publication. His correspondence with Doig and Ramsay was chiefly on
their favourite topic of philology. These two learned friends visited Mr
Skinner in the summer of 1795, and entertained him for a week at
Peterhead. This brief period of intellectual intercourse was regarded by
the poet as the most entirely pleasurable of his existence; and the
impression of it on the vivid imagination of Mr Ramsay is recorded in a
Latin eulogy on his northern correspondent, which he subsequently
transmitted to him. A poetical epistle addressed by Mr Skinner to Robert
Burns, in commendation of his talents, was characterized by the Ayrshire
Bard as "the best poetical compliment he had ever received." It led to a
regular correspondence, which was carried on with much satisfaction to
both parties. The letters, which chiefly relate to the preparation of
Johnson's _Musical Museum_, then in the course of publication, have been
included in his published correspondence. Burns never saw Mr Skinner; he
had not informed himself as to his locality during the prosecution of
his northern tour, and had thus the mortification of ascertaining that
he had been in his neighbourhood, without having formed his personal
acquaintance. To Mr Skinner's son, whom he accidentally met in Aberdeen
on his return, he expressed a deep regret for the blunder, as "he would
have gone twenty miles out of his way to visit the author of
'Tullochgorum.'"

As a man of ingenuity, various acquirements, and agreeable manners, Mr
Skinner was held in much estimation among his contemporaries. Whatever
he read, with the assistance of a commonplace-book, he accurately
remembered, and could readily turn to account; and, though his library
was contained in a closet of five feet square, he was abundantly well
informed on every ordinary topic of conversation. He was fond of
controversial discussion, and wielded both argument and wit with a power
alarming to every antagonist. Though keen in debate, he was however