TO ——.
[This letter contained the Kirk’s Alarm, a satire written to help the cause of Dr. M’Gill, who recanted his heresy rather than be removed from his kirk.]
Ellisland, 1790.
Dear Sir,
Whether in the way of my trade I can be of any service to the Rev. Doctor, is I fear very doubtful. Ajax’s shield consisted, I think, of seven bull-hides and a plate of brass, which altogether set Hector’s utmost force at defiance. Alas! I am not a Hector, and the worthy Doctor’s foes are as securely armed as Ajax was. Ignorance, superstition, bigotry, stupidity, malevolence, self-conceit, envy—all strongly bound in a massy frame of brazen impudence. Good God, Sir! to such a shield, humour is the peck of a sparrow, and satire the pop-gun of a school-boy. Creation-disgracing scelerats such as they, God only can mend, and the devil only can punish. In the comprehending way of Caligula, I wish they all had but one neck. I feel impotent as a child to the ardour of my wishes! O for a withering curse to blast the germins of their wicked machinations! O for a poisonous tornado, winged from the torrid zone of Tartarus, to sweep the spreading crop of their villainous contrivances to the lowest hell!
R. B.
CCI.
TO MRS. DUNLOP.
[The poet wrote out several copies of Tam o’ Shanter and sent them to his friends, requesting their criticisms: he wrote few poems so universally applauded.]