TO MR. THOMSON.
[Burns listened too readily to the suggestion of Thomson, to alter “Bruce’s Address to his troops at Bannockburn:” whatever may be the merits of the air of “Louis Gordon,” the sublime simplicity of the words was injured by the alteration: it is now sung as originally written, by all singers of taste.]
September, 1793.
I am happy, my dear Sir, that my ode pleases you so much. Your idea, “honour’s bed,” is, though a beautiful, a hackneyed idea; so, if you please, we will let the line stand as it is. I have altered the song as follows:—[248]
N. B. I have borrowed the last stanza from the common stall edition of Wallace—
“A false usurper sinks in every foe,
And liberty returns with every blow.”
A couplet worthy of Homer. Yesterday you had enough of my correspondence. The post goes, and my head aches miserably. One comfort! I suffer so much, just now, in this world, for last night’s joviality, that I shall escape scot-free for it in the world to come. Amen.
R. B.