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Article BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT (DECEAS... ← Page 8 of 14 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches Of Eminent (Deceas...
about three years and a half he found it convenient , if not necessary , to resign his fatfm into other hands . Having acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the Board of Excise , he had been appointed to a new district , the emoluments of which were about seventy pounds per annum— - an increase of twenty pounds over his first district . So he sold off his stock and crop , and removed to a small house in Dumfries , about the
end of the year 1791 . Here , unfortunately , social parties engrossed much of his attention . From his celebrity , he was continually being sought by visitors , and as these could not be received under his humble roof , they adjourned to the various inns of the town , and often indulged in those excesses which Burns sometimes provoked , and was seldom able to resist . Still , in the company of persons of taste and respectability , which he always cultivated , he could impose on himself the restraints of temperance and decorum .
His feelings being enlisted in favour of the grand project of liberty , which appeared to dawn at the commencement of the French Revolution , his impressions did not always lead him to conduct himself with that circumspection and prudence which his dependent situation
seemed to demand ; and there were not Avanting persons who could both exaggerate and convey his opinions to the board . A superior officer was instructed to inquire into his conduct . Burns defended himself in a letter addressed to one of the . members of the board ,
written with great independence of spirit , and more than his accustomed eloquence . The officer appointed to inquire into his behaviour gave a favourable report , and his steady friend , Mr . Graham , interposed his good offices in our poet ' s behalf ; so the imprudent ganger was suffered to retain his situation , but given to understand that his promotion was deferred , and must depend on his future conduct . .
This rebuke sank heavy on his heart ; the prospect he had of a supervisor-ship , worth about 200 / . a year , and the stepping-stone to collectorship , of much greater value , seemed entirely cut off , and he became less careful of his health , which began to fail in the spring of 1796 . In the summer of the same year he was advised to try
seabathing , and went to a lonely spot called the Brow , on the shore of Sol way , in Annandale , but all was unavailing ; on the 18 th of July he returned home , a dying man , and expired on the 22 nd , leaving behind him a wife who , while his remains were being carried down the street , gave birth to another child , making the fifth orphan of the poet ' s family .
In looking over the numerous lives of Burns that have been written , we have generally met with one remark that sounds painful to our ears ; it is that which lays to the door of our beloved Craft part of the excesses in which our poet indulged . Painful as the subject is , avc must sift the matter to the bottom ; and in order to do so , we will first
state that our Bro . Burns was initiated into Masonry m the town of Irvine , in 1781 . His brother ' s testimony on the subject , runs thus : — " 'Cowards the end of the period under review ( in his 21 th year ) , an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches Of Eminent (Deceas...
about three years and a half he found it convenient , if not necessary , to resign his fatfm into other hands . Having acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the Board of Excise , he had been appointed to a new district , the emoluments of which were about seventy pounds per annum— - an increase of twenty pounds over his first district . So he sold off his stock and crop , and removed to a small house in Dumfries , about the
end of the year 1791 . Here , unfortunately , social parties engrossed much of his attention . From his celebrity , he was continually being sought by visitors , and as these could not be received under his humble roof , they adjourned to the various inns of the town , and often indulged in those excesses which Burns sometimes provoked , and was seldom able to resist . Still , in the company of persons of taste and respectability , which he always cultivated , he could impose on himself the restraints of temperance and decorum .
His feelings being enlisted in favour of the grand project of liberty , which appeared to dawn at the commencement of the French Revolution , his impressions did not always lead him to conduct himself with that circumspection and prudence which his dependent situation
seemed to demand ; and there were not Avanting persons who could both exaggerate and convey his opinions to the board . A superior officer was instructed to inquire into his conduct . Burns defended himself in a letter addressed to one of the . members of the board ,
written with great independence of spirit , and more than his accustomed eloquence . The officer appointed to inquire into his behaviour gave a favourable report , and his steady friend , Mr . Graham , interposed his good offices in our poet ' s behalf ; so the imprudent ganger was suffered to retain his situation , but given to understand that his promotion was deferred , and must depend on his future conduct . .
This rebuke sank heavy on his heart ; the prospect he had of a supervisor-ship , worth about 200 / . a year , and the stepping-stone to collectorship , of much greater value , seemed entirely cut off , and he became less careful of his health , which began to fail in the spring of 1796 . In the summer of the same year he was advised to try
seabathing , and went to a lonely spot called the Brow , on the shore of Sol way , in Annandale , but all was unavailing ; on the 18 th of July he returned home , a dying man , and expired on the 22 nd , leaving behind him a wife who , while his remains were being carried down the street , gave birth to another child , making the fifth orphan of the poet ' s family .
In looking over the numerous lives of Burns that have been written , we have generally met with one remark that sounds painful to our ears ; it is that which lays to the door of our beloved Craft part of the excesses in which our poet indulged . Painful as the subject is , avc must sift the matter to the bottom ; and in order to do so , we will first
state that our Bro . Burns was initiated into Masonry m the town of Irvine , in 1781 . His brother ' s testimony on the subject , runs thus : — " 'Cowards the end of the period under review ( in his 21 th year ) , an