TO ——.
[That his works found their way to the newspapers, need have occasioned no surprise: the poet gave copies of his favorite pieces freely to his friends, as soon as they were written: who, in their turn, spread their fame among their acquaintances.]
Ellisland, 1791.
Dear Sir,
I am exceedingly to blame in not writing you long ago; but the truth is, that I am the most indolent of all human beings; and when I matriculate in the herald’s office, I intend that my supporters shall be two sloths, my crest a slow-worm, and the motto, “Deil tak the foremost.” So much by way of apology for not thanking you sooner for your kind execution of my commission.
I would have sent you the poem; but somehow or other it found its way into the public papers, where you must have seen it.
I am ever, dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
R. B.