TO MRS. RIDDEL.
[Mrs. Riddel was, like Burns, a well-wisher to the great cause of human liberty, and lamented with him the excesses of the French Revolution.]
Dumfries, 20th January, 1796.
I cannot express my gratitude to you, for allowing me a longer perusal of “Anacharsis.” In fact, I never met with a book that bewitched me so much; and I, as a member of the library, must warmly feel the obligation you have laid us under. Indeed to me the obligation is stronger than to any other individual of our society; as “Anacharsis” is an indispensable desideratum to a son of the muses.
The health you wished me in your morning’s card, is, I think, flown from me for ever. I have not been able to leave my bed to-day till about an hour ago. These wickedly unlucky advertisements I lent (I did wrong) to a friend, and I am ill able to go in quest of him.
The muses have not quite forsaken me. The following detached stanza I intend to interweave in some disastrous tale of a shepherd.
R. B.