, I do not think the advice of Dr. Monro would avail any thing. He is not considered, at all, as an oculist; and indeed we have no medical practitioners here of any reputation in diseases of the eyes, except Dr. Rutherford and Mr. Wardrop; neither of whom are eminently skilful, though I know the first has studied the anatomical structure of the eye very particularly. "As soon as I am tolerably well, and the General Assembly of our Church, which brings many of my friends to town, is over, I shall put the additions to Grainger's Works into the printer's hands, and put together the materials I have collected for his Life, which are still scanty and imperfect. I have no account of his family and birthplace properly authenticated. Even Dr. Cuming is mistaken in several particulars which he might be supposed to know correctly. The Letters are of great value, as they serve to illustrate his character, and place his marriage and the conduct of Mrs. Grainger in a proper light. The originals, as soon as I can get them transcribed for my use, shall be carefully returned to your repositories, As I proceed, I fear I shall frequently have recourse to your advice and assistance. "Miss Stewart's Ode has been delayed at the press, partly on my account. It is at length printed, in a superb folio, and is justly regarded as one of the most splendid, as it certainly is one of the most striking productions of the Edinburgh press. Two hundred copies only are thrown off, which the publisher cannot afford to sell under 7s. 6d. each copy. If your Lordship has no objection to the price, I could wish, for the sake of re-imbursing the publisher, that you would take twenty copies, for your friends, which, I understand, there will soon be an opportunity of forwarding in a bale of books for Magee at Belfast. The notes are chiefly selected from the Reliques,' and printed at the end. I wished them to be placed at the foot of the pages, but the printer sacrificed convenience to elegance. A small part of the introductory address has been printed; as my young friend would not appear without shewing the encourager and director of her poetical studies a public testimony of her respect. Mr. Stott's Verses to the Author are good, except a few lines, and very gratifying to her, but any poetical compliment would have been misplaced in her volume. Another poet has praised her, a few days ago, in an Ode, the strain of which is of a higher mood, resembling the wild and wizard strain of Gray's Cambrian lyre. I shall get a copy from "the nymph of fairy song," for "the mighty lord of legendary lore," and transmit it in my next to Dromore House. If the perusal of Miss Stewart's volume fail to give your Lordship the pleasure it was intended to produce, it will, at least, I am sure, convince you, if it be necessary, that my opinion of your distinguished merit has not been lessened by personal knowledge and the reciprocities of amiable intercourse. I may cease, for a while, to express the sentiments of veneration and affection I bear you, but I can never cease, while I live, to cherish my affection for your person, and to be the zealous friend of your fame, so closely allied to the honour of the nation. "I easily prevailed on Mundell and Son to undertake a new edition of the Northern Antiquities,' which Longman readily undertook, and his partner Rees declined, for personal reasons, with which Cadell and Davies had furnished him, respecting the share you had in the edition of Goldsmith's Works. From your information, I was enabled to repel the attack, and to throw the blame on the booksellers, who acted unhandsomely towards you; but he persisted in asserting that it would be extremely unpleasant to act with you in any literary concern. At your leisure I hope you will take the trouble to prepare the necessary corrections and additions for the new edition. Perhaps it may not be improper to give a correct account of the transactions between you and the booksellers, relative to the edition of Goldsmith. In a York Catalogue (Todd's) now lying on my table, I observe that work, with Memoirs of the Author, by Bishop Percy.' "I must conclude, at present, earnestly requesting your forgiveness of my omissions, and offering my affectionate respects to Mrs. Percy. I am, ever truly, my dear Lord, your faithful and affectionate, "Ro. ANDERSON. "P.S. I forwarded the Letter to Lady Dalrymple by the ordinary conveyance immediately.” "MY DEAR Lord, Croy House, near Glasgow, 26th July, 1804. "I have been here, for some time, on a visit to my friend Professor Richardson, whose kindness constrains me to stay yet another week to enjoy with him his fine. woodlands, waterfalls, and groves, and the romantic scenery of this interesting country, the birthplace of Buchanan, Smollett, &c. From the window I see the obelisk, 90 feet high, erected to Buchanan by the gratitude of his countrymen. "I have left the Professor and his amiable and intelligent colleague Dr. Cuming, in the garden, to write a few hurried lines to your Lordship, not to reply properly to your last, for the present opportunity allows me merely to make you my acknowledgments for it. "I regret that I cannot avail myself of the opportunity of Dr. Trail going to Ireland next week; but I will write to you fully on my return home. I seize the pen, at present, chiefly to communicate to your Lordship some passages from Herbert's select Icelandic Poetry, translated from the Originals, with Notes,' which concern you. The poems of which Mr. Herbert has given poetical versions, are The Song of Thrym,' The Battle of Hafar's Bay,' 'The Descent of Odin,' 'The dying Song * The Hon. Wm. Herbert, now Rector of Spofforth and Dean of Manchester. |