I always remember Mrs. Hamilton and Miss Kennedy in my poetic prayers, but you both in prose and verse.
May cauld ne’er catch you but a hap,
Nor hunger but in plenty’s lap!
Amen!
R. B.
XXXVI.
TO JOHN BALLANTYNE, ESQ.,
BANKER, AYR.
[This is the second letter which Burns wrote, after his arrival in Edinburgh, and it is remarkable because it distinctly imputes his introduction to the Earl of Glencairn, to Dalrymple, of Orangefield; though he elsewhere says this was done by Mr. Dalzell;—perhaps both those gentlemen had a hand in this good deed.]
Edinburgh, 13th Dec. 1786.
My Honoured Friend,