Love Letters of Great Men.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 August 1910, Page 4

Love Letters of Great Men.

KI'ISTLES OK WOIiKK AXI) lilli.YS TO 15K SOI/D. Souir* yellow pieces of notepaper, on whinh the writis blotted and laded with time, were* to .have been sold by auction .at .Messrs S:>.therby'.s recently. One of them is a love letter written by Robert Burns to a fair unknown, the o!ho:s are a rarity 'anions collectors— two letters from Genera) Wolfe to an imtimat-t" friend and confidante, .Mi>.s I.acey, dated the Camp of Runnel ji.iid Camp of West-ei'loo, One of them contains this passage, a striking insight into the psychology of a soldier.

"\ou have left me in a -doubt, that is hurtful! to my Repose, .sure it must never happen tiluat a soldier can be •inuh-npp.v in his Love, if so, wliat reward for great and glorious undertakings or what relief from Despair, can we be forgot in the of danger and Fatigue." Ft was six months after these letters to Mi.ss Lacey (whose cxisfce-nco, by the way, is unknown to all the biographers of Wolfe) that he first meit his fiancee—Miss Lawson.—whom lie was doomed never to marry. "Wolfe was only twenty-oil© wlion lie wrote these letters, and original letters by ,him are practically unknown to-day; lie died wlien ihe was fhinty-two.

Robert Burns' love I otter is (handsomely bound. in a pu.rplo volume, with engravings of the poet. It lias many alterations ill the text, words being erased. The words in brackets precede tlie words which .Burns substituted for tliem. The letter is as follows:— ''Dear Madam, .Hie Passion of Love had need to be productive of mucih delight, as when it takes thorough possession ol tlio man it almost unfits liirn for any thing else—The lover who is certain of a (reciprocal) lequal return of affoot'ion is surelv tthe 'happiest of men, but he who 'is a prey to tilie horror of anxiety and d'rtaded disappointment, is a beisg whose situation is by no means enviable. Of this my (late) present experience gives me sufficient proof. To me, amusement seems impertinent and 'business intrusion, whilo you alone engross every faculty of my mind. (You promised) May I request yon to drop me a lino, to inform me when I may wait on you? For Pity's Sake do, and let me have it soon. In the meantime allow me .in the ■artless sincerity of tn;th to say that I truly am My dearest Madame Your ardent Jyover and devoted humble Servt." Another document of historical interest in the sale was the original charter reinstating William Penn as Governor of Pennsylvania in 109-1.