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Description: | Rambling four page letter in reply to an earlier one from Burns now aged 20, reflecting on the value of friendship and general philosophical matters. He gives Burns positive encouragement with respect to the Country Dancing lessons he has undertaken.
Candlish was a school mate of Burns, studied medicine at Glasgow University, Married Jean Smith, the sister of R.B's friend James Smith and one of the 'Mauchline Belles'. About 1788, Candlish settled in Edinburgh as a lecturer in Medicine. In a letter to Peter Hill, dated March 1791 from Ellisland, RB refers to Candlish as 'the earliest friend except my only brother that I have on earth, and one of the worthiest fellows that ever any man called by the name of Friend'.
Page one has Candlish discussing the value of friendship and the correspondence ensuing from it. He supports Burns's winter projects which he has told Candilsh about in a letter written a little more than a week before, but Burns's letter has nor survived and Candlish does not identify what it was. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1779-01-01 - 1779-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Letter of James Candlish to Robert Burns | Go to resource |
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