"Because" - such is
his reason - "because he does not think he will ever meet so
delicious an armful again;" and then, after a brief excursion
into verse, he goes straight on to describe a new episode in
the voyage of discovery with the daughter of a Lothian farmer
for a heroine. I must ask the reader to follow all these
references to his future wife; they are essential to the
comprehension of Burns's character and fate. In June, we
find him back at Mauchline, a famous man. There, the Armour
family greeted him with a "mean, servile compliance," which
increased his former disgust. Jean was not less compliant; a
second time the poor girl submitted to the fascination of the
man whom she did not love, and whom she had so cruelly
insulted little more than a year ago; and, though Burns took
advantage of her weakness, it was in the ugliest and most
cynical spirit, and with a heart absolutely indifferent judge
of this by a letter written some twenty days after his return
- a letter to my mind among the most degrading in the whole
collection - a letter which seems to have been inspired by a
boastful, libertine bagman. "I am afraid," it goes, "I have
almost ruined one source, the principal one, indeed, of my
former happiness - the eternal propensity I always had to
fall in love. My heart no more glows with feverish rapture;
I have no paradisiacal evening interviews.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93