The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1860-02-03

elsewhere. We can easily believe 1t when
we read -
"Willie brsued peck O. malt"
must hasten on my narrative, for l
am afraid | will weary patience out. The
Edinburgh edition was soon out, and sold
in great quantities, and the poet realized q
handsome sum by it. But be- was as Law
ish of his money as he was of his genius.
and he soon CO amenced spending the first
of it on a monument to tho memory of
Ferguson. He did not forge: bis mother
or brother, to whom he gave \ large pro
portion Of all ne got. He then reveled a
few weeks, and married his bonnie Jean :;
called Ellislaw. During all this time his
harp was not uustrung. Poesy WAS his
chlefest delight, and whenever care or
grief oppressed him, he flew to it for relief
Soon after this he obtained through some
of his friends, an appointment on the ex-
else, as he said, surety against his family
being brought to want.
EIIIslaw did not prosper we'll with him
and in few years he was obliged to give
it up, and betake himself to the excise for
living, removing his family to Dumfries;
having now exhausted .he little capital he
obtained by the Edinburgh edition of his
poems.
While at Ellslaw some of his finest
poems weIe written under circumstances
the most unfavorabs. Carlysle says,
what he did under such perverse circum-
stances, and what he forebore to do, alike
fill us with astonishment, at the natural
strength aud grandeur of his character
And it is remarked, That the muse must
have been strong within him, when in spite
of the rains and sleets of the ever dropping
nest, and in defiance of the hot and sweat
ed brows, occasioned by reaping and
threshing, declining markets. the clamor of
the landlord for his rent, and the trades
man for his account; he perseveFed in
song. and sought solace in verse, when all
other solace was denied him.
He had now an income Of seventy pounds
a year $3.50 to support himself and fam
lily. and entertain company on. He look
ed for preferment from the excise, with an
increase ofsalary. But poor noble Burns
was too much of a man, to get even that
small boon, from the suspicious hand Of
p,wer Why? Simply because he WAS
vet what he was in early manhood at the
time be wrote his delication to the Gale
donian Hunt, an independent man who did
his own thinking; and be had thought
aloud on some occasions, when his thoughts
reflected on some Of the immaculate rulers
OF the realm of which be was subject,
and which gave great offence to them.-
The circumstance was IS follows: He
happened to be in company with some of,
fcers Of the Government, when the health
of William Pitt was proposed. Burns re
fused to join, and said he would give them
thehealth of greater and better man. was
Gen. Washington, of America. The bard
admonished that if he wanted to keep hi.
place he must be more circumspect," that
- it was more Of his business to think, but
to act, to be silent and obedisnt."
The bitter sting left in his soul by this,
is seen in his correspondence of this date.
aud without doubt hastened him in bis
downward course. His name was now
stricken from the list for preferment. This
was the treatment given 20 the greatest
man in the realm. In the fret place they
could find nothing filter for this man Of
passion and sensibiity to do, than gauge
= auld wives barrels" and refused to give
him promotion at that. Burns, from the
bottom of bis heart de.estel the duty, and
has given his satirical view of it in
"The doll came fildling through the town,
And danced ava the exciseman.
But to come to the melancholy end of
this sad story. Burns health began to
fail from the effect of the extremes in
which he lived. For be either rode on the
very whirlwnd of passion, or was buried
in the lowest depths of deplorable detection
and melancholy. His situation at this
tins, was one the bare recollection Of
which, ought to draw the tear Of sympathy
from every eve. Here was this great
spirit. whose light had hardly yet attained
it's meridian, burning down and beginning
to flicker in its socket; just about to 60
out. for the want of the oil of kind counsel,
sympathy. consideration and common
Justice. With great truth has an honored
American poet salu, tnat DuIhs "~S az
once the glory and the shame of Scotland"
While the poet is hourly declining with
the knowledge that there was not, within
his house, sufficient to maintain his family
a single week. his wife is hourly expect
inc to be confined with her sixth child.
This is a sad picture to look on, and yet
keenIy alive as he was to all this, his ma
tive genius shone as clearly as ever: for
some of his present verses date from that
very deathbed, and his wit sparkled out as
bright as ever day or two before he died,
when one of his fellow soldiers of the
Du,nfries volunteers stood by his bedside
with moist eve, John" said he, and a
pleam of humor passed over his face,
!. pray don't lot the awkward squad ire
over me-
It now became noised abroad that
Burns was dying, and the nation began to
realize in part, what it was about to loose.
All differences were now forgotten, and
thew would have saved him if they could.
To late, he died on the Dist Of July, near
" thirty seven years and eight months old:
Now there was a mournful vail, and all
classes have learned to do honor to the
dead. His burial took place on the 10Th,
~ ,ola,pp raapt