Satur: noon newtown,
No 2d St James’ sqr
Here have I sat, my dear Madam, in the stony attitude of perplexed study, for fifteen vexatious minutes; my head askew, bending over the mtended card; my fixed eye insensible to the very light of day poured around; my pendulous goose-feather loaded with ink, hanging over the future letter;all for the important purpose of writing a complimentary Card to accompany your trinket. Compliments, is such a miserable Greenland expression, lies at such a chilly, Polar distance from the torrid zone of my constitution, that I cannot for the very soul of me use it to any person for whom I have the twentieth part of the esteem everyone must have for you who knows you.
- As I leave town in three or four days, I can give myself the pleasure of calling for you only for a minute.
- Tuesday evening, sometime about seven, or after, I shall wait on you for your farewel commands.
- The hinge of your box I put into the hands of the proper connoisseur; but, it is, like Molly Gaw’s skate, “Past redemption.” The broken glass likewise went under review, but deliberative Wisdom thought it would too much endanger the whole fabric.
I am, Dear Madam, with all the sincerity of Enthusiasm, your very humble servant Robt Burns
