Robert Burns and Mrs. Dunlop : Correspondence now Published in
Pull for the First Time. With Elucidations by William Wallace. (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 61)—In the present volume the editor makes use of the Lochryan MSS. that were employed for the first time with such good purpose by the " centenary " editors. The volume does not throw much fresh light upon the character of Burns, but of his correspondent we gain a likeness that is no longer in outline. The good lady, though sentimental, was far from young, and we are spared the effusive mixture of piety and love-making that pervades the Clarinda correspondence. Mrs. Dunlop gives Burns much sound advice and, though less frequently, good criticism, she does not soften her language while denouncing the poet's transgressions, and in her moralising mood is apt to become tedious. Her letters are very long, and must, it is to be feared, have cost the poet more than he could afford in postage ; unless, which is probable, the wealthy lady contrived, as a woman knows how, to save both his pride and his pocket. As a letter-writer Mrs. Dunlop is destitute of charm, and it is to be feared that Burns must have sometimes grown weary of his monitresa. The correspondence ceased for many months before the poet's death and an affecting letter written by Burns a few days before the end brought no reply. Mr. Wallace's conclusion that Mrs. Dunlop's sudden and long silence was due to inadvertence does not seem to us sound. A woman who had for so long a period taken a motherly interest and pride in the poet was not likely to have grown forgetful or indifferent without a cause. What that cause was must be left to conjecture.
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