Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 07.djvu/441

 and in 1789 ‘Delia, an Ode.’ Stuart asked Burns to contribute to the paper, offering, says his brother, Mr. Daniel Stuart (Gent. Mag. July 1838, p. 24), a salary ‘quite as large as his excise emoluments.’ Burns accepted an offer of a gratuitous copy of the paper in some humorous verses, but declined to write. Perry, in 1794, offered him a regular salary for contributions to the ‘Morning Chronicle.’ Burns again declined, saying that he thought of offering some prose essays, but that a copy of the paper would be sufficient reward. Probably known contributions would have destroyed his prospects in the excise, which were now improving. Burns's refusal to take money has been contrasted with his wrath against Creech for not paying him. ‘I'll be damned if I ever write for money,’ he said to a friend (see, iii. 173, 316). His indignation against the delay of Creech in handing over the produce of the subscription was natural; and Burns apparently saw nothing degrading in such a reward for poems not originally written for gain. But it was a different thing to pledge himself to write regularly for money. His contempt for mercenary work was thoroughly honourable, and he was in all probability right in thinking that such a practice would have been fatal to the spontaneity which marks all his best work. His patriotic interest in Scotch song was a motive for his contributions to Johnson and Thomson which he honourably considered as a sufficient reward in itself, and desired to be mixed with no lower motive. Thomson behaved honourably, though he was attacked for his share in the matter. Only six (out of over sixty) songs given to him had appeared before Burns's death. He immediately gave up his rights in order that the songs might appear as new in the collection of Burns's works published for the benefit of the family, and also handed over the correspondence. He died in February 1851, aged 94. Over 180 songs had been contributed by Burns to Johnson's ‘Musical Museum,’ but of these only forty-seven were admitted by Currie as wholly composed by Burns.

Burns's income at Dumfries, including various perquisites (seizures of smuggled rum and so forth were divided among the officers), has been calculated at 90l. a year (, iv. 124). His second house was an improvement; he kept a servant and lived in substantial comfort. His indulgences and a life of constant excitement of various kinds had told upon his great natural strength. On 25 June 1794 he tells Mrs. Dunlop that ‘a flying gout’ is likely to punish him for the follies of his youth. In the autumn of 1795, the death, at Mauchline, of his daughter, Elizabeth Riddel (b. 4 Nov. 1793), greatly distressed him. He was laid up with an accidental complaint from October 1795 till the following January. When recovering he fell asleep in the open air on returning late from a carouse at the Globe Tavern, and an attack of rheumatic fever followed. His state of health soon became alarming. A young revenue officer named Hobie took his duties, when his incapacity to work would have deprived him of half his salary. He managed to attend masonic meetings on 28 Jan. and 14 April, but his health rapidly declined. He was taken on 4 July to Brow, on the Solway, to try sea-bathing. A demand for 7l. 4s. on account of his volunteer uniform greatly distressed him, and he was driven to ask loans of 10l. from his cousin, James Burnes of Montrose, and of 5l. from Thomson. Both sent at once the sums requested. Mrs. Burns had been left at Dumfries expecting her confinement, and Burns's last letter was to his father-in-law, requesting Mrs. Armour to come to her daughter. He returned from Brow 18 July, sank rapidly, and died 21 July 1796. A great concourse attended his funeral on the 25th, when the volunteers fired three volleys over his grave. A posthumous son, called Maxwell in honour of his medical attendant and friend, was born during the funeral service. A mausoleum was raised by public subscription, to which his remains were transferred, 9 Sept. 1815. The building was completed in 1817. Burns left only a few trifling debts. Syme and Maxwell started a subscription for the family, which finally amounted to 700l. James Currie, a Liverpool physician, an old college friend of Syme, who had once met Burns in 1792, undertook, with the help of Syme and Gilbert Burns, to prepare a memoir and edition of the works. This appeared in 1800, and realised a sum of 1,400l. for the family. Robert, the eldest son, a boy of much promise, studied at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and got a place in the stamp-office in 1804. He lived there, eking out his income by teaching, till he was superannuated in 1853, and returned to Dumfries. He died 14 May 1857, aged 70. Two other sons, Francis Wallace (b 18 Aug. 1789) and the posthumous son, Maxwell, died early, the first 9 July 1803, the second 25 April 1799. Two others, William Nicol (b. 9 April 1791) and James Glencairn (b. 12 Aug. 1794), received cadetships through the Marchioness of Hastings, and rose to be colonels in the East India Company's service. James died 18 Nov. 1865, and William 21 Feb. 1872. The widow received a pension of 50l. from