had for some years taken land of our father, for the purpose of raising flax on our own account; and in the course of selling it Robert began to think of turning flax-dresser, both as being suitable to his grand view of settling in life, and as subservient to the flax-dressing.” Burns, accordingly, in pursuance of this resolution, went to a relation of his mother’s, a flax-dresser in Irvine, with the view of learning this trade, and for a time applied himself with great diligence. But on a new year’s morning the shop caught fire, and was totally consumed, and he was left, in his own words, “like a true poet, not worth a sixpence.” Three days before this unfortunate fire took place, he addressed a letter to his father, which contained much good sense and pious reflection. Among other things, he says, “I am more pleased with the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses of the seventh chapter of Revelations, than with any ten times as many verses in the whole Bible, and would not exchange the noble enthusiasm with which they inspire me for all that this world has to offer.”
But some time, Burns had to undergo the penance then awarded by the discipline of the Church of Scotland for the birth of an illegitimate child. His conduct on this occasion was marked by a levity which cannot be justified, and is only to be accounted for on the supposition of his wishing to
