Corbet, is given by him either as a quotation from a
paper or an exact recollection of the words used: the expressions,
"_not to think_" and be "_silent_ and _obedient_" are underlined.]
_Dumfries, 13th April, 1793._
SIR,
Degenerate as human nature is said to be, and in many instances,
worthless and unprincipled it is, still there are bright examples to
the contrary; examples that even in the eyes of superior beings, must
shed a lustre on the name of man.
Such an example have I now before me, when you, Sir, came forward to
patronize and befriend a distant, obscure stranger, merely because
poverty had made him helpless, and his British hardihood of mind had
provoked the arbitrary wantonness of power. My much esteemed friend,
Mr. Riddel of Glenriddel, has just read me a paragraph of a letter he
had from you. Accept, Sir, of the silent throb of gratitude; for words
would but mock the emotions of my soul.
You have been misinformed as to my final dismission from the Excise; I
am still in the service.--Indeed, but for the exertions of a gentleman
who must be known to you, Mr. Graham of Fintray, a gentleman who has
ever been my warm and generous friend, I had, without so much us a
hearing, or the slightest previous intimation, been turned adrift,
with my helpless family, to all the horrors of want.
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