Bp. PERCY to Dr. ROBERT ANDERSON. "DEAR SIR, London, June 18, 1800. "On the 16th April, I sent you in a cover franked by Gaspar Ercke, Esq. (Under Secretary at War,) from Dublin, as complete a collection of Dr. Grainger's Poems as I had been able to procure in print or manuscript, but, as I never received notice of their coming safe to your hands, I fear they miscarried. They were directed to the care of Messrs. Mundell and Son, Edinburgh. I shall be very glad to find that they have not miscarried, and can very readily excuse your having omitted to write to me, on account of the continual demands upon you for your time and attention by other more pressing literary claims."

Dr. ROBERT ANDERSON to Bp. PERCY.

"MY LORD, Heriot's Green, 21 June, 1800. "Your Lordship's kind favour, dated Dublin, April 16, accompanying the Poems of Dr. Grainger, arrived here very safely, and has remained too long unacknowledged. I am unquestionably very much to blame, in not sooner acknowledging the receipt of a packet so truly valuable and acceptable. My omission, I confess, has been partly intentional; but there is danger in delaying the performance of any duty. I flatter myself, however, that to your Lordship's candour it will not convey the slightest suspicion of deliberate inattention to the honour of your correspondence.

"Knowing that your Lordship was to embark for England soon after the date of your letter to me, I intended to offer you my early congratulations on the happiness of being re-united to your family in Northamptonshire, after so long period of separation, anxiety, and alarm, imperiously exacted by the high considerations of public duty. I communicated my intention to an ingenious friend here, who wished to avail himself of the opportunity to submit to your Lordship's inspection one or two of his compositions in the style of the ancient Scottish ballad, in testimony of his high respect for your character, and of his gratitude to the editor of The Reliques,' upon which he formed his taste for ballad thinking and expression. He happened soon after to go into the country, where he has been detained till now, when he does himself the honour

he intended, by transmitting two ballads, 'The Eve of St. John,' and 'Glenfinlass,' for your Lordship's opinion, and desires me to offer you the testimony of his sincerest esteem and veneration. The name of my friend is Walter Scott, Esq. a native of Tiviotdale, of the Harden family, an Advocate, and Sheriff of Selkirkshire. He is the trans-lator of Burgess's 'Leonore' and 'Earl Walter,' and Goethe's 'Goetz,' and will soon appear as editor of a collection of Border Ballads, to be entitled 'The Minstrelsy of the Border,' in one volume, printing at Kelso, upon the plan of The Reliques,' which will be followed by two volumes of Illustrations of Border History, Poetry, and Popular Antiquities.**

"I have now, my Lord, to return you my cordial thanks, in the name of the public, for the care and pains. you have taken to collect, collate, and transmit to me the uncollected and inedited poems of Dr. Grainger, for a complete and uniform edition. I cannot express my feelings on the sight of the writings of a man of genius thus put into my hands for publication, by the kindness of an affectionate friend, so long after his death; but I have no difficulty in expressing my opinion of the poems, which, upon a cursory examination, I easily perceive, though of unequal merit, as must ever be the case in a collection of juvenile poetry, are upon the whole creditable to the talents of the writer, not unworthy of the author of 'The Sugar Cane' and the Ode on Solitude,' and in one or two instances afford even a higher idea of his powers. am happy to coincide in opinion with your Lordship and Mr. Boyd respecting the emendatory variations in the pieces printed in the European Magazine. What he deliberately printed in the Grand Mag. is certainly entitled to respect; but the additions and alterations have so much the appearance of improvement, that they may reasonably be supposed to have been the result of a subsequent revision. If the editor of the European Magazine (who is, I believe, Mr. Reed of Staple's Inn,) would have the goodness to communicate (if at liberty) the pieces in his possession, for the use of the edition, or the name of the person (if known) from whom he received them, every ground of doubt and suspicion might be removed by the

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*Thus far of this letter is printed in Prior's Life of Goldsmith, II. 78, from the original, then in possession of Mr, Mason.

evidence of the poet's handwriting, and the history of the MSS. If this favour could be obtained through the intervention of any of your Lordship's literary friends in London, it might put me in the possession of some valuable additions to the collection, and some useful intelligence. There can be no objection to Mr. Boyd's associating the two Epistles from Övid with his own version of the Heroides; but correct copies of them at least may probably be wanted before his work be published; for I cannot settle the plan of the edition with Mr. Mundell and the arrangement of the pieces till the whole materials be in my possession. "The Fate of Capua,' a tragedy, among your Lordship's papers in England, though not prepared for representation, may perhaps be worth bringing forward in the edition. I have lately met with a poetical curiosity, a neat edition of The Sugar Cane,' with 'Beauty, a Poem, by the same Author,' in 12mo, London, printed and sold by the booksellers, 1766. The poem consists of 515 lines, in blank verse, and is a chaste and elegant performance. I should be glad to have your Lordship's authority to ascribe it to Dr. Grainger.* The internal evidence seems favourable to the supposed authenticity. Dr. Johnson's 'Irene,'t in particular, is noticed in it, I think, in a friendly way. I will thank your Lordship for your opinion of this novelty, and to dilate a little at your leisure upon the plan of the edition, upon the impression which the powers and manners of Dr. Grainger made upon your mind, and upon the biographical illustrations which may be thought necessary. Notices of his friends, communicated in the 'Sugar Cane' and the Tibullus,' will be acceptable. Some of them are designed by initials, which may now be given at length.

"Having been called away when I had written the above this morning, I had the pleasure to find on my return your Lordship's most obliging favour of the 18th inst. from London on my table; which has laid me under additional obligations to your liberality and indulgence. I am truly sensible of your Lordship's kindness in doing justice to my sentiments towards you at all times; if you should suspect me of inattention to your correspondence,

See hereafter, p. 87.

An autograph first sketch of "Irene" was presented by Bennet Langton to George the Third, and is now in the British Museum. The variations from the printed copy are pointed out by Boswell in his Life of Johnson.

it would give me pain; or if you should conceive that I had rather make excuses than acknowledge in time the receipt of your favours; this also would hurt me. Having waited so long, I thought it better to wait till Mr. Scott's arrival should enable me to make my return to your Lordship more acceptable.

"I return your Lordship my thanks for the copy of Mr. Graves's Letter, which will be of use to me.

"Dr. Frome (with whom I have frequently the pleasure to converse) has misunderstood my correspondence with Dr. Currie of Liverpool, the editor of Burns, for which he is admirably qualified, as your Lordship will perceive now that the edition is come out.

"I am to be drawn aside from my Prefaces, to edit the whole works of Drummond, in 2 vols. 8vo.

"I am interested in Mrs. West, and will be obliged to your Lordship for her Poems, which may be sent to the care of Mundell and Son here, to Messrs. Longman and Rees, London.

"Mr. Campbell and Mr. Thomson's copies of the 'Reliques' have not come to hand. "I am, &c.

"MY LORD,

R. ANDERSON."

Heriot's Green, 13 Sept. 1800. "I have this day been favoured with your Lordship's letter of the 8th instant, accompanying Grainger's MS. Tragedy; and have again experienced your kind indulgence to my culpable tardiness in acknowledging your most obliging favour of Aug. 8, a present of Mrs. West's Poetry, and three copies of The Reliques' for my friends here, of which I am truly sensible.

"I have many apologies to make for my omissions, which to your Lordship's candour I am sure would not be made in vain; but I am convinced that the best excuse I can make for them is to dispatch this cordial acknowledgment of your Lordship's favours with as little delay and as little ceremony as possible.

"I was truly concerned to hear of your Lordship's indisposition before you left town, but now flatter myself, from the intention you express of setting out soon on your return to Dromore, that your health has been tolerably re-established; and by the quiet and good air of the country I pray God it may long continue, for the sake of

your friends and the world at large, but little interrupted by the few infirmities which a temperate declining age brings on frail mortality.

"Before I had your Lordship's letter, I found the poem on Beauty,* given by Pearch,† on good authority I suppose, to Shiels, who, I think, wrote also a poem on the death of Thomson, entitled Musidorus.' I wished to have full information concerning the copies of Grainger's poems in the European Magazine; but since your Lordship is satisfied they are, as they appear to be, the genuine productions of Grainger, it is of little importance. I have just had time to glance, with eagerness, at the unfinished tragedy. One or two good passages caught my eye: if it be too imperfect for publication, it will give some idea of his powers for dramatic composition. When the Ovidian Epistles arrive, the collection will, I suppose, be complete, and the printing may proceed. Your Lordship, I presume, would prefer the printed copies, and bring forward no variations. earnestly request your Lordship, at your leisure, to favour me with the communication of such corrections and additions to the printed Life as you are able to give. Does your Lordship know of any portrait of Grainger for an engraved head?

I

"I had the pleasure to present the copies of The Reliques' to Mr. Paton and Mr. Thomson, who both expressed their obligations to your Lordship for the honour you have done them, and will thank you themselves by this opportunity. Mr. Campbell is at present in Germany, but is expected to return in a few months. Mr. Paton is very ill, but is to write your Lordship.

"Mr. Scott was highly gratified by your Lordship's approbation of his ballads, and the scheme of his collection of Border Lays, which is not yet gone to press. I know Mr. Jamieson,§ through my accomplished friend Mr. Heber, and had the pleasure to introduce him to Mr. Scott, in whom, instead of an imperious rival, he found a friend and liberal promoter of his intended publication of a Collection of Old Scottish Ballads,' with some Annotations written by himself. He intends to give afterwards a volume of Old English Ballads, and a volume of

• See p. 85.

↑ Collection of Poems, 6 vols. 1775. Robert Shiels was an amanuensis of Dr. Johnson. He died Dec. 27, 1753. See Gent. Mag. 1753, p. 590; and Lit. Anec. V. 308.

§ See p. 90.