Letter to James King: 1 April 1810
James King Soldier Capt.
Smith’s Compy Renfrew
Shire Militia Portsmouth Paisley
1st April 1810 My Dear Friend I was favoured with
a copy of your Military Poem about two weeks since, and I have perused
it twice with much pleasure. To write a poem of such length, and to keep up the
spirit of the piece to the last requires no common share of ability. I
positively think that yours rather gains as the reader gets on, and through the
whole there are beauties which ˄will arrest˄ every ones attention
whose consideration is worth minding. nevertheless,
you have let pass some harsh lines which you could easily have put above
objection. For instance, in a finely descriptive stanza, the following line
comes in like the dab of a coarse brush on a well finished picture – The
peasant views the accumulating ills Thro’
the broke panes of’s tottering abode And sighs for the poor soldier, struggling ’neath his load. After all, there are few
passages, indeed, which a judicious critic would cavil at — The
principal merit of your Poem, in my opinion, consists in its lively and natural
description. The following verse and the one after it are only noticed as I
open the book, yet they would not have stained the pencil of Thomson “Again
the sun smiles from the western sky The
young trees shake their branches in the gale The
lark again pours forth her notes on high The
mavis sings of love her tender tale While
the white stream runs bickering thro’ the vale; Or
dashing from the rock, foams, boils below From
many a herd is heard the bleating wail Behold
their fleeces now, pure, white’s the snow That
clothes in gleaming wreaths Benlomond’s loft brow. X X X X X X “herd”
perhaps flock would have been more suitable. You have likewise some good
sentimental stanzas – The one begining “Soldiers be cautious how the night you
spend.” is an excellent one, and “viewing the muster-roll of your [#] past erro Let me know if you be
aquainted with the poems of Jas Hogg, the Etrricke Shepherd.
He has written a number of excellent Ballads founded on Traditionary Stories of
the Border. He called on me last week on his way home from the Highlands where
he had been along with a gentleman estimating a Sheep-farm for him. He is a
clever I remain, Dear James,
Yours faithfully. R.
Tannahill [#] P.S. Tell me whether you
published the poem on your own account, and whether you have given them to the
Book sellers in Portsmouth for sale. Emendations: bespeaks • [◊e]speaks Copy Text: MS Robertson 1/37 Previous Publication: Notes: |