streamlets. From the Grampians to the Himalayas, every mountain was thenceforth to re-echo with the music of Scotland.
The poetry, which was the last, was also the greatest of Thomson's difficulties. It was needful that such lays, now so beautiful and adorned, should be "married to immortal verse;" but where was he to find the Cupid of such a Psyche? Some, indeed, of the old songs were every way worthy of the music with which they were embodied; but these were so few, that while of the Scottish muse it was too justly said,
"High-kilted was she
As she gaed o'er the lea,"
our worthy countryman felt that in such a trim she could not be allowed to go inland, to provoke the scoff and merriment of proud conceited foreigners. But the hour brought the man—the soul of Scottish song to the body of Scottish melody the—Promethean fire to the beautifully modelled clay. Burns was living, for whose poetry no loveliness or grandeur of music could be too much; and when Thomson, in a happy hour, applied to him for co-operation, and unfolded to him the nature of his work, the great bard threw himself into the undertaking with all his characteristic enthusiasm. It needed but this to make the work perfect, for when has the world ever seen such a song-maker? It needed also a noble occasion like this to make Burns put forth his uttermost, and surpass all that he had as yet accomplished, for by far the choicest of his poetry is certainly to be found in Thomson's Collection. The correspondence between the musical lawyer and the poetical ploughman, which extended from 1792 till the death of the latter in 1796, while it is full of wit, vivacity, and hearty patriotic ardour in the good work in which they were engaged, reflects high credit not only upon the critical taste and vigorous intellect of George Thomson, but also upon his affectionate feelings, and honourable upright disposition. It is the more necessary to announce this fact, as, after the death of Burns, certain anonymous biographers presumed to state that Thomson, after securing the services of the poet to a large extent, had churlishly and unjustly refused to refund them. A single glance at the correspondence between them, which was published by Dr. Currie, is sufficient to refute this odious calumny, independently of the subsequent attestations of Thomson himself. It will there be seen that the latter, although engaged in so precarious and costly an undertaking, invited the assistance of the bard with offers of a fair remuneration; and that although Burns gladly embarked in the enterprise, he sturdily stipulated that his contributions should be accepted gratuitously, or not at all. It will also be seen that, after some time, Thomson, impatient at receiving such rich donations without requital, ventured, in the most delicate manner, to transmit to the poet a sum of money, at which the latter was so indignant, that he vowed, if the offence was repeated, he would drop the correspondence at once and for ever. It is well known that Burns entertained, among his other peculiarities, such lofty notions of independence as would have stopped all reciprocity in the interchange of favours, and thrown an impassable gulf between giver and receiver, or even debtor and creditor. He would bestow, and that largely and freely, but he would not for an instant stoop to receive; his songs must be considered as either beyond price or not worth purchase. Had he lived in the present day, when genius and poetical inspiration are as marketable as the commodities in the bakehouse or shambles upon which they
