brother _pub._ his poems. This first ed. was brought out at Kilmarnock in
June 1786, and contained much of his best work, including "The Twa Dogs,"
"The Address to the Deil," "Hallowe'en," "The Cottar's Saturday Night,"
"The Mouse," "The Daisy," etc., many of which had been written at
Mossgiel. Copies of this ed. are now extremely scarce, and as much as
£550 has been paid for one. The success of the work was immediate, the
poet's name rang over all Scotland, and he was induced to go to Edin. to
superintend the issue of a new ed. There he was received as an equal by
the brilliant circle of men of letters which the city then
boasted--Dugald Stewart, Robertson, Blair, etc., and was a guest at
aristocratic tables, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here
also Scott, then a boy of 15, saw him and describes him as of "manners
rustic, not clownish. His countenance ... more massive than it looks in
any of the portraits ... a strong expression of shrewdness in his
lineaments; the eye alone indicated the poetical character and
temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when
he spoke with feeling or interest." The results of this visit outside of
its immediate and practical object, included some life-long friendships,
among which were those with Lord Glencairn and Mrs. Dunlop. The new ed.
brought him £400. About this time the episode of Highland Mary occurred.
On his return to Ayrshire he renewed his relations with Jean Armour, whom
he ultimately married, took the farm of Ellisland near Dumfries, having
meanwhile taken lessons in the duties of an exciseman, as a line to fall
back upon should farming again prove unsuccessful. At Ellisland his
society was cultivated by the local gentry. And this, together with
literature and his duties in the excise, to which he had been appointed
in 1789, proved too much of a distraction to admit of success on the
farm, which in 1791 he gave up. Meanwhile he was writing at his best, and
in 1790 had produced _Tam o' Shanter_. About this time he was offered and
declined an appointment in London on the staff of the _Star_ newspaper,